CAT-2009 results baffle candidates

The results of the glitch-marred Common Admission Test (CAT)-2009 were finally declared on Sunday. The eight Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) released, along with the CAT-2009 results, the list of examinees short-listed by them for interview before admission.

Many candidates (and even their teachers) are not happy with the results. Parasharan Chari, in-charge of academics at Endeavour careers Pvt. Ltd, said it was difficult to explain the scores of many students.

“How can a candidate who could answer only 60 questions get 450 marks?” he said. “There is no explanation for that unless you assume that different questions were allotted different marks. If that was so, it was not told to the students taking the test.”

Chari said he suspected the test results had not been standardised. “It seems the score of a student depended on the day he took the test,” he said. “We have noticed that students who took the test the same day have scored similar marks. On the other hand, students of the same caliber who appeared on another date had scored very differently.”

Computer glitches continued to dog CAT-2009 even after results were declared. The results website shut down for three hours on Sunday afternoon, because of  traffic overload.