Bugs continue to dog CAT 2009

Even though technical glitches have prevented many students from appearing for their CAT 2009 exams on their scheduled dates this year causing a nationwide uproar, the authorities don’t seem to have learnt their lessons.

Tuesday, the fourth day of the CAT 2009 exam, was no different from the previous three days, as technical snags in the computers continued to plague the students appearing for the online exam. Only nine labs out of 11 functioned during the morning slot at Garden City College here on Tuesday.

“It appears that neither the government nor the authorities are concerned about the students. They kept us in the dark for hours and then without giving proper explanation, they asked us to go back saying that the exam had been cancelled,” said Dev D, an angry candidate, who could not attend the morning session. “Around 40 students were unable to take the test in the morning,” he added.

The indifference of the officials has angered many students. “The authorities did not inform us till the last minute that our lab was not functioning.They were also tight-lipped about the rescheduled dates. This is not acceptable,” said another candidate, on the condition of anonymity.

Another candidate, Richard M, complained that they had to wait till 11 am to be finally told that their lab wasn’t functioning and they will have to re-take their test.
Many students demanded a written document from the officials stating that the exam had indeed been cancelled. But the authorities didn’t oblige and all they could procure was a red seal on their admit card.

The communication gap between the management aspirants and the authorities irked a large section of students.

“I agree that occasional glitches can happen when it comes to an online test. But as a candidate, I feel that Prometric should have kept us informed of all the latest developments. I tried their helpline number for several hours in vain. When I did finally manage to get through it was past 7 pm and I was told that the customer care official is not available after 7 pm,” said another frustrated candidate, who also didn’t want to be named.

Many IT professionals, who attended the test, claimed that Prometric has been too complacent which has resulted in the cropping up of such errors.

But IT professional and IIM aspirant Aditya said, “It is not right to blame them alone. The  infrastructure is poor and others associated with organising this exam too are equally responsible for the failure.”

While all the 11 labs were functional during the afternoon slot at Garden City College, no technical problem was reported from Vivekananda Degree College during the day.
A relieved Rachna Mishra, a candidate, said, “Thankfully, I did not face any problem while appearing for the first online version of CAT. Though, the exam started 15 minutes late, we were given extra time at the end.”