Management seat aspirants, who are all set to take the Common Entrance Test (CAT) on Sunday hoping for a seat at Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), will not be allowed to enter the examination hall with closed footwear, including socks.
This measure has been introduced as a deterrent to cheating. Those wearing closed shoes and socks will have to remove their footwear before entering the centre. Open footwear such as slippers will be allowed.
Convener of CAT 2016, IIM Bangalore, has also issued a list of dos and don’ts.
For instance, this year candidates have also been banned from carrying pens, which will be provided in the hall by invigilators.
Candidates will also not be allowed to apply mehndi on their palms at least five days prior to the test as the candidate’s digital fingerprint will be scanned at the venue.
A press release issued by the convener on Friday also stated that candidates can only take admit cards and original photo IDs inside the test hall.
Other items in the banned list include watches, mobile phone, earplugs, microphones, pagers, health-bands and other electronic gadgets, any printed/blank/hand-written paper, pencil boxes, pouches and calculators. The test will be conducted in two separate sessions across 138 cities in India.
It will span 180 minutes with three sections - verbal ability and reading comprehension (VARC), data interpretation and logical reasoning and quantitative ability. Each of the candidates will be allotted exactly 60 minutes to answer each section. The release added that they cannot switch from one section to another.
Some of questions may not be multiple choice questions; instead candidates will have to type the answers directly onto the screen.
Those taking the test will be allowed to use the basic on-screen calculator. Admit cards can be downloaded from the CAT website https://iimcat.ac.in .
As many as 2.32 lakh applicants have registered for the test and the results are likely to be announced in the second week of January.
The organisers have also urged candidates to keep themselves abreast with the weather conditions in the test city so that they reach the centre on time.
This includes rains in Puducherry and Tamil Nadu or dense fog in north India.
Candidates who have opted for a scribe will have to carry the scribe affidavit along with the photo ID proof of the scribe.
