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[wengi (Shivangi Narayan)]

PaGaLGuY extends its MBA gyan to all those who want to take it, through a medium that is hard to miss: the Television.

ETV came to the PaGaLGuY headquarters in Mumbai and interviewed the guys that keep PG chugging along its zany path. Soumik, Apurv & Rohit amongst others spoke with ETV for a detailed insight into PG and how one should go about preparing for CAT. The program also captured how it is to work in the craziest environment in the country!

The episodes are ready and will be aired as per the following schedule.

17-November 2009 CAT-2009 Special Episode- I

Selecting B-Schools

Selecting Specializations

Impact of recession and the way ahead

18-November 2009 CAT-2009 Special Episode- II



What an aspirant should be doing one month before CAT

PaGaLGuY.com - Profile

Repeat Telecasts:

26-November 2009 CAT-2009 Special Episode- I

Selecting B-Schools

Selecting Specializations

Impact of recession and the way ahead

27-November 2009 CAT-2009 Special Episode- II



What an aspirant should be doing one month before CAT

PaGaLGuY.com - Profile

02- December 2009 CAT-2009 Special Episode- I

Selecting B-Schools

Selecting Specializations

Impact of recession and the way ahead



03- December 2009 CAT-2009 Special Episode- II

What an aspirant should be doing one month before CAT

PaGaLGuY.com - Profile

Channel wise telecast of 'Yuva Bharat' in ETV Network Channels

Channel Name	Telecast Time (Monday to Saturday)	Repeat (Monday to Saturday)
ETV-Bangla	11:30 pm	No repeat
ETV-MP	10:30 pm	11:30 am (same day)
ETV-UP	10:30 pm	11:30 am (same day)
ETV-Bihar	10:30 pm	11:30 am (same day)
ETV-Rajasthan	9:30 pm	12:30 am (same day)
ETV-(2) Telegu	11:30 pm	4:30 pm (same day)
ETV-Oriya	10:30 am	No Repeat
ETV-Gujrati	7:30 am	No Repeat
ETV-Marathi	9:30 pm	No Repeat
ETV-Urdu	10:30 pm	6:30 pm (except saturday)
ETV-Kannada	11:30 pm	No Repeat

Note: As we at PaGaLGuY.com shall be shooting more episodes with ETV in the future, do tell us what kind of programs would you like to watch on TV regarding CAT and MBA preparation in general. Tell us what you want to know, and as always, PG will tell you.

[wengi (Shivangi Narayan)]

The online registration for CAT 2009 is again open for editing (except the name and username) until November 27, 2009 as a scrutiny by Prometric revealed that there were some who still hadn't entered all the necessary information such as graduation marks, discipline, SSC, HSC marks in the registration form. Entering this information is necessary because leaving these fields empty may hamper a candidate's chances of getting GD and PI calls from b-schools even though he may have secured the desired percentile in CAT.

To make sure that a candidate does not miss a chance to get into a b-school of his choice due to an incomplete registration form, Prometric is informing candidates, whose applications are incomplete by sending emails (such as the one shown below) stating the corrective steps that need to be taken. The emails might come as a surprise to those who believe that they had carefully filled all the fields during registration. However, according to Prometric candidate-service, there is a possibility that the information entered by a candidate was lost while scrolling the page thus leaving the application incomplete.

Prometric Vice-President and General Manager, Asia Pacific, Japan and Africa, Ramesh Nava says, "In the final week leading up to the CAT 2009 testing window, Prometric ran a final check to ensure that candidates have entered all the required fields during their online application. Where missing data have been found, an email was sent to the affected candidates to allow them one final opportunity to return to their profile on iim.prometric.com to enter the missing details between 23rd and 27th November 2009."

email received by candidates whose information was incomplete in CAT 2009 online registration

Hence it is advisable to check your email regularly till November 27, 2009 for any such communication from Prometric regarding registration. One way of doing this is to check it once at the end of the day everyday. If you do receive an email like the above one, just go to http://iim.prometric.com and fill in the necessary details. Calling up candidate care will not help as they would not have much to add to what has already been said in the email. Do not panic as this is a routine check and there is ample time to correct and fill up data that you might have missed.

[apurv (Apoorv Pandit)]

What you eat the night before decides who will win the battle, said Alexander the Great. Alright, he didn't really say that but it is something he would surely have said had he lived a bit more. And that brings us to - how are you planning to unwind on the evening before your CAT exam? Vote, comment and let everyone know!

[pagalguy (Allwin Agnel)]

Prometric has sent out the following email to all CAT registered users. We are putting it out, just in case you missed it.

To assist you during your preparation and testing day, Prometric has created a CAT 2009 Practical Guide. Please go to www.prometric.com/IIM-CAT to download the CAT 2009 Practical Guide that contains valuable information for your testing day. We strongly encourage you to view this document prior to your testing day.

In addition, we would like to also highlight some of the below Prometric Testing Centre Regulations:

1. You are prohibited from communicating, publishing, reproducing, or transmitting any part of your test, in any form or by any means, verbal or written, for any purpose.

2. You must not talk to other candidates or refer to their screens, testing materials, or written notes in the test room.

3. Any clothing or jewellery items allowed to be worn in the test room must remain on your person at all times.

4. You must conduct yourself in a civil manner at all times when on the premises of the testing centre. Exhibiting abusive behaviour towards the Test Centre Administrator, or any other staff member of the test centre, may result in criminal prosecution.

5. To protect the privacy of all testers, the Test Centre Administrator can neither confirm nor deny if any particular individual is present or scheduled at the test centre.

What it means on PG: You are strictly prohibited from discussing your questions with any one else. Do not post it on PG or any other online site. Don't share it. Period.

As for other updates, Prometric has mentioned the following:

Candidates are requested to keep the following pointers in mind in the run-up to the CAT stay contactable by phone and email from today onwards; access emails regularly, including the spam folder; check Admit Cards thoroughly for appointment date, time and test location. Candidates should note that any SMS messages sent by Prometric will be from PROMETRC (the letter 'i' has been omitted to conform to the TRAI eight-character ID regulation).

In order to provide further assistance to candidates, Prometric has made available directional maps for all CAT 2009 test centers. Candidates can access their respective maps on www.catiim.in. It has been recommended that candidates visit their test center at least two days prior to their appointment date and acquaint themselves with the location, commute time and traffic conditions to eliminate any last minute uncertainty.

With just days to go before the start of the CAT 2009 testing window, it is important that candidates do their own checks to ensure that they have everything they need for their test day, said Ramesh Nava, Vice President and General Manager, Asia Pacific, Japan & Africa, Prometric. Have sufficient rest and be at the test centre at least two hours before the scheduled appointment", He said.

Candidates are also encouraged to view the YouTube video 'What to expect on test day', available via www.catiim.in or on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaKHWpiFToE

A supplementary Practical Guide is also available for download on www.catiim.in

Update: Go through PaGaLGuY's policy on discussing the CAT 2009 paper.

All the best Puys!

[pagalguy (Allwin Agnel)]

First day, flop show. Due to 'overload', a lot of centers have had to cancel the CAT exam. This is a huge blow to the Prometric driven CAT undertaking. This news has been carried across all prominent TV channels already. I am linking up some of the stories that have already gone online from the newspapers. Some of the PG HQ folks including me were attending the first day first show and will have more updates for you soon. I was able to take the exam today in Mumbai, but it was delayed by a couple of hours. A more detailed post on the experience will come on PG soon.

Here are the links for the CAT outage, please feel free to post more links as you find more news.

ET: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5278923.cms

Zee News: http://www.zeenews.com/news582913.html

Meri news: http://www.mynews.in/News/CAT_exam_cancelled_in_9_cities_as_server_crashed_N31312.html

Have a chat with people on the forums, direct from the source : http://www.pagalguy.com/discussions/cat-servers-crash-exam-rescheduled-25046755

Update: Soumitra Roy, Managing Director, India, Prometric says "The CAT 2009 has certainly not been cancelled in any of the test centres. In fact, thousands of tests were successfully delivered in hundreds of test centres throughout India. To accommodate the maximum number of candidates, Prometric and IIMs delayed the start of the morning session by about half an hour. As a result of isolated technical issues some candidates are being rescheduled and provided a new appointment via email and SMS."

[apurv (Apoorv Pandit)]

Two of the PG HQ members and their experiences with the CBT CAT. We have put in the time-line and our experiences, feel free to comment with your own experiences at different centers. We have put in this specific format so that you can 'live' through the experience and be prepared for it tomorrow and for the rest of the days. Tell us what you think.

Apurv's experience:

When I exited my CAT exam at 2 pm, I was feeling quite amused at the mismanagement at my center (Bandra, Mumbai). But as I walked out of the center and heard tidings of center cancellations across the country, it made my center look like an ace show in comparison. Anyway, here is my experience of taking the computer-based CAT, first day first show slot.

• Arrived at the center (Fr Conceicao Rodrigues College of Engineering, Bandra, Mumbai) at 8:15 am. Around 250 people at my center. We were let in at 8:45 am. By about 9:20 am, I had entered my computer lab and began with the registration.


• Everything was fine in the process until the part that used technology arrived. They took 10 minutes to register me due to a server snag while allocating me a terminal. It was like waiting at an airline check-in counter with a failed computer. Anyway, once they got the network up, their biometric device and digital camera failed. After 20 minutes, I was sitting at my terminal. At 10:10 am, the 15-minute tutorial started, which we had already seen on the CAT website.


• We all waited for 10:30 am for something to happen on the screen, but nothing happened. After some time, we started getting impatient and the invigilators had no clue. But they assured us that we would get our full 2 hours 15 minutes of the test.


• The test started around 10:50 am. Thereafter, things went quite smoothly as per plan. I'll omit the test description here due to the legal non-disclosure clause.


• The test ended at 1:05 pm. Logically, they should have collected our material and let us go. However, none of the five proctors and invigilators in our room knew how to end the test and log us out. So we were made to wait again. After about half hour of waiting, patiences started to run out again. A few people from other towns had trains to catch back home and some had taken half day from office. But all were held back because the staff did not know how to end the test. After about 40 minutes, two people with trains to catch decided that they had had enough and left. While leaving, they were made to sign agreements which relinquished the center of any responsibility in case their scores were lost. It was not a happy sight.


• After more than an hour, two guys from Prometric (or NIIT) entered the room and asked the invigilators to log out using the same username-passwords they had used to log us in. This really made some people lose their temper, as everyone had been held back hour due to lack of such a simple instruction. People left, but not without sarcastic comments hurled at the staff for their untrained-ness.


• I exited the center into a huge huddle of TV channel reporters, who informed us of the fiasco nationwide.

All in all, not that bad an experience, considering that the contrast is with having a canceled test.

Allwin's experience:

Now I was excited about CAT (6th time and all that), I have very good memories attached to the times I've written the exam. So early morning I left home to reach the center at 8am. Here is my experience of the first day, first show.

• The signs of delay were rather evident right off the bat. I took the exam at Thakur Polytechnic and even though I had come in at 8am, everyone was allowed it at around 9.15. We were asked to sit in different rooms and then the proctors came in to take us to the lab


• At 9.55am, 5 minutes before the exam was supposed to start, I was still standing outside the lab and there were a few more people ahead of me. It didn't look like we would start the exam at 10am.


• I was ushered in and sat at the PC I was supposed to, without having done my bio metrics. Looks like they were running slow with the bio metric thing and they told the rest of the people who hadn't fingerprinted that they would get a chance to get finger printed after they wrote the exam.


• After being seated, we were all told to reboot our machines. All 20 - 25 of us had to do so. Now there are multiple logins, the OS login, the Exam login which needs to be entered by the proctors. The reboot took around 5 minutes for me and then the test software took another 5 - 7 minutes to initialize. The whole thing was slow and heck it was 11am and we hadn't even started the exam.


• 11.15am, my exam started ( for people wondering about the time, the PC displays the time), you are not allowed to take your watch/phone et al in to the computer lab. Three times, I click on start the exam and it would throw me back to the prompt and the proctor had to come in an enter the password to proceed.


• 17 questions into my clickfest, I saw the stunning windows 'svchost.exe' error. I got a bit alarmed and called the proctor, he happily clicked the 'close' button on the error and asked me to proceed. I grin, proceed and poof the screen goes blank. I call the proctor again and guess what, the PC now had to be restarted. Ah god, had to go through that evil 10 minute or so wait time till I could start again. Thankfully Prometric got it right here and I was able to resume the questions from the point the crash occurred. He told me 'not to click so much', how wise and technical eh?


• I answered all the question and then exited the exam. Now here Apurv's experience was different. Apparently some kind of password was required for the exam to end, but it wasn't the case with my exam. I hope I get to view my scores. If you have had similar or dissimilar experiences, let us know.


• 2 hours into the exam, I decided to leave. Some folks had started leaving and I decided I too had had enough. I got myself fingerprinted and left the center. While I was musing about how the show was not run 'perfectly', I heard about the rescheduling across the nation.


• The paper had 60 Qs, 20 QA, 20 DI/LR and 20 VA. I haven't prepared for CAT for a single day in the last three years and my feeling is that the difficulty level of CAT was the least I've experienced. The Quant and English sections were really easy and so was the DI. A really easy paper, but heck, its all relative isn't it. There was no information about negative marking. I clicked answers for all 60 Qs.

Important NOTE: Do not read selectively and strike off the negative marking in CAT 2009. According to Professor Deodhar, the negative marking "will be on the same pattern as last year". A Practical guide to CAT released sometime back also said, "There is no penalty for questions that are left un-attempted and negative points will be given for wrong answers."

[pagalguy (Allwin Agnel)]

Prometric has updated their website with further information for the CAT Exam on the 29th of Nov. On their site, they mention the following - "The launch of the computerized CAT involved the delivery of exams by Prometric into more than 360 testing labs at 104 individual locations. While a significant majority of the candidates successfully completed their exams on Day One, various technical issues arose at selected computers in approximately 50 labs that prevented approximately 2,000 exams from being delivered. Prometric has generated new appointments for these individuals and they are in the process of being contacted through SMS and email messages. Prometric technicians have been dispatched to address these isolated problems.

To avoid candidate inconvenience and to allow for the necessary repairs to be completed at the impacted labs, Prometric has scheduled a closure of these labs on Sunday, 29 November 2009. Candidates affected by this closure will also be notified by Prometric in the manner described above and provided with new appointments within this years testing period."

The following labs will be closed on Sunday, 29 November (Please check your assigned lab listed on your Admit Card against the following list):

This list is visible at http://www.catiim.in

Candidates are advised to stay contactable by phone and email at all times.

Should you require further assistance, please contact Prometric Candidate Care at 1-800-103-9293.

[wengi (Shivangi Narayan)]

There are reasons why Indian students are alarmed when an examination is converted from a tried and tested paper-pencil format to the 'new' online testing one. CAT 2009's recent debacle made it even clearer that when it comes to an exam that pretty much determines the future of lakhs of candidates, there is no room for experiment.

As is known by all that CAT 2009's online version started on November 28, 2009. Technical glitches and test being rescheduled was a common feature across the centers in cities like Delhi, Lucknow, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai amongst the others with hundreds of students affected by the process. Rescheduling CAT has brought with it more worries as a lot of students arranged important official meetings, presentations, onsite visits and other engagements for that one date with CAT, which now has been flipped about.

Though there are genuine reasons for students who could not take the test to be concerned, however, going by the people we talked to and the discussions on the PaGaLGuY forums, there are more reasons for the students who were able take their exam to worry. Below are some of them.

a) Candidates have been asked to come to centers two hours before the exam. The security check-ins took ages, and sometimes the server did not start on time. All this waiting marred the performance of the candidate during the exam.

b) The staff was uncooperative. Gaurav Gupta, a student of BITS-Pilani who took the test on November 28, 2009 at Maharishi Arvind Institute of Engineering and Technology, Pilani says,

"Officials were chatting and discussing amongst themselves throughout the paper. One of the officials even had his mobile phone kept on charging inside our test center and it rang twice during the paper. They kept moving around from one room to another and there was absolutely no silence during the paper. The worse part was the door connecting the two rooms which made an irritating noise every time it was opened and closed. My request to keep the door open by placing a stopper so that we could do away with the noise was rejected outright by one of the officials without any clarification. The officials were absolutely unconcerned about the fact that they were making so much noise in the room and in spite of request by a lot of students they kept doing the same."

c) Many candidates claim that the review button did not work for them.

d) The computers shut down in the middle of the test. Thus, some candidates got unfair time to solve questions that they were stuck with during the time the computers were being fixed.

CAT is supposed to bring out the best candidates who would later go on to join the best management institutes of the country. I wonder if such kind of testing, which favors a candidate's luck and the chances of his being at a 'better' center more than his preparation will bring out the deserving candidates. While those who have been rescheduled can hope for improved and glitch free testing center, those who have already taken the test can only wish that the authorities concerned would take the necessary steps to neutralize the unfairness of the test. Till then, we can do with wishing that the remaining days of the first ever online CAT go trouble free.

[wengi (Shivangi Narayan)]

So its a virus after all. 'Vital Information Resource Under Siege' is what, according to Prometric played truant with the online testing of CAT 2009. A press note released by Prometric and IIMs on November 29, 2009 says:

"While almost 20,000 candidates completed their exams on Day One, computer viruses at a number of testing centers prevented over 2,000 candidates from taking the exams. Prometric is committed to ensuring a smooth testing experience for CAT test-takers and has dispatched additional technicians and hardware to address these isolated issues."

Ramesh Nava, Vice President & General Manager, Asia Pacific, Japan and Africa, Prometric says, "Exhaustive plans were developed and put in place well in advance of the start of the testing window Unfortunately, the particular viruses and malware that attacked the test delivery system were not detected by the anti-virus software at the testing centers. Candidates are our first and foremost priority and Prometric is making every effort to provide all CAT aspirants an opportunity to test"

The press note, released after a long wait from the candidates and news agencies alike goes on to say that all the affected candidates "have been notified and are currently being rescheduled within this year's testing period."

Apologies have been sought by Prometric. Soumitra Roy, Managing Director, India, Prometric, says, "We truly regret the additional stress that candidates were subjected to over the first weekend of the CAT 2009, and are doing everything we can to make the rest of the testing experience as smooth as possible."

The press note, out after more than 24 hours after the test began does little to explain the thousands of glitches that took place in the online CAT and attributes it flimsily to a 'virus'. For example, the untrained staff, Prometric personnel not reaching the faulty testing centers on time, delays in registration and the likes cannot be assigned to a virus but to the the lack of testing of the process and the software before putting it out in the open.

Note: All candidates should check the website www.catiim.in for probable cancellation of their testing centers for tomorrow. The website will be updated as it was done for today's testing centers.

[apurv (Apoorv Pandit)]

At 6 pm today (November 30, 2009), representatives from the Indian Institute of Management, Prometric and NIIT shall hold a press conference to address questions about snags at CAT centers throughout the nation. This is the perfect platform to let the IIMs know about cases where you feel the CAT was administered in a faulty manner and was yet not cancelled. Please fill out this form (ASAP!) to let us know about the problems and we shall try to get them addressed by the panel.

Your personal information and data will be kept private, so do not worry.

Please continue to add your problems in, we shall try to take them up with the concerned authorities.

[apurv (Apoorv Pandit)]

Approximately 7,000-8,000 candidates have not been able to take the computer-based CAT 2009 test due to snags in the Prometric-managed exam between Saturday and Monday, said Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad Director Dr Samir Barua at a press conference in Ahmedabad on Monday evening. A total of 47 testing labs failed on Saturday, another 33 labs collapsed on Sunday while about 30 labs could not administer the test on Monday, he added.

Sticking to the 'virus attack' theory and blaming the pitfalls of using technology, Prof Barua said, "The major reason appeared to be a virus attack. All precautions had been taken for protection against virus attack, but we did not succeed in doing so at a few labs. In some of the other centers, there were hardware problems and replacement took 2 hours."

"There are always bound to be problems in the first time such a huge exam takes place, especially if it is concerns technology. But we are working very hard to fix all the problems and accommodate all candidates," he added.

On rescheduling, he said, "We will try to accommodate the rescheduled tests within this week as we have a few empty slots available. But if required, we will stretch the CAT for two extra days on Dec 8 and 9." He added that the two-day extension would be avoided, as not all of the slots in this week were running on full capacity.

"When we reschedule, the students may not be able to choose a date or slot of their convenience. Their choice will thus get restricted. We'll try to make sure that the new slots are as convenient as per their initial choice. There would not be a single candidate who will not be able to take the test. But there will be inconvenience caused. Do we recognize and empathize with student? Yes we do. But the inconvenience is a fact of life and we cannot do anything at this stage," he said.

On some problems reported by candidates of disturbances caused by uncooperative invigilators who continued to use their mobile phones throughout the test, Prof Barua said, "We cannot be responsible if the invigilators talk on phone. The invigilators have moral responsibility too and something like this is possible even in paper based test."

"We believe that the ambience and environment has improved considerably since today," he said.

CAT Convenor Satish Deodhar ruled out the IIMs reverting back to the paper-based format and added that the CAT will be continue to be conducted online next year too.

"The preparation to make this online started in April 2007 but it took time to take off because of the tender process. We will continue to go in this direction and it's been a good beginning so far. Yes, we have somewhat failed, but we are correcting those problems now," he added.

Asked what sort of drills Prometric had conducted to prepare for the testing, Prometric Chief Operating Officer Charlie Karnan said that they had conducted mock drills at individual centers but not on a large scale. He added that 62% of affected candidates had already been rescheduled.

On problems reported by individual students of computer errors and reboots that gave some people extra time to solve problems, Prof Barua said, "If there is a genuine reason, they should report them to the center head and it would be considered. But if the students were idling their time away while the snag was being repaired then it is not the IIMs' responsibility."

Meanwhile, the Union Human Resources Development Ministry asked the IIMs to submit a report on the CAT failure.

If you have faced a serious problem while taking the CAT, please enter your experience in this form and we will try to get the take of the concerned authorities.

Edit: The quote about CAT continuing to remain online was incorrectly attributed to the IIMA Director in the title, whereas it was actually made by CAT Convenor Satish Deodhar. The error has been rectified.

[apurv (Apoorv Pandit)]

According to a report in The Telegraph, Calcutta, the Directors of IIMs are considering scrapping this year's online CAT and save face with a paper-based retest.

The story built on an anonymous IIM Director's version reports that all IIM Directors except one are okay in principle with the proposal. As of now, no other source has confirmed the report and the report conflicts with the CAT Convenor's Monday statement that the computer-based test would continue. I quote from The Telegraph story:

"But IIM officials are arguing that their biggest fear revolves around questions that are already being raised about the standard of candidates picked through a selection process under criticism for its lack of uniformity.

Several candidates who could take the computerised test have complained that their computers ran slower than those of other competing candidates, placing them at a disadvantage in the timed test."

Full report here.

The computer-based exam has clearly been a huge embarrassment for the IIMs and has cast widespread cynicism about their own ability to manage and execute projects, given that they train thousands to do so and claim to be among the best in the world at it.

The CAT 2009 needs to be held again. Not so much for the virus attacks (a claim which seems extremely dubious, as both Nimda and Conflicker are old worms and ANY anti-virus system can detect them) or the delays in starting the tests, but for the fact that this test has not been a fair platform even among those who have been able to take it 'successfully'. Take a look at this document compiled by PaGaLGuY, listing detailed problems faced by over a hundred test-takers across the country, for whom tests have not been rescheduled (to inform us of your problems, please fill this form). Summarizing them below:

• Screens going blank in between the test


• Reboots and 'svchost.exe' errors


• Noise and commotion caused in the lab due to the above


• People in some labs getting extra time to solve questions while the above problems were being rectified


• Some features of the testing software (review button, display of questions) not working as intended on some computers


• Questions being leaked in various private channels. While moderated channels like PaGaLGuY are leaving no stoned unturned in respecting the non-disclosure clause, several other unmoderated social networks such as Orkut have communities dedicated to question sharing. Given that there are reports of questions being repeated, it obviously puts test-takers on each subsequent day at an advantage in the competition.


• Inconsistent quality of invigilation

Even if the computer-based test were to complete its 10 days, would the IIMs be able to say without doubt that they indeed have the best of the lot in their classes of 2012 through a fair process? Have candidates invested Rs 1,400 and months of hard work into a system where the first prerequisite to success is the fortune of being allocated a relatively good testing lab, something over which they have no control? Wouldn't it be better to allocate IIM seats on a draw of lots rather than use a dubious and expensive testing system such as this?

The IIM Directors ought to take the proposal of a paper-based retest this year to fruition.

[wengi (Shivangi Narayan)]

Now this has been due for days! Prometric has finally put up updated FAQs for students. The FAQ primarily deals with rescheduling and also touches upon aspects like DA students, change in locations etc.

The entire FAQ can be found at http://www.catiim.in

However, I am also copy-pasting the same below. The latest version will be found on their site.

Frequently Asked Questions

CAT 2009 Rescheduling of Candidates

1. I've heard that Prometric is rescheduling candidates. Is that true?
   

   Some testing labs have been experiencing technical difficulties mainly due to viruses and malware. Prometric is continually assessing these labs and should testing not be possible for any session at specific labs (note that there could be several labs within one test centre and this is referred to as 'Site Code' on your Admit Card), affected candidates will be contacted by SMS and email. Rescheduling of these candidates will then be done and new appointments communicated again via SMS and email.

   
   



2. How will I know if my test will be rescheduled?
   

   Affected candidates will be contacted by SMS and email should their original appointment need to be rescheduled. Candidates are advised to check their SMS and email messages prior to going to the test centre.

   
   



3. My friend is scheduled on the same day, same time and same test centre as me. He/she received a notification that he/she should not go to the test centre and will be rescheduled. I have not received any SMS or email. Should I still go to the test centre?
   

   There could be several labs within the same test centre and this is reflected on your Admit Card as 'Site Code'. If your lab is affected, you will receive an SMS and email from CAT Candidate Care. If not, please turn up at your test centre as scheduled.

   
   



4. I am scheduled to take the test at a lab that is currently closed. Will my test still take place as scheduled?
   

   Prometric has deployed additional technicians and hardware to rectify the issues at impacted sites. If the lab at which you are scheduled is not able to deliver the CAT on the day of your scheduled appointment, you will be contacted by SMS and email the day before. If you do not receive any notification, please proceed to your test centre as scheduled.

   
   



5. When will I receive my revised appointment?
   

   As soon as we know that you are not able to test on your original date/time, Candidate Care will begin the rescheduling process. You will be contacted as soon your new appointment has been scheduled; however this could take up to 48 hours.

   
   



6. Will I have a choice of slot?
   

   Rescheduled slots will be limited. You will be allocated the best available slot and the priority would be to keep your appointment at the same test location. Candidate Care will try and accommodate any requests for changes where possible. Please do not send an email, you must ring Candidate Care on 1800 103 9293 and speak to an agent.

   
   



7. Will I be scheduled to take the CAT before 7 December?
   

   We will try to reschedule all affected candidates within this year's testing window.

   
   



8. According to reports, IIMs have indicated that the testing could extend beyond 7 December. Is this true? When will a decision be made?
   

   We will try and accommodate all candidates within this year's testing period. If there is a need to extend beyond 7 December, IIMs will announce this as soon as a decision has been made.

   
   



9. Is it likely that I will be rescheduled to test the next day?
   

   Prometric will allocated the best available slot to affected candidates and it is possible this could be as early as the next day. Candidates are advised to stay contactable by phone and email at all times.

   
   



10. What can I do if my revised schedule clashes with another exam?
    

    Every reasonable effort will be made to accommodate any requests for changes. Candidates may call 1800 103 9293 for such requests. Please do not send an email, you must ring Candidate Care and speak to an agent.

    
    



11. I was told that I will be informed of my new scheduled within 48 hours but I have yet to receive any SMS or email. What can I do?
    

    If you do not receive your new schedule, you may contact Candidate Care at 1800 103 9293.

    
    



12. I was told my test has been rescheduled to a certain day but my name was not there when I get there. What should I do?
    

    You should contact Candidate Care at 1800 103 9293.

    
    



13. Will I be able to change my testing location to another city?
    

    Every reasonable effort will be made to accommodate any requests for changes. Candidates may call 1800 103 9293 for such requests. Please do not send an email, you must ring Candidate Care and speak to an agent.

    
    



14. Will I be allowed to take the test with my old Admit Card?
    

    Yes. You will receive an email confirmation of your new appointment. However, if you do not receive a new Admit Card, you will be allowed to test with the old one.

    
    



15. If I have successfully taken my test and I have received a new test date and time through email/SMS, should I go to take the test again?
    

    No. In case you have taken the test successfully, kindly ignore the email/SMS sent to you.

    
    



16. I am a DA candidate and understand that only 3 December is the only day scheduled for us. What happens if my testing lab goes down on the day? Will I get to test this year?
    

    Prometric Candidate Care will ensure that you are accommodated to the best available slot and priority would be to keep your appointment at the same test location. If you do get rescheduled, please bring along the assistive devices that you have been approved for, on your new date/time and/or new test centre.

[pagalguy (Allwin Agnel)]

The PG HQ is hiring! Over the last couple of years we have grown fast and are growing faster. We have kept growing faster than we have been able to add people to the team - the challenge is the extremely high bar on recruiting at PG. If you are interested in a career in a fast growing techno media company, check out our jobs page, read our blog, check out how we hire and send us a covering letter and a resume if you are interested. Instructions for applying can be found on the jobs page

Relevant Links:

The jobs page, the office blog, how we hire and about us.

FAQs:

There are 3 things you need to remember while applying to PG

1) Please send us your resume and your cover letter.

2) Mention clearly which position you are looking to apply for. You can take a look at all the positions available with us at http://www.pagalguy.com/join-us/

3) Read up on our hiring process at http://www.pagalguy.com/how-we-hire/

----

Our Responsibilities:

1) We will get back to you as soon as we can. Promise.

2) We spend a lot of time interviewing. Some of our interviews happen over 4-7 rounds and we invest as much efforts in this process as you do. So we promise not to waste your time.

---

Pointers:

1) We expect you to know us well and we will spend enough time trying to get to know you.

2) Be concise and precise. Ask questions.

3) Relax. Its not your average job interview. We want to know if we fit your needs and vice-versa. Feel free to spend time with us to understand us better.

PS: We will get in touch with you only if your resume fits our needs.

PPS: All positions are Full time and in Mumbai.

[wengi (Shivangi Narayan)]

Extended by a day. As of now, this is the catharsis for the students who went through a harrowing time because of the CAT and all the glitches that it entailed. A press note released by Prometric today says:

"On 8 December (Day 11), CAT 2009 will be held over one morning session in 20 cities. These cities are: Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, New Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Pune and Varanasi".

Hence, the CAT online test, that was supposed to culminate on December 7, 2009 will extend to another slot on December 8, 2009 to accommodate the candidates that were unable to take their tests on their scheduled dates.

The communication channel has also improved its communication channel by increasing the hours of their candidate care services (1800 103 9293), added more candidate care agents and more telephone lines. From December 3, 2009, the candidate care services will be available from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm everyday till the end of the testing period.

Apologising for the CAT fiasco, Mr Ramesh Nava, Vice President & General Manager, Asia Pacific, Japan & Africa, Prometric said, We understand and regret the additional stress and inconvenience caused to candidates who have not been able to test on their scheduled day due to technical difficulties. We are working with the IIMs to add an additional session on Day 11 to accommodate them within the city they were originally scheduled.

[wengi (Shivangi Narayan)]

Day 8 of the CAT online test also did not go without cancellations, rescheduling and all the dreaded phenomenon that have been keeping the students on their toes ever since the start of CAT 2009.

As per our reports, two labs in the morning slot and one in the evening slot at Saboo Siddik College of Engineering, Byculla, Mumbai have been cancelled and many students have been asked to wait for that ever elusive SMS from Prometric regarding the correct schedule of their centers.

Students were again in the dark about the their examination schedule and little help was provided by Prometric Proctors present on the centers, who also were as clueless about the scenario as the students themselves. Some of the students whose tests were rescheduled on December 3, 2009 have still not received any response from Prometric regarding their new test dates.

Although there were reports of centers getting cancelled in Mumbai, there were no reports of anything as such from Bangalore (as of now). A press note released by Prometric today says, "With reference to rumours that the CAT has been cancelled in certain test centres in Bangalore, Prometric would like to clarify that this is not true. Testing is proceeding in all test centres across Bangalore as scheduled".

Note: Let us know if any of the centers in your city got cancelled

[apurv (Apoorv Pandit)]

So it seems like December 8 will not be the concluding day of the CAT 2009 after all. According to an IIM Ahmedabad press statement, "There are still some candidates who could not take the test due to genuine reasons and test has not been rescheduled for them. A new test date will be announced in about a fortnight to provide an opportunity to ALL such candidates to write the test. Prometric would inform all such candidates about the date and the venue for the test."

At a press conference at IIM Ahmedabad today, Director Prof Samir Barua said that while 1.85 lakh candidates had taken the exam till Dec 6, another 30,000 took the test today (Dec 7) and about 15,000 to 20,000 will take the test on Dec 8.

Explaining the causes for the failure of the exam at some testing labs over the weekend, Prof Barua said that some individual labs in Lucknow and Hyderabad had failed to send the test data back to the central servers. "The central server is a cluster of 30 to 40 computers that monitor logs for east test across India," he explained.

Meanwhile, hammered by rising doubts over the integrity of CAT 2009 in the wake of the virus attack on the first two days of the test, Prometric posted a note on the www.catiim.in website claiming that the result files of CAT 2009 were safe. Quoting the note verbatim below:

"Candidates at various locations experienced different technical difficulties that were related to the viruses. Prometric is currently reviewing the experiences of all the candidates that might have been impacted by computer viruses and/or other sources of potential disruption. One of the key advantages of computer-based delivery is the ability to electronically record a candidate's exam and identify issues that might affect an individual's performance. That assessment is already underway and with the consent of the IIMs, Prometric will be offering a new test to the candidates who were impacted in this way.

The vast majority of virus programs are written to work with or corrupt commonly available file formats, such as executable files, and exploit functionality in commonly available applications such as e-mail programs, internet browsers, and operating systems. The proprietary result files used by Prometric fall outside the scope of what a typical virus is capable of attacking, thereby vastly reducing the risk of exposure to these viruses.

The result files produced during an exam are encrypted prior to being written to disk. This procedure enhances the security of the content and provides a degree of protection from virus infection and/or destruction. Any such tampering with the files would be detected when the test results are imported into the data processing system and subsequent item analysis.

To date, Prometric's ongoing event reconciliation processes have verified that no results have been deleted or modified by a virus attack. The majority of sites and candidates have tested without incident and their performance indicates that most candidates had a valid and fair experience."

(With inputs from rajaramvarun in Ahmedabad)

[wengi (Shivangi Narayan)]

Till last year you probably wouldn't dream of partying a night before the CAT. However, this year, all you had to do if you were unable to take the CAT because of a hangover, is hit the 'resend' button.

One such candidate, Rohit Awasthi who works in the marketing department of PaGaLGuY.com did just that and was promptly given a new appointment for a retest on December 6, 2009 at Lokmanya Tilak College of Engineering, Navi Mumbai. Awasthi says, "I was partying till 3:00 am, got drunk and couldn't take the test. Hence I got it rescheduled". He was earlier supposed to take the test on November 28 at the same center. Prometric did not find it necessary to check if he had taken the exam before or simply been absent from it. And this is just one candidate.

Allwin Agnel, another candidate and coincidently the CEO of PaGaLGuY.com did not even have to resend his admit card. He found a new admit card for a new appointment on December 8, 2009. He had taken the test successfully on November 28 and had not even placed a request to reschedule his test. The reasons for rescheduling are unknown as candidate care services say that they do have the record of his test.

There is a third category of problems that should worry you the most. And that is Prometric calling candidates to take the test again because they were 'unable to find any of his answer files there'. One such student who received a new admit card thought it was due to an error (pt. no 15 on the FAQ page at www.catiim.in says that if a candidate receives an email or SMS for rescheduling the test even after successfully taking it, he should ignore it). However, Candidate care services called him later asking him to take the test again because of the above reason. Read more such stories on PaGaLGuY forums.

[apurv (Apoorv Pandit)]

We are writing this post to shamelessly plug the four insane PaGaLGuY tees that are currently available for buying in the online store. It's not like you were not going to buy them without our blatant marketing, but we are still informing you so that you don't write hate emails to us later for not giving you a heads-up.

We also don't have a problem with your hate mails, but it's not good that they take away from our precious online time better utilized on more productive activities such as playing Farmville and Mafia Wars.

Let's talk about the t-shirts now, one by one. But before that, some general knowledge. All PaGaLGuY t-shirts are made of top-quality and long-lasting cotton material that will last longer than Energizer batteries. They all deliver in nice PaGaLGuY boxes that you would not dream to throw away.

1. The Case Study of an Indian MBA student t-shirt

This t-shirt has been designed by a PaGaLGuY employee who just returned from the Harvard Business School. Look at the expression on her face. Such contentment can only be found in someone who has just returned after getting a Harvard MBA.

For two long years at Harvard, she (name withheld on request) was initiated to the highly enlightening fumes of the famed Harvard Case Study method, wherein she learnt how companies such as Ford, GM, Pepsi and such achieved profitability in tough times. Looking at the widespread gareebi of her Indian classmates (bad bad education loan!), she decided to make a similar case study on their life as MBA students to try and devise a poverty-alleviation strategy. The case study has been reproduced as it is on this t-shirt.

If you are an MBA student, you should buy this t-shirt and wear it to class everyday. Whenever your professors cold-call you and you are in the middle of a deep slumber, just mumble out any random line from the t-shirt and you will sound relevant enough for the professor to hold you in high academic regard and not bother you again. This kind of a tactic is called TCP-IP (T-shirt Class Participation Is Powerful) and is a proven method to top the class. Many of you might find yourself getting through b-school solely on the basis of this t-shirt. In such a case, please transfer 80% of your first salary to our bank accounts in gratitude (and spend the remaining 20% on buying more PG t-shirts).

MBA aspirants should buy this t-shirt because in it they will see their future. Those with potbellies will actually experience foresight from a crystal ball (this message was sponsored by our upcoming junk-food chain).

Buy this t-shirt for Rs 299

2. What happens when you mix Insanity, Fun and MBA? t-shirt

Continuing with our highly relevant statistical studies of deep philosophical questions such as what annoying mobile ringtones say about the bearer's domestic life, we bring you a t-shirt that finally unravels the mystery behind the consequences of mixing Insanity, Fun and MBA.

The implications of this study are especially important for MBA aspirants, many of whom are fun-loving youngsters who turn into disturbed loonies while studying hard to prepare for the CAT exam. There is compelling evidence to suggest that preparing for this super-competitive exam renders many people to indulge in such bizarre acts as registering on websites creepily named "Pagalguy.com" and striving hard to have tags such as 'Certified Pagal'. It has been reported that these people end up having a lot of fun on this website. Many of them even go to the lengths of buying wacko t-shirts exploring the subject of insanity such as this one. An expert psychologist who we consulted for insights said, "It is surprising how many of these strange people end up in India and the World's top b-schools such as the IIMs, XLRI, FMS, Wharton, Chicago GSB and others. Parenting is traditionally about turning children into well-behaved good boys or good girls. However, this study shows how much parents are unaware about the competitive advantages of losing one's mind."

By wearing this t-shirt, you too can become part of this vital research project on Insanity, Fun and MBA and be a contributor to the cause of cutting edge science.

Buy this t-shirt for Rs 299

The remaining two t-shirts are old ones, which we were hoarding in our godowns to make a quick extra buck during these inflationary times.

3. The Mind Your Business Anna t-shirt

This t-shirt is a tribute to all the country's Udupi restaurants, whose daily mass-produce of idli, dosa and uthhapam fuels the energies of lakhs of MBA aspirants who live faraway from their homes, working in the IT sector or in college, and cannot do without their daily breakfast helping of South Indian food. It features the legendary fictional character Quick Gun MG, who can be seen projecting his flamboyant toothy-smile on the t-shirt.

Strategically colored in black, it is designed to endure all sambar and coconut-chutney stains created by clumsy eaters. It will be a sheer professional delight for whoever does your clothes washing, man or machine.

Buy this t-shirt for Rs 299

4. The Self Actualized t-shirt

This is how we evolved, this is what we have become. Insanely self-actualized, and proud of it!

Buy this t-shirt for Rs 299

All t-shirts can be paid for using Credit Cards, Netbanking, Debit cards, Cash cards. Or you can just simply pay cash on delivery at your doorstep.

[pagalguy (Allwin Agnel)]

The HRD ministry has convened a meeting tomorrow and all the IIM directors are expected to attend. Tomorrow might be the day for some potentially concrete news, but then no much point to keep the hopes too high because if the IIMs had to do the 'right thing', they could and should have done it a long time ago when the exam started falling apart. In the meantime, here are links to some of the more important updates in the CAT realm.

1) IIM Bangalore rolls out admissions process: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/IIM-B-rolls-out-admission-process/articleshow/5338288.cms

Things that caught my eye, "During the half-day interview, candidates have to write a short note in 30 minutes on a topic given by IIM-B.", the normalization of your 10th and 12th grade scores using data collected over the years, in the GD/PI, they will look at content and 'style'. Now that is something ain't it? Style?

2) Scrap computerised CAT, demand IIM faculties: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/scrap-computerised-cat-demand-iim-faculties/379325/

Nice to see that some of the faculties are batting for the folks. "The faculty federation at the Indian Institutes of Management at Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta have made a resolution to their respective directors on scrapping the computer-based CAT and retaining the paper-pencil test at least for this year. Confirming this development, an IIM professor said: We passed a resolution on December 1, 2009, asking the directors to consider scrapping of the computer-based test (CBT) for this year, as it could be an unfair advantage to some undeserving students.

Look at the date, its Dec 1st. 2 days into CAT, the faculty had figured out the right thing to do. Can't say much about the administration can we?

3) IIM aspirants still waiting for fresh CAT dates - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/IIM-aspirants-still-waiting-for-fresh-CAT-dates/articleshow/5338483.cms

"Anwesha Ghosh, who passed her graduation from St Xaviers College in Kolkata, had appeared for CAT. I lost 20 minutes of the test as the link was very slow. The next and review buttons were not operating and the questions skipped by. After a miserable exam, I was asked to write an email and also contact the candidate care executive. A reply came to my mail box, requesting for 14 days beginning December 8. During this period, they will try and sort out the problem and give rescheduled dates. There has been no communication since then, Ghosh says."

If you have more stories, please use the comments to discuss them. Keep your eyes peeled tomorrow for any updates from the IIMs after their meeting with the HRD ministry.