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CAT 2009 registration checklist and test centres
September 9, 2009: The Indian Institutes of management has begun the process for CAT 2009. The IIM has also announced the test centres for this year's online CAT 2009.
According to the press release, the CATIIM will conduct online CAT 2009 on 32 centres across the country.
The centres are as following: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar,
Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Durgapur, Faridabad,
Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Navi Mumbai,
Noida, Siliguri, Varanasi, Patna, Pune, Ranchi, Shillong, Gurgaon,
Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Ghaziabad and Greater Noida.
For more details visit CATIIM website www.catiim.in or direct link
http://www.catiim.in/test_centres.html
Apart from this, students, who have bought voucher, can log on to website and get registered.
Students are advised to check the required documents before registration.
Checklist for CAT 2009 registration:
• Your Voucher with you
• Your Personal Information ready
• Your Academic Percentage ready
• Read list of CAT 2009 testing locations
• Read CAT 2009 Registration Instructions
For further details visit http://www.catiim.in/catregistration.html
The union cabinet today approved setting up 7 new IIMs
September 7, 2009: The union cabinet today approved setting up of seven new Indian Institutes of
Management (IIMs) in Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand
and Rajasthan besides allocating Rs 1,057 crore for their establishment. Currently, there are seven IIMs in the country at
Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore, Kozhikode and
Shillong. These are to be set up in 2009-10 and become functional from academic session 2010-11.There would be intake of 140 students in the Post Graduate
Programme (PGP) course in phase-I and by the end of phase-II, it would reach 560 students per year. Admission shall be through the Common Admission Test (CAT).
Important points for CAT 2009 aspirant
CAT 2009 aspirant must remember the following points:
1. What’s your Email ID? “Prospective candidates must maintain a valid email account throughout the selection process,” say CATIIM.in. You will need to submit this email id at the time of registration. This email account will become the only link between you and IIMs. The admit card will be sent to you as an email on your this email address, after you have filled in your online application and scheduled a test. It is therefore, mandatory for you to have a valid email account throughout the process.
2. Download ‘Registration Instructions & Manual for CAT 2009’ and ‘CAT 2009 FAQs’.
Link to Registration Instruction & Manual:
http://content.catiim.in/pdf/registration_inst.pdf
CAT 2009 FAQs: http://www.catiim.in/faq.html
3. Buy the CAT Voucher early: So make sure you queue up at the nearest Axis Bank and buy the Voucher. Sale starts on September 9. Link
http://www.catiim.in/buy_voucher.html has details of AXIS bank locations.
4. Register online early and schedule your exam location ASAP: Online registration for CAT 2009 will also begin on Wednesday, 9 September 2009 and end on Thursday, 1 October 2009. Yes, you can choose a test date, test time, and venue across thirty cities all over India. But only subject to availability! So it is in your best interest to schedule your exam ASAP. Naturally, choose exam center that is in your city or closest your city.
5. Choose your exam time carefully: This is an important step! A typical testing day for CAT will have 2 exam sessions. Candidates are allowed to schedule for any one of the sessions, subject to availability. Session timings are as follows:
Session 1: Testing will begin at 10 AM and end at 12:30 PM. Candidate check-in will commence from 8 AM. Candidates are required to arrive at the test center no later than 8:30 AM.
Session 2: Testing will begin at 3:30 PM and end at 6 PM. Candidate check-in will commence from 1:30 PM. Candidates are required to arrive at the test center no later than 2:00 PM.
So, its your choice.:
6. Reach exam venue 2 hours in advance: IIMs and its testing agency Prometrics are very strict about this. “You must arrive two hours before your scheduled appointment. This allows time for you to sign
in and for staff to verify your identification and documentation. If you fail to arrive on time you will not be allowed to take the CAT,” says CATIIM.in. Take this deadline seriously please.
7. Do you have a valid Photo ID? Else apply now! IIMs say that you must present a valid (nonexpired) form
of photo identification before you can test. Acceptable forms of photo identification include: driver’s license;
passport; PAN card; voter ID; college ID; employee identification card; or a notarized Affidavit with photo, signature, date of birth and residential address.
8. Retain your documents carefully:
a. Bank ‘Pay-in-slip’ while buying CAT voucher.
b. CAT Voucher
c. CAT Admit Card: Take a printout and keep it safely for reference. You are also required to take a print out of the Admit Card to bring with you to the test centre.
9. Familiarize yourself with Computer based testing: Take the online and computer based test as much as you can. Sample official mock CAT is available at
http://content.catiim.in/catdemo/index.htm.
All major coaching centers and online testing platforms have free and paid mock tests.
10. Finally, check an update on ‘Exam Sites’ .
Will CAT-2009 follow Computer Adaptive Testing model?
The decision of the Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs) to conduct CAT-2009
online has the potential to change the landscape of testing - if it works well,
technological glitches notwithstanding. But CAT is not CAT based. That is to
say, Common Admission Test is not based on Computer Adaptive Testing model. The
overwhelming number of about 3,00,000 candidates expected to be tested in about
30 sessions, 2/3 sessions each day for 10/15 days - with 10,000/12,000 in each
session. For each session, an equivalent form of the test may be used. So
technically, CAT is CBT with Parallel Forms, and these forms are likely to be statistically equated. Most Read
Examinations on computers are tagged differently -- on-line tests, computer
assisted tests, computer based tests, computer adaptive tests, and tailored
tests. From IT angle, based on how the tests are delivered are classified as
computer based test (CBT) or internet based test (IBT). CBT can be in a
standalone computer or in a LAN with a local server whereas IBT is largely
delivered and controlled from a remote centralised server.
CBT is a distributed model where the questions reside on the local server and
data is transferred to a central one. Compared to that, IBT is delivered through
a centralised server using internet protocol and data saved on the server. This
is the way computer technology would classify testing. More significant way of classifying tests on computer is the psychometric theory
these are based on. In India, perceived fairness of the process is far more
important than the technical issues of reliability and validity. There will be
more questions on fairness and equivalence. Based on psychometric theory, the classification is CBT and CAT.
CBT here is presenting the test items/questions on the computer screen rather
than on paper. CBT has the following three variations. The "same content for all
the examinees in one session" model enjoys the same psychometric credibility as
of a paper-pencil test. It is restricted only in terms of the number it can
manage in a session. This model can be called Simple CBT.
"Different sessions with different but parallel/equivalent content" model can be
compared to multiple sessions in paper-pencil mode. Different parallel forms of
the test need to be statistically equated. Eyebrows can be raised about
equivalence and statistical bias. This model can be called CBT with Parallel
Forms. Another model is different sessions with randomly selected items from a larger
item pool based on different silos of item properties. The complete test for any
two examinees is likely to be very much different. This model can be called CBT with Random Item Selection.
Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT): Testing is sampling of ability inferred through
a sample (represented by test items). A simple rule of statistics is - larger
the sample better the inference. Keeping in view practical considerations like
optimal time, fatigue of test taker, number of items is decided. Since same test
is given to all, items of varying difficulty level are selected to generate more
individual differences. Hence the effective sample (number of items actually
contributing to measurement) gets further reduced depending upon the ability
level of the test taker. For example, if we have all candidates of higher
ability given ten easy items, all of them will score very high marks. In the
same way, ten difficult ones to lower ability level will generate low score.
If we give a test of five easy and five difficult items to both the groups then
the higher group gets differentiated from the lower group on the basis of only
five items and not the ten actually contained in the test. Five items in this
case are redundant and do not contribute to measurement. To sum up, through "conventional" testing the ability or the characteristic gets
measured via only a small number of items though we are using more items. The
number of items that actually contribute to measurement is much smaller than the
actual number in the test. The individual differences get reported at a broad
level and lack micro-precision.
A better way to do so is to present each candidate items pitched to her ability.
For the logic of "suiting to each", it is also called "tailored" or "adaptive"
testing. This could be translated to measurement reality after fusion of this
principle of tailoring with that of advanced computing facilities giving birth
to CAT. A typical session would be as follows. A candidate is presented with an
item of moderate difficulty selected randomly from a large pool. Based on the
response, the ability is assessed and accordingly next item of higher or lower
difficulty is presented.
No provision for disabled in online CAT
NEW DELHI, September 9, 2009: With CAT being conducted online for the first time this
year, the differently-abled are feeling left out. The disabled rights groups strongly feel that accessing the CAT IIM website will be a hassle for hundreds of differently-abled persons as the site is in no way disabled-friendly. The website opened for registration on Wednesday.
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