CAT exam begins, first day passes without glitches

This is the second year that CAT exams are being  conducted online. Last year, major technical glitches forced over 8,000 students to retake the prestigious examination. However, with longer operational trials and technical preparedness, the tests are expected to be smooth this year. A practice test paper was also released earlier by Prometric, the US-based IT firm responsible for the online format.

“This year, the number of technical problems faced by test takers were fewer than last year. The support staff at the test venues was better equipped to handle the glitches this time round,” Vinayak Kudva, product head at CAT coaching institute IMS, told IANS.

With around two lakh students appearing for the exams this year, Kudva advises students to be prepared to face any kind of technical problems.

“I would recommend students to be mentally prepared for technical glitches and understand that their chances will not get hampered by it,” Kudva said.

The tests, to be conducted at 78 centres across 33 cities in a staggered format, will conclude Nov 24. A total of 204,267 candidates have registered for CAT 2010, with the highest number of registration from Maharashtra where 30,296 candidates have registered.

Forty different sets of question papers have been prepared for the exam -- the results for which will be declared Jan 12, 2011.