It was a testing time on Sunday for thousands of candidates across Karnataka who had to appear for the Common Admission Test (CAT) — the gateway for admissions to Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and other leading B-schools. Many candidates had to race against time to complete their papers, and several of them were unable to finish the test, which was conducted in two slots.
Syed Abrar, a final year B.Com. student, said the time allotted was not sufficient. “I think I could have done better if I had more time. Time management was the one drawback for me this year,” he said.
Aayush Khanna, another a final year B.Com. student, said he had been preparing for the exam for the past six months and felt that he fared moderately well. “The Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning section was tougher than the others. Surprisingly, the Quantitative Ability section was easy and I was able to attempt almost all the questions,” he said.
Karthikey Jagwan said the exam went off smoothly, but the quantitative section was tough for him.
Many candidates said the mock tests conducted by their coaching centres had prepared them adequately and the pattern of the test was similar to CAT 2016.
Like every year, this year, too, saw several working professionals taking the test. Praful Patel, an employee in a private company said, “I’ve been working for a year and started preparing from the last two months. Lack of time to prepare definitely was a drawback for me, and I think I could have performed better.”
At a centre in J.P. Nagar, students said the arrangements made were inadequate. “It was crowded and the laptops were placed too close to each other. This also led to malpractice,” said one student.
Tight security
Students across the State had to write CAT barefoot. Many had to handover their belts, clips, and jewellery to their friends or guardians as they were not allowed to wear the items in the testing centre.
While this has been the routine for tests such as the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test where students are expected to wear open footwear, it was the first time that CAT candidates were asked to remove their shoes and socks. Candidates were also frisked before being allowed to enter the testing centre.
