Monday, April 07, 2008

CAT goes online - II

Clarification on IIM CAT website

In view of increasing number of candidates IIMs are considering various alternatives for modifying the process of conducting CAT, if necessary. Online testing is one of those alternatives. The proposals are at the preliminary stage of discussion.

So whether it will happen in November 2009, or 2010, or even happen at all is still very open.

I spoke to John Gabriel, CMO, of IMS Learning resources to get a sense of how going online could affect students and their test prep. This is the gist of what he had to say:

CAT going online has several advantages but a few disadvantages as well.

It is a huge logistical exercise. When XAT tried an online test a few years ago it failed because they had no generator back up (electricity failure being a common problem in India!). But then CAT will not be a simultaneous but a staggered test.

Benefits:
- If they adopt the computer adaptive model (which I think they will), it will be a better way of assessing students. You can't do well just by chance or 'tukka'.
- The current D-day system creates a lot of stress for students. Some students fall sick or simply have a bad day.
- Greater flexibility for students is always welcome, they can schedule test according to exams or any other contingencies

Of course we don't know several things:
- Will the CAT score be provided right after the test, as in GMAT? That would be a major advantage because you know where you stand. If you score 98 percentile you need not give many other exams and apply to more colleged 'just in case'. The student would save quite a lot of money.

- Are you allowed to repeat the exam, say one month later? This would give those who have not done so well a second chance.

Challenges:
- The number of students taking CAT is growing year on year by about 30%. Most of the growth is coming from small towns.

Currently CAT is held in 23-24 centres. Will the online CAT also be held across that many centres? If not, the cost of test goes up for small town students. They will have to travel to the exam centre.

- Also, would everyone have access to practising on a computer? If not they will have to pay and use cybercafes.

The question is: how many students, even in metros are really computer savvy. Adapting to change will take time.

eg There are long (and boring) reading comprehension passages. Right now you can underline some portions, flip the page back and forth. That is what we are used to. Reading long passages on screen and scrolling up and down is difficult

Impact on coaching classes
IMS will still get students to their classroom courses because:
1) Discipline - students wish to come to a class, where there are peers and have a study pattern of some kind to motivate them
2) Conceptual clarity - they wish to clarify basics from peers and a live teacher.
3) Readiness: Application of interlinked concepts within a problem and improved test preparedness
4) Testing - IMS already does extensive SIMCATs and trains 50% of the market for GMAT (which is an online test)

So there should not be a problem in providing online modules which students can take at home and get instant feedback, performance tracking etc.

I would add: The biggest challenge is in tackling numbers. Currently the only other online management exam is NMAT. But they I just discovered have/ had 2 versions: a written test and acomputer based one. Students seem to feel they have a better chance of admissions with the written version.

Am not even sure if there is an online version anymore as it is not mentioned anywhere on the NMIMS website A call to the institute confirms that the NMAT for full time MBA is a written test. And they did not seem to know what happened to the online option.

That leaves us with BITSAT. In 2007 BITSAT was taken by close to 1 lakh students as an online test, in a staggered manner. This was 30% more than the 68, 466 who took BITSAT in 2006.

The test was conducted in 16 centres across 35 days. Not clear who is the technical partner.

And really, NUMBERS is what makes this entire exercise so staggering. In 2007 655, 506 GMAT scores were reported (no of test takers is less as many take it more than once). The nos taking GMAT from India is close to 14,000 and rising.

In India, GMAT is administered by Prometric across 9 centres.

As per wikipedia, GMAT also administers written tests in 'international locations where an extensive network of computers has not yet been established'.But I don't think it's practical to have a hybrid model for CAT...

I do think this is a difficult to implement idea. But if done correctly, it will ultimately benefit students.

Anyways, you are safe if giving CAT this year. Aage dekhte hain hota hai kya!

16 comments:

  1. You don't get the score immediately.The TOI article mentioned that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eduquity, Bangalore (http://www.eduquity.com/)is the technical partner for conducting BITSAT.

    Quoting from the Microsoft website:

    "Eduquity provides end-to-end solution for BITS, Pilani’s online entrance test, BITSAT. This solution is built using Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft .NET connection software and SQL Server 2000 to deliver error free assessments for over one lakh students who appeared for BITSAT in 2005 and 2006. In its efforts to provide better features and quick turn around, Eduquity also deployed Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition."

    Hope that helps.

    ReplyDelete
  3. http://bitsatrace.com/

    these are some folks who are getting ready to give online mock tests for bit-sat

    ReplyDelete
  4. So basically problem is logistics or reducing the number of students in main exam ,

    Why not to weed many out in one stage ?

    For example - Those who can appear for CAT should have minimum GMAT score of say x. This way many of Indian student already will have GMAT and number will drastically reduce for main CAT.

    Further GMAT is already available online ,and most of logistics is in place .

    Increasing number of GMAT centres in India will not be as difficult as making CAT online ,

    Any comments ?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm all for this idea, provided they implement it well.. The problem with the present CAT system is that it ends up putting too much emphasis on a candidates cut-off percentile / score.. an MBA student cannot be judged just by the numeric score that he's getting..I know quite a few capable guys who missed out in CAT with scores of 96-97 percentiles, but were able to make it to top-10 ivy league schools, mainly because of their profile... as u know, even with a GMAT score of less than 700, u can get an admit to top schools, if u have a good profile.. Ideally IIMs should go that way..Once CAT is implemented in a phased manner, the emphasis on percentile would come down..because ,as different candidates would be getting different set of questions, the number to number comparison of scores /percentiles as they do in CAT would stop.. And more emphasis would come on to profile building exercises than just slogging for CAT.. That way, IIMs would definitely be able to get a better crop of students

    ReplyDelete
  6. There might be a few hiccups in the beginning. But its definitely a step in the right direction.

    ReplyDelete
  7. ..great step but the devil lies in implementation..how will a large chink of India living in rural,semi-urban areas get access to such a technology...we don't heve the kind of internet penetration like the west...it will furthur lead to migration to the metros who are already suffocated

    ReplyDelete
  8. what percent of current iim students are from rural areas? what percent of them have such good command of english as is expected of cat? they hav all been alienated long back....

    ReplyDelete
  9. @ rags

    Its not matter of percentage and stats. When you change the rules and try to start a new policy altogether, it becomes vital to keep in mind all the section of societies and all part of India. more so if the body in question is govt. body.
    As far as english knowledge goes. In CAT, the person with knowledge of written english can score much and having seen the latest trend in CAT, i can bet that even a person from hindi medium can score better than the person underwent concvent edu through out the life provided he has better logical ability and IQ.
    Also answer doesnt lie in the problem. If the rural people have already alienated, we should change the policy for inclusive change, not making it tougher for them

    ReplyDelete
  10. The GMAT exam is currently taken in 9 centres across India, that part is correct. However Pearson VUE is the test delivery partner for the GMAT.

    The exam is delivered in the following Pearson VUE test centre locations-

    New Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Allahabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Kochi.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Nice post. Really liked it..
    Don't forget to update it regularly.
    I am looking for new updates dieing to read more stuff from you ..
    -------------------------------


    JOB-HUNT
    Aims at helping the Fresh Graduates, Engineers, MBAs to get jobs in good companies
    http://jobgame.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. I like the post.Please update reguarly.
    www.manikandan.co.in

    ReplyDelete
  13. very good idia,CAT should be online

    ReplyDelete
  14. off topic
    check out http://indianmediacircus.blogspot.com/ & give ur comments

    ReplyDelete
  15. Eduquity specializes in online tests and has a clean record of 'Zero failure' ( not a student went back without taking the test).

    Power is not the only culprit. Internet connections fail, lightning srikes, server failures, PC failures, switches/network failures etc need to be considered for online testing. It is not a small task as it appears. Believe me.

    We dont sleep during one month of BITSAT !

    I am sure all care will be taken for CAT online!

    Ramesh
    CTO
    Eduquity
    ramesh.kumar@eduquity.com

    ReplyDelete
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