The Common Admission Test (CAT) 2009 fiasco has made other bodies wary of going online with admission tests. The state government’s plan for going online for the Common Entrance Test 2010 (CET) was called off. Following this, a committee was appointed by the Visvesvaraya Technological University to look at cancelling the online exams for MBA and MTech courses.
Now the Karnataka Management Admission Test (KMAT) authorities have clarified that the test will take longer to go online. Initially, it was reported thatnext year’s KMAT will be held online. However, M Prakash, secretary, KMAT, said that the plans were on hold as of now. “We are waiting for students to get enlightened and be comfortable using computers before taking the test online,” he said.
The Karnataka Private Post Graduate Colleges Association (KPPGCA) conducts the KMAT test across 12 centres in the state including Bangalore, Mysore and Mangalore. The scores of the test are utilised by 123 KPPGCA member colleges for the admissions to the MCA and MBA courses.
Following the barrage of criticism that the first online CAT2009 received, the institution is hesitating to adapt the online format.
“We had made a proposal to look at conducting an online KMAT. But after the CAT experience, we have decided to wait longer. Awareness among students regarding the online admission tests need to improve. They are not computer savvy even to the extent of submitting online forms,” said Prakash.
According to him, in his past experience of organising KMAT, the organisers had seen issues crop up in areas like students using the internet facility to download online
admit cards, applications and even in submitting information online.
Prakash said, “We have four helplines for KMAT. Applicants call us on the helplines asking how to submit an application. We explain the process and end the call. A few minutes later, we would get another call from the same student saying, ‘I’m sitting in front of the computer and it is asking for a password or ‘how do I fill in my date of birth, the day first or the year?”
Asked if chances of going online are slim this year, the KPPGCA secretary said, “We do have plans to go online. But not any time soon. Online testing is the most simple, easy and effective format to conduct entrance exams for a large number of students within a given time period.”
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