Fewer but better equipped test centres have been chosen this year.
Students appearing for the Common Admission Test (CAT) will be treated to air-conditioned class rooms while answering the test this year.
The new computer-based format of the test has enabled the authorities to reduce the number of centres by around 50 per cent, allowing them to now choose centres with the best infrastructure, facilities and atmosphere.
“When we decided to replace the pen-and-paper test with the computer-based format, our aim was to provide the best possible ambience to the candidates,” said Satish Deodhar, convenor of the CAT centre at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) and a faculty member.
“Since the examination will now be conducted over a span of 10 days, we have been able to reduce the number of centres by around 50 per cent across the country. We can now choose those with the best facilities, such as good lighting, proper furniture and air-conditioned rooms,” Deodhar said.
Till last year, the CAT was conducted on one day, requiring the authorities to find a large number of centres, including primary schools with poor infrastructure. “In many cases, the candidates had to sit on cramped benches with small desks and poor lighting. At other centres, the noise of wedding parties and other similar events would disturb the candidates answering the paper,” Deodhar said.
The number of CAT test centres in Ahmedabad has been trimmed down from eight last year to three — the LDRP Institute of Technology and Research, Gandhinagar; LJ Institute of Management Studies in the Sarkhej-Sanand area; and Vishwakarma Government Engineering College at Chandkheda. The CAT 2009 will be conducted at 105 centres in 32 cities across India.
The better ambience this year will not only benefit the students, but also facilitate the implementation of the new test system.
“It will enable us to comfortably conduct various test procedures, such as taking photographs of the candidates and their biometric identification. Three fingers of each candidate will be scanned and recorded as part of the biometric test,” Deodhar said.
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