Article : The 'what and how' of CAT online: 3 possible scenarios

CAT goes online," screamed all the newspapers a couple of weeks back. Though, the IIMs have not come out clearly on the 'what and how' of CAT Online, there is enough evidence for you to be prepared for an online exam. Firstly, there was no outright denial (other than some minor clarifications that came up on the IIM Kolkata site) of the plans which seem to indicate that the IIMs have let the newspapers build up the case for them. Secondly, IIMs have invited tenders for conducting the test by parties "who have the ability to put up infrastructure that can handle the exam on such a large scale". So there is enough circumstantial evidence to point to an impending shift to a CAT Online.

When we talk of CAT going online, there are a whole lot of questions that we may have in our minds.

~ What will online mean?
~ Why did the IIMs think of online CAT as an option of testing?
~ What are the models of online testing that are used world over?
~ What are the issues linked to each of these models?
~ What could this lead CAT into in the future?
~ What are the implications for students?

CAT Online could lead to a couple of interpretations because of the usage of the word Online. But it could only mean 'taking a test on the computer which serves questions from a local server'. It definitely does not mean 'testing on the web'.

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Courtesy :- Rediff.com