Computerised CAT to cost less than Rs 2,000

In what should come as a huge respite for Common Admission Test candidates, the Indian Institutes of Management have hinted that the registration fee for the computer-based test this academic year will not be as high as similar tests like GMAT (Graduate Management Aptitude Test, for admission to business schools overseas).

While the registration fee for CAT 2009, which was Rs 1,300 last year, will surely increase due to the high administrative and infrastructure costs because of the computerisation, it may still be less than Rs 2,000.

"The registration fee for GMAT, which is also computerised, tends to be around Rs 10,000. However, computer-based CAT will be nowhere compared to that. Since the past 30 years, IIMs have increased the fee only marginally and will continue to do so. Hence, the registration fee will be kept affordable for the students. However, a final decision will be taken by the end of this month," said Satish Deodhar, convenor, CAT 2009, and faculty member at IIM-Ahmedabad.

CAT, say IIMs, will be a candidate-friendly test in terms of flexibility in the selection of test date, ease of registration, better physical environment and test experience, and enhanced security with biometric identification of candidates and video monitoring.

"The test will be a computer-based test and not an online test as is being misconstrued," clarified Deodhar. The test will be taken on terminals but not administered through the Internet. The test will be downloaded on a computer and allotted to the student, he added.

Unlike the paper and pencil test, computerised CAT this year will incur some heavy costs for the elite business schools, according to a source at one of the IIMs.

However, according to Debashis Chatterjee, director of IIM Kozhikode, "The cost will be more than justified as we will look at some cost-benefit aspects while conducting the test.  Nevertheless, there will be a marginal increase in fee which is subject to deliberations between IIMs. We are yet to arrive at a final decision."

IIMs recently roped in US-based Prometric, a leading provider of technology-enabled testing and assessment services, through an exclusive $40 million (around Rs 1.9 billion) contract to computerise the prestigious CAT.  The test will be conducted in a span of about 10 days towards the end of this year.