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LATEST
NEWS |
22nd
February 2010 / Times of India / Ahmedabad Edition
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 IIM hopefuls lose sleep over CAT result delay
TESTING TIMES
Ahmedabad: The dream of studying in the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) is fast turning sour for many aspirants.
Risk factor for the students is increasing by the day,as the results of Common Admission Test (CAT) 2009 are getting delayed.
Earlier,the CAT results were awaited in the third week of February.Now,they are expected only by the end of the month.Worse,nobody is still sure about when exactly the results will come out.
After the IIMs declared on Saturday that the result for this years CAT will take another week to be declared, the students find themselves on the horns of a dilemma whether to wait for CAT results, or get enrolled in other institutes.
The results of entrance exams conducted by almost all other institutes have been declared. I have got calls from a couple of institutes. It is a very difficult choice for me to let go of the opportunities and wait for CAT results, said Sharda Dave.
Moreover,the CAT this year was different from tests conducted before and results can be unpredictable, she said,referring to the test which was conducted on-line for the first time this year.
The delay will certainly affect the quality of students entering the IIMs this year, be - cause many will take admissions in other A grade institutes that are more or less equivalent to IIMs or top B grade institutes,not wanting to lose out on opportunity, said Hitesh Devalia,from a citybased CAT coaching centre. CAT 2009 had encountered hitches from the word go. The IIMs decided to take the test online from this year, after a planning of over two years. The test that used to be conducted on a single day across the country, was conducted this year over 11 days, that included the extra day that was added to adjust the people who could not take the test on the scheduled date.
Test called off at 47 labs
In no less than 47 labs,the test was called off on the first two days,while 33 labs remained shut on the third day.There were close to 8,000 aspirants across the country who were affected by this glitch. The number kept increasing during the 11-day test after which there were two extra days on which the test was re-scheduled in January. The original date of declaring the CAT results was January-end.In the pen-and-paper format of the test,the results used to be declared in January first week,thus giving the candidates a lot of time to think, explore and decide. This time it will be tough, especially for the students who are seeking admission in the institutes accepting CAT scores, said Biswaroop Padi, from a CAT coaching centre in the city.
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