So the time has finally come. It took 33 years to break that old convention. Yes, you are right - the CAT has become online. The IIMs have eventually selected Prometric ETS as their partner in delivering their computer assisted CAT. The things may look to be quite streamlined for the IIM people but i fear there are few things that would pose problems for the aspiring candidates. I won't be talking about the flaws in the execution of the process because i don't know anything about it. For that, we will have to wait for the prospectus and the guidelines issued by the IIMs.
The first thing that would catch an aspiring candidate's eye would be the institutes, i mean the coaching institutes. Since every coaching institute used to conduct mock tests before the actual CAT, this time the scenario would be a little different. Every institute would follow its own process and would try to move anywhere around GMAT because that is the only online exam and which caters to the admissions into MBA institutes around the world. May be a possibility is there that IIMs specify the structure of the exam and for that we will have to wait. And if not, institutes would do their best to experiment with the online CAT. So experimentation will be at its best on the assumption that IIMs won't disclose much. The new CAT may give a lot of surprises because GMAT aspirants have GMAT prep tests easily available on the internet that can be downloaded for free which give the exact feeling of how the test would be like. I mean the interface. And if CAT doesn't supply that, the surprise factor may be a little cumbersome for the first timers. So availability of online mock CATs by the authority will make a lot of difference.
Second aspect is attempting the test from monitor screen. I have seen people, the ones who have appeared for GMAT, who face problems attempting the questions from the monitor screen. Because our education system is such that for the past twenty or so years we have been reading from books and notebooks that it is most likely that people may face problems during the test keeping in view that last CAT attracted around 3.5 to 4 lac people. Underlining important lines from the RCs, solving the question at the question paper itself, eliminating options by putting a cross infront of the options are some of the factors that people have become well acclimatized and therefore can be problematic. So again practising questions and that too from the screen is something that the aspirants will have to keep in mind in the coming months. And consequently it is highly likely that a candidate may not be able to justify his potential during the test. And moreover, it is still undecided that whether the candidate has to attempt all the questions or he may revert to the ones he has left.
The next aspect is the type of questions. Seeing the GMAT pattern and the no of people who have appeared in the last CAT, it is quite predictable that the questions would be tricky wherein the logical type of questions would dominate. Again the basics would have to be in place in such a scenario otherwise the chances of failure would rise. Another thing that becomes important with the concept of online CAT would be the domination of profile based admissions into the colleges. If GMAT pattern is adopted, preparation of essays would become an inherent part of the admission process. Seeing this year's scenario when colleges like symbiosis etc have started to bend towards candidate's profile, it is predictable to some extent that people would be called for interviews only on the basis of the profiles and very rarely the marks scored in the exam. Obviously, when lacs and lacs of people appear, these things do stand out and colleges have taken a serious note of this. One consequence of this would be that the no. of applicants for exams like SNAP, JMET, FMS, IIFT, NMAT, XAT etc would rise.
Another factor is the application fee. I reckon that people will have to shell a bit more than what they had done last time for the simple reason that the infrastructure required to conduct the exam for so many people in the mentioned ten day window period would demand the costs to go a little higher.
Amidst all these obstacles pertaining to CAT, i can see some added advantages. If CAT adopts the GMAT pattern, then people will not have to prepare separately for GMAT and as a result the number of GMAT applicants from India is bound to rise. Moreover, the B-schools taking CAT scores may also rise. So just watch out and strategize to tame the CAT in a different way. All the Best!!
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