Will CAT 2009 be Computer Adaptive?

A computer based test can be of at least two kinds:

1. Simple Computer-based Test:
Here, it is a simple case of substituting paper and pen for computer, keyboard and mouse. All that happens is that instead of the traditional paper based question-paper you get a soft-copy of it and you toggle the radio-buttons instead of having to bother about blackening empty circles with HB pencils.

2. Computer Adaptive Test (CAT):
In here, the next question that the computer throws at you will depend on your response to the previous question. If you answered that correct, you are deemed to be smart and the computer will throw a tougher question to find if you are even smarter. And this continues like this till the end to find out how smart you exactly are.

The GMAT has for long been a Computer Adaptive Test. Hence it looks likely that the IIMs will choose this option, though that calls for creating a really huge pool of questions. However we will have to wait before we know what exactly the CAT 2009 will look like.

In one of our future posts, we will discuss how to tackle a Computer Adaptive CAT, taking cue from GMAT preparation. Unless we are enlightened in the opposite direction before that...

CAT goes Online from 2009

The CAT or the Common Admission Test is India's most popular MBA Entrance Test - and why not, afterall a good performance here is a ticket to the IIMs, India's premier B-Schools. While the CAT is the entrance test for IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Kolkata, IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore, IIM Kozhikode and Rajiv Gandhi IIM Shillong, it is also simultaneously used by many other premier business schools in this country as their selection test. Primary among these other b-schools are MDI, Gurgaon and MICA Ahmedabad.

Now the IIMs have announced that the CAT, which has been a paper based test over the years may go the GMAT way - online. While it is not a confirmed fact yet, the IIM Director seemed to be pretty sure that the CAT will go online from 2009. Since the CAT notification typically happens only around July or August, the IIMs have more than a year before they need to inform the world formally. However the news is that the IIMs have approached quite a few firms including Aptech for the conduct of the test. It is likely that unlike now, the online CAT may be spread across a period of 15 days.

Now to coaching institutes for the test - over the years IMS, Career Launcher and TIME have been the market leaders in the CAT coaching arena. However, there has been a steady decline in the quality of teaching and material in each one of these institutes and has lead to students seeking to joining newer institutes which offer better quality of teaching. However the problem with these newer institutes is that while they start off on the right note, the quality of their teaching drops alarmingly over . They are almost all the ventures of an ex-CAT faculty, either verbal or quant. While they may be pretty good at their jobs, their lack of experience as a manager or as a leader means that they are not able to manage the business well, failing to attract quality manpower, essential for growth. Lack of financial resources is another constraint which they fail to overcome.

However, one organisation that I have noticed over the last 2 years has taken a refreshingly different approach. They had the courage and the foresight to see that the IIMs were headed in this direction - changing the CAT from a paper based test to an online test, a la GMAT. These guys took the tougher and the longer route - they started by offering quality study material for CAT coaching online. It was a slow, painful approach - uploading lessons, one by one on the website. However, the one thing that I couldn't help notice was that their dedication to quality was unwavering. Each lesson was well thought out, the questions original and testing. Few of the better students started visiting the site. It began with a trickle, but soon the word got round - you know how it works on the internet, and now the site seems to be doing really well. Today morning when I paid my umpteenth visit to this site, I could almost feel the pride the guys must be feeling to now claim that "there are over 30,000 registered users online." Some achievement that, for a 2 year old newbie.

However till a few months back they were offering everything free, and I knew that now they were sitting on the right base - to go offline, start their coaching centres for CAT. And boy, i was right! They have started with Delhi - 2 centres up and running by the name Tathagat, one in Kailash Colony and one in Janpath, nearConnaught Place.

I am sure they are attracting the right students already and I expect them to be maintaining the same high standards of teaching that they do on their website. If they are doing that, there is no doubt that they will soon be giving the older, established coaching institutes a run for their money. And if the IIM Director is right, and the CAT does indeed go online from 2009, then Tathagat and http://www.totalgadha.com/ will just be the right partner for thousands of IIM aspirants in India. And that success, I tell you, will be well deserved.