‘Server crash’ hits first online CAT

Prestigious Common Admission Test CAT developed problems in the maiden online test on day one even the morning session exam is likely to be cancelled after reports of servers getting overloaded in many cities are being received.

Reports said there were glitches in certain centres in Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bhopal.

However, IIM, Bangalore, Director Prof Pankaj Chandra said the first session of the examination was a “smooth affair”.

“It has been a smooth affair. There was no server crash during the exam,” he told a news agency.

Asked about the reports of technical glitches, he said, “There may be some instances of virus attack in the computers at certain centres. But at this stage I cannot confirm”.

The IIMs for the first time have entrusted the task of conducting the CAT to Prometric, an American firm, which is organising the computer-based test over a period of ten days.

Nearly 2.41 lakh students have registered for the test being conducted at 105 centres in 32 cities across the country. Students can appear in the test which would be spread over10 days.

There will be two rounds of test each day. The first round will start from 10 am to 12.30 pm while the second round will be from 3.30 pm to 6 pm, Prometric said.

A total of 2,41,582 students have registered for the exam this year, which is a marginal drop as compared to last year when 2,46,000 students appeared for CAT.The candidates will vie for around 2000 seats in IIMs.

Directional maps detailing the locations of all test centres have been made available on the CAT website by Prometric.