A lot of people seem to hold the IIM's at fault, But I feel, that the IIM's did do the right thing, There is only one party that can be held solely responsible & that is Prometric...
Online VS Paper Pencil
No doubt, this battle can only have one winner...
Going online has Loads of benefits, But honestly I really couldn't be bothered with saving on Man-Power & other such benefits, which actually are benefits for the Institutes.
As a candidate ... I feel the biggest Benefits of going online are
1.Every one gets the SAME amount of time, Some centers may not be prompt in ending the test, Some may end it a few minutes earlier, But if it's online, it's the Exact amount & no one gets any less OR any more.
2.I personally find it easier to work on Scratch pads, rather than Frantically hunting for some space to do all the rough Work whilst giving the test.
3.There is Always a very minute chance of not filling in your details properly or maybe not Darkening the circles properly etc.
I know these seem trivial, Because obviously the Simpler the thing is, Lesser is the chance of something going wrong...This is why the Paper-Pencil format Wins hands down, at the same time like I said...Eventually everything will go online, So might as well start liking it!
Level1 :- The Registration - The Early Signs Of Problems
Coming back to the topic on hand, there were signs early on to hint at Prometric's inability.
I'm sure all the candidates remember the Registration fiasco! (Not the video with those people with Weird/Fake accents, though I do agree, it was PAINFUL!)
Quick re-cap (For those who don't) ...
A candidate could fill the Application only ONCE, no edits allowed once it was submitted.
Also in the Form it asked for the details of a candidate's latest Academic information.
Now, a lot of people presumed this to be their college marks, & hence entered it & thought they were done...Boy were they in for a rude SHOCK!
Turns out, By recent, they meant, Everything! Class X, XII ... & the works.The panic it caused amongst the candidates is well known, People running to get new vouchers & the works...
Now any person while designing a Website needing registration (Hell, anyone with common sense) would have checks on the form, to make sure everything has been filled (& is in the correct format).
Such a Rookie mistake (Sorry, even rookies don't make such mistakes!) from the "World's leader in online testing" (or whatever they call themselves) was a Sure indicator ...That something was wrong!
They did rectify it, But HOW/WHY did it happen in the first place????
Level 2 :- Slot/Location booking
I booked my slot & location (1st Dec - Fortune Institute of Management) on the very first day of the registration process.
One day (I think in November) out of the blue, I find an e-mail informing me that due to some "Technical Error" my location has been shifted (Asia Pacific).I was a little angry, but then thought, it's a good thing, cause I at least will not have a Malfunctioning computer!
Later I found out a few people (Who had the same center) had not been assigned new centers, & the Irony being Asia Pacific was in the news, they had to shut the Lab on the 29th, & Fortune has been going strong (Well, as strong as most of the other centers).
Level 3 :- The Test
Well, everyone knows about this! this summary is courtesy pagalguy.com
- Screens going blank in between the test
- Reboots and ’svchost.exe’ errors
- Noise and commotion caused in the lab due to the above
- People in some labs getting extra time to solve questions while the above problems were being rectified
- Some features of the testing software (review button, display of questions) not working as intended on some computers
- Questions being leaked in various private channels. While moderated channels like PaGaLGuY are leaving no stoned unturned in respecting the non-disclosure clause, several other unmoderated social networks such as Orkut have communities dedicated to question sharing. Given that there are reports of questions being repeated, it obviously puts test-takers on each subsequent day at an advantage in the competition.
- Inconsistent quality of invigilation
Another Fundamental Flaw here was...The Quit/End test button
First why place it between the Review & Next???
Also, How did they miss on having a Confirmation Dialog box?
Again, Why should clicking on End-Review bring your test to an end? That too without asking for confirmation!!!
Level 4 :- Results
I have a feeling we are going to witness a problem in the results also, Even if i'm wrong, Everyone will have doubts regarding it!
Why??
Well seeing that Prometric has Managed to mess the simplest & most routine of tasks....The result phase is the most complex!
First you have 20 sets, So you need to make sure that each question has the right option against it in your database.
Then you have to match the Candidate's response to the Solution keys, Compute, & finally arrange!
Well obviously, since a computer handles all this, Prometric's job is only to provide the right Solution Keys & Algorithm/Code to perform these actions, & their track record till now, Doesn't inspire much confidence!
What Should be Done now?
Well i don't claim to be an authority on this, But well, Let's see if common sense can work here...
1.Going online is the right decision
2.Next year they should hold atleast 1 mass test, each Computer, each institute...& it's easy to get people, Just announce 1 Mass Mock on the First Come First Serve basis, any serious candidate will Jump at this opportunity, & you will be able to test all aspects (Maybe throw in the results too!, so Each & Every aspect of the testing process is Checked!)
3. For now, Hold a Re-test .The best argument for this, is a comment i read on some forum, where a person rightly said, The IIM's held a re-test in 2003 for the leaked paper.
But how how many people actually got affected? Maybe 0.1%, so why not hold it Now, Where 18% (Source TOI) have been "Re-scheduled", & EVERY SINGLE CANDIDATE has been affected, One way or the Other!
4.Also make sure the Difficultly level is what People expect out of CAT!
Last point I have to make is...Even if Prometric manages to Iron out the Flaws by next year, Problems will Still Exist, People giving the test at a later date Will Have an Advantage!
Now, you can't change the difficulty levels/formats too much, Because, again it won't be a Level Playing Field!
So the best way (Me thinks!) is to Hold it on ONE day!
I know, it's difficult to arrange 2.5 Lac computers (& increasing) + server load etc...
But you can have 2 batches, JUST make sure that they can't interact, So before the 1st batch is done, The next one should be in the waiting area, & after the 1st batch completes the test, they leave, So you can conduct the test with just one paper (Maybe make sets) & nobody can say, it was unfair, Nobody get's an advantage...I do feel the IIM's must have thought of this (I do hope so), & I know it may be Next to impossible, BUT is the only way to ensure you get All the necessary advantages of going Online!
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