The Common Admission Test (CAT) 2012 has drawn to a close. A season laced with ‘technological’ hiccups and some bizarre power issues, one in which the number of candidates sent back because of wrong or insufficient identification was one of the highest in recent years.
PaGaLGuY decided to get some straight answers from CAT Convenor Prof SSS Kumar on the concerns that came with CAT 2012. While Prof Kumar answered most of the questions, some he said he would counter after a few days. These mainly related to candidates who were victims of various types of ‘malfunctionings’ on the exam days. We will take Prof Kumar on his word and will get back with his replies soon.
CAT 2012 has finally ended. How was it?
Only, the test administration has come to a close but post CAT activities are lined up and needs equal attention. So it is going to be a while before I can breathe easy, reflect on the fast paced six months before I rate the experience.
What is it that you have learnt professionally and personally from this experience?
Question I would like to answer after a few more months!!
This year, there seems to be a surge in what candidates not very fondly call technical glitches? Were you over confident?
I am not comfortable with the word “technical glitches” as the couple of difficult sessions happened predominantly due to electric and power related problems. Further, I want to reiterate that we were never over-confident, pursued all the processes with a religious zeal and rigor that we do every year.
The event of dropping students to the different venues in Delhi is unprecedented? Had this happened in one of the smaller towns, would such resources be available?
At the same time testing is continuing in the same centres without any problems, only a small number of shifting happened as a precaution. Yes, we have risk mitigation plans and redundancies irrespective of the size of the town/city.
How will you make sure same problems do not arise next year?
You have to agree with me that the problems are already sorted out this year itself and the test administration was going on in all the centres.
Don’t you think candidates approached the CAT exam in the last few weeks with some amount of skepticism after the problems that happened initially?
Any exam has to be taken with a positive mind and CAT is not an exception. The problems happened in a couple of sessions only and other students scheduled subsequently are testing well. We have a senior team of engineers stationed in the centres to tackle even little botherations.
You have actually spent a lot of time on the streets last 20 days?
I am visiting the centres especially those where the untoward incident happened. During the administration I visited more than eight cities/towns and at least 15% of the labs where testing is going on, monitoring the progress and re-confirming the preparedness and availability of resources.
What has been a typical day for the last one month, when the exam was on? Where did you spend most of the day?
On the edge, my mobile usage in the past month is more than what it had been till now in my life. My time was spent at the exam centres, hopping from one venue to another.
Did centres sport full house on all the days?
The attendance is as per the load scheduled and there are multiple reasons for candidates not turning up for the exam – ill health and lack/inadequate of ID proofs (main reason).