The Indian Institutes of Management will tweak their Common Admission Test format this year to evaluate aspiring MBAs more for accuracy and knowledge than aptitude in an attempt to "establish CAT as an Indian exam of international repute," like the GMAT and GRE, according to CAT committee convener Janakiraman Moorthy. The exam, which had made a controversial switchover from paperpencil format to computer-based testing two years ago may become computer-adaptive , an international format where the difficulty level rises with each correct answer .
"Currently, it is a computerbased test, but once the format stabilises , we will have to decide if we want to make it computer-adaptive ," says Moorthy, who will supervise the exam this year. In the new-format test, students will get 140 minutes to answer 60 questions spread equally over two sections, down from the earlier three. Candidates cannot move on to the next section till 70 minutes are over, unlike last year, when they had 135 minutes to attempt the same number of questions without any section-wise time restriction. The section-wise time allocation will end race against time in the exam which always puts speed at a premium.
The exam will be conducted between October 22 and November 18 across 36 cities; Bhilai , Jammu and Dehradun being the new centres. "We have seen students spending too much time on a particular section and consequently find less time for other sections. Now, they will have only two sections with 30 questions and 70 minutes each. This will ensure that they concentrate on one section at a time. The new format will help students focus on quantitative ability and data interpretation in section I and verbal ability and logical reasoning in section II," adds Moorthy, maintaining that there would be no impact on the results.
Earlier, the CAT paper would have three sections - data interpretation & logical reasoning, quantitative ability & verbal ability and comprehension "CAT was more of an aptitude test some 10 years ago when students had to solve 180 questions in 120 minutes. The number of questions has been decreasing and now, it is a test of knowledge . The new format offers almost double the time to solve one question ," says Gautam Puri, vice chairman and MD of Career Launcher. Students believe there will now be more of a level-playing field for students from non-engineering backgrounds.
"Currently, it is a computerbased test, but once the format stabilises , we will have to decide if we want to make it computer-adaptive ," says Moorthy, who will supervise the exam this year. In the new-format test, students will get 140 minutes to answer 60 questions spread equally over two sections, down from the earlier three. Candidates cannot move on to the next section till 70 minutes are over, unlike last year, when they had 135 minutes to attempt the same number of questions without any section-wise time restriction. The section-wise time allocation will end race against time in the exam which always puts speed at a premium.
The exam will be conducted between October 22 and November 18 across 36 cities; Bhilai , Jammu and Dehradun being the new centres. "We have seen students spending too much time on a particular section and consequently find less time for other sections. Now, they will have only two sections with 30 questions and 70 minutes each. This will ensure that they concentrate on one section at a time. The new format will help students focus on quantitative ability and data interpretation in section I and verbal ability and logical reasoning in section II," adds Moorthy, maintaining that there would be no impact on the results.
Earlier, the CAT paper would have three sections - data interpretation & logical reasoning, quantitative ability & verbal ability and comprehension "CAT was more of an aptitude test some 10 years ago when students had to solve 180 questions in 120 minutes. The number of questions has been decreasing and now, it is a test of knowledge . The new format offers almost double the time to solve one question ," says Gautam Puri, vice chairman and MD of Career Launcher. Students believe there will now be more of a level-playing field for students from non-engineering backgrounds.