Taking CAT? You have less time to prepare

This year, candidates getting ready for the Common Admission Test (CAT) have a month less to prepare.

The dates of the examinations have been advance: CAT 2009 had began on November 28 and continued for 10 days, whereas CAT 2010 will begin from October 27 and go on till November 23, a 28-day period.

An early exam, however, does not mean early results. "The result date has not yet been finalised. Like earlier, we would be aiming for late January," said Devi Singh, director of IIM-Lucknow.

CAT 2010 is being coordinated by IIM-Lucknow, with IIM-Calcutta supporting it.

"CAT became a computer-based exam from 2009 and after reviewing our experience last year, it was decided that the number of exam centres would be decreased to keep a quality check. Hence, the number of exam days has go up," Singh said. "We were also trying to ensure that the dates don’t clash with any other exams and hence it was brought forward to October 27."

"The exam would be taken in two daily sessions," said Janakiraman Murthy, chairman admissions and member of CAT group, IIM-Calcutta.

The IIMs have agreed to give the test centres 15 days to examine their systems. "We want to have enough checks to avoid glitches like last year," said Singh.

Last year, 2.5 lakh students took the CAT. Apart from the eight IIMs, there are more than 120 management schools that use CAT scores for admissions.

"We’ll soon put up the exam dates on the official CAT website and would be publishing advertisements in newspapers by second week of August," said the IIM-Lucknow director.