CAT 2015 was not without its share of problems. From exam centres located more than 150 kms away, to constantly gossiping  invigilators, stuffy exam centres and faulty work stations.  

This year, women and DA aspirants were given a preference while allocating exam centres  – result of which many candidates found themselves with centres far away. 

Some Mumbaikars took the CAT exam in Pune which some in Hyderabad had to travel on the Nagpur Highway road to reach their centre. 

Biswas Panda left him home before 6.30 am to reach his centre which was some 60 kms away. “I felt I was travelling on a haunted road this morning. No sign posts anywhere and not a single human being on the Nagpur highway,” says Biswas. 

When Biswas finally reached the location at Medchal, he realised there were three CMR colleges in the expanse and no sign of any CAT poster anywhere. But there were posters of other exams being held in the same complex.

“I went in through the first gate and was told by the watchman to use the next gate as the Telangana State exam  was being held there. But the next building had the Transmission Corporation exam in progress. “

Biswas says he spent quite a bit of time locating his centre and with him were at least 40 other candidates all searching for the same thing. 

When the group finally found their centre, it was almost  8.40 am. “We were not allowed to enter. We pleaded since the exam had not started but the person who addressed us was in a foul mood and not willing to listen. We only wanted to tell him why we got late,” Biswas told PaGaLGuY. 

The IBM employee is sad and would like the CAT Convenor to listen to his story. “It’s  a year down the drain. What was my mistake,” he asks. 

Meerut was a hassled city yesterday. Lots of Delhi candidates were allotted Meerut and the highway was jammed. A big chunk of CAT aspirants could not reach their centre because of the jam. 

If distance was a problem for some, continuous  ranting by invigilators was an issue at some places too. Reports of the same have come in from Computer Junction Delhi  and a few others. 

Work stations playing truant are also heard. Akshit Malhotra shares his experience: “During the 25th minute of the second section that is LRDI section, a window popped up saying something like windows explorer has stopped working which I closed only to have it pop up again in the next two seconds. I did the natural thing of closing it again. to have nearly twenty windows simultaneously opening up together.”

Akshit informed the  invigilator who tried to fix it on his own before calling for help. “Till the time the technician came and shut the down the computer to freeze the time and shifted me to another computer, 10-12 minutes had been perished leaving not just less time in a crucial moment, a shock that stayed till the end of the second section and a little bit towards the third section as well.”

Computer break down complaints have also come in from Pillai HOC and others. 

Exam centres being cramped and too many candidates huddled close to each other  was another complaint that came by today. Centres in Gurgaon, Navi Mumbai and Panvel reported stuffy rooms. 

In short, CAT 2015, though a smooth experience for most but was not devoid of the traditional glitches and this year the new enemies – chatty invigilators and far-off exam centres. 

PaGaLGuY has contacted the CAT Convenor with the above issues. We will update this article when his response is in.