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Nikhil Gadodia
Bangalore : An unprecedented 1.91 lakh candidates will appear for the Common Admission Test (CAT), a passport to famed IIMs and big salaries, on November 19.
The decision of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) to cut down on the number of applicants by enhancing the eligibility criteria to 50% has backfired with the number of aspirants swelling from 1.70 lakh last year to around 1.91 lakh this year. Last year, 1.57 lakh candidates appeared for the test.
“We decided to increase the eligibility criteria to 50% at the degree level because we found candidates with scores below this were anyway not getting admission into IIMs. The main intention is to reinforce an academic environment and not unnecessarily rise the expectations of average candidates who also lose out by not concentrating on their degree exams,” Shubhabrata Das, chairperson (admissions) IIM-B, told TOI.
Delhi will see a record 30,000 candidates taking Sunday’s three-hour test, while in Banglore it will be around 19,000 and about 9,000 in Chennai.
For the first time, the duration of the test has been extended by half an hour. “CAT 2006 will be a three-hour test. We decided to extend the time as we felt candidates need more time to tackle the format of the exam. We do not know whether next year’s test will also be for three hours,” he added.
But the IIMs’ candidate-friendly measures like online application and Interactive Voice Response Service (IVRS) have not gone down well with aspirants. Only around 12,500 candidates applied online and though the IIMs do not have figures on the IVRS usage, the perception is that it has not been fully helpful to candidates.
QUOTA BITES
There won’t be a special CAT for quota candidates. The IIMs have decided not to invite applications exclusively from OBC candidates to fill up 27% of the reserved seats. This year, 21,750 OBC candidates have applied for the CAT. Depending on the extent of expansion, each IIM will select candidates from the existing pool of applicants. “We may, however, go in for a notification informing OBC candidates who have applied for the CAT to produce certificates proving their OBC status. We won’t be inviting separate applications from OBC candidates,” Das said.
The six IIMs have sought for a three years time to carry out 54% expansion. But it is unclear whether the HRD ministry will allow IIMs to implement reservation in phases or arm-twist them to implement the entire extent of expansion in 2007.
Source :: http://www.cflogic.com/Latest%20News/1.91%20Lakh%20Candidates%20to%20Take%20CAT'06.htm
The decision of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) to cut down on the number of applicants by enhancing the eligibility criteria to 50% has backfired with the number of aspirants swelling from 1.70 lakh last year to around 1.91 lakh this year. Last year, 1.57 lakh candidates appeared for the test.
“We decided to increase the eligibility criteria to 50% at the degree level because we found candidates with scores below this were anyway not getting admission into IIMs. The main intention is to reinforce an academic environment and not unnecessarily rise the expectations of average candidates who also lose out by not concentrating on their degree exams,” Shubhabrata Das, chairperson (admissions) IIM-B, told TOI.
Delhi will see a record 30,000 candidates taking Sunday’s three-hour test, while in Banglore it will be around 19,000 and about 9,000 in Chennai.
For the first time, the duration of the test has been extended by half an hour. “CAT 2006 will be a three-hour test. We decided to extend the time as we felt candidates need more time to tackle the format of the exam. We do not know whether next year’s test will also be for three hours,” he added.
But the IIMs’ candidate-friendly measures like online application and Interactive Voice Response Service (IVRS) have not gone down well with aspirants. Only around 12,500 candidates applied online and though the IIMs do not have figures on the IVRS usage, the perception is that it has not been fully helpful to candidates.
QUOTA BITES
There won’t be a special CAT for quota candidates. The IIMs have decided not to invite applications exclusively from OBC candidates to fill up 27% of the reserved seats. This year, 21,750 OBC candidates have applied for the CAT. Depending on the extent of expansion, each IIM will select candidates from the existing pool of applicants. “We may, however, go in for a notification informing OBC candidates who have applied for the CAT to produce certificates proving their OBC status. We won’t be inviting separate applications from OBC candidates,” Das said.
The six IIMs have sought for a three years time to carry out 54% expansion. But it is unclear whether the HRD ministry will allow IIMs to implement reservation in phases or arm-twist them to implement the entire extent of expansion in 2007.
Source :: http://www.cflogic.com/Latest%20News/1.91%20Lakh%20Candidates%20to%20Take%20CAT'06.htm