The Common Admission Test (CAT) conducted by Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) for admission to management courses in India, has undergone a change. Earlier it was a conventional paper and pencil test. From this year it has become a computer based test, though the format and the kind of questions will remain the same.

 

Online tests have certain advantages. The fear of copying gets eliminated as each student can be administered different questions. Marking and evaluation also become easier. Traditionally, global tests like the GRE and the GMAT are computer adaptive tests, and they work well.

 

Students preparing for CAT, however, have to orient themselves to the new format. If you are used to solving questions on paper, a change in approach is required in the following question types:

 

1. Marking and solving. Many of us are used to doing our calculations on paper. When a Maths question is given, we make some calculations in the margin and are able to arrive at the answer. The new skill required is to read the question on a computer screen and then solve it on paper and mark the answer on the screen. This may cause students to look up and down and thus lose time.

 

2. Reading Comprehension. Reading Comprehension is solved by most students by underlining key ideas or key words. This makes it easier to locate answers in a passage. In the new format, students cannot mark on the text as it appears on the screen. The new skill required is to make mental tags of key ideas and solve the questions accordingly.

 

3. Working with tables and charts. If long tables are given, students can mark the figures they require in the table itself. However, if the table appears on the screen, it is going to be difficult to pinpoint figures and work with them on paper.

 

The challenge before students thus is to practice several mock tests on the computer and get used to the new style of the test. Though the skills of solving questions are the same, one has to get used to working online. Reading from the screen and solving questions requires a slight shift in orientation, which can be mastered with practice.

 

Fortunately, online mock tests are available on several sites. One can check out the site:  www.simt-ind.org and do some online tests.

 

The strategy for preparing for the online test is as follows. First, get to know the basics and do some paper based section tests, each in Maths, English and Data Interpretation. Then start doing these section tests online and see whether your paper scores match the online scores. After a few tests, your score should increase. After becoming comfortable with online section tests, set aside two and a half hours and do a full length online test without interruption.

 

This will help you in: (a) developing your strategy for answering questions on the screen, (b) give you practice in reading off the computer screen and (c) increase your online scores.

 

Online CAT thus requires a change in orientation, while everything else remains same. If you do not have a computer, you can easily work in a cyber café. But it is time to rise up to the challenge of the online test, as other institutes may also opt for it in the future. Some years back XLRI tried for an online test, but that effort failed. But this year MAT has given the option to students for appearing in the test, either on computer or through paper and pencil format. The road to the future is being set.