The Cat and Mouse Race

A couple of nights ago, to celebrate the weekend, 7 of us sat together and played Poker. The game was interesting and went on till about 3:30 in the morning. We were all hungry and wanted to wait till Thadambail opened. While waiting for time to pass somebody remarked on the fact that how an MBA can change your life. One thing led to another and we ended up at the topic of CAT going online when my batch writes it. That's what 'the race' is about and I wanted you all to think about the difference this will create. In the last few years the CAT has been referred to as the most competitive exam in the world. With percentages of people getting in with respect to the number of people attempting very low, its supposed to be harder to get in to an IIM than to any of the Ivy Business Schools. So since, the CAT is going online next year, we were discussing what all the pros and cons of this would be. For one it is easier for the organisers to hold it because it will cut out the labourious and expensive tasks of transportation and correction. One of the more important aspects is that there will be no more of paper leaking and other unscrupulous things figuring in the scheme of things. The test is to follow the adaptive pattern that GRE and GMAT follows, except that a score will not be given immediately after the end of the test. It remains to be seen whether the percentile system will still be used, because technically percentile talks about the number of people you did better than in a particular test. Since everybody does not take the same test, percentile may not be apt. The adaptive pattern has its own advantages and disadvantages. It's better than the written paper in a sense that its more accurate in testing a person's intelligence. But, it also depends on the first few questions, so if someone screws up there, it might not be the best test for him. CAT has always been about speed and time management. Nobody knows how this will work. With the adaptive system you cannot comeback to or skip a particular question, so it might not be about speed anymore. Besides this, there is the psychological feeling about being more comfortable with a pen in hand and solving a paper than clicking answers on a mouse. I want to know what's your take on this, do you think the online system is better? or its better to have the good old pen and paper test. Will the 'cat race' be any different once you have to use the mouse to catch the CAT? Only time will tell.