Copy CAT: Widespread cheating reported in city

Touted as one of the toughest entrance tests in the country, the Common Admission Test (CAT) has lost its credibility, say aspirants to the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) who attempted the exam’s first online avatar. Reason: widespread copying is being reported across the city.

“Throughout the two-and-half-hour long test, the lab was chaotic and full of noise. I saw several students purposely rebooting the system so as to gain a few extra minutes to solve questions. Invigilators were busy fixing problems of other candidates who were also grappling with their systems,” says Amit Bushan, who attempted the test from Fr Conceiciao Rodrigues Agnel College of Engineering, Bandra.

Another candidate, who attempted the test from Saboo Siddik college of Engineering, Byculla, complained about people consulting with each other while solving problems in the quantitative section. “I saw a group of students talking and peeping into each other’s computers. They were also discussing problems and solutions, but the invigilator failed to notice it,” said the candidate on condition of anonymity.

“Problems reported by examinees range from noisy testing labs, candidates talking to one another with no interference from invigilators, chatting on mobile phones, etc. How can this be called a competitive exam, when there is no level playing field?” said Rohit Awasthi, spokesperson, PaGalGuy.com, a popular MBA resource website.

The website has asked students to write in with their problems which will then be mailed to the IIMs and Prometric, which is conducting the test. Further, questions are being repeated in different versions of the test. Consequently, communities are mushrooming on social networking sites, raising questions about the validity of the process.

“Questions are being leaked through various private channels. While we are moderating our website respecting the non-disclosure clause, several un-moderated social networks are sharing questions. Given that there are reports of questions being repeated, it obviously puts test-takers on each subsequent day at an advantage,” said Apurv Pandit, editor, PaGalGuY.com.

Triumphant Institute of Management Education (TIME), an MBA training centre which accounts for over 1/3rd of CAT examinees, has written to the IIMs asking for cancellation of the online test. “The credibility of the online CAT is in doubt. Since there was no uniformity in exam and test centers, we request the authorities to conduct a pen and paper exam,” said Arks Srinivas, director, TIME.