CAT 2013 scores of 700 candidates being sent to Prometric for verification

The scores of around 700 test-takers of the Common Admission Test 2013 (CAT 2013) are being sent to the test administration firm Prometric for verification. A few thousand test takers have submitted complaints to the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) stating that there are discrepancies in the CAT 2013 Results.

CAT 2013 was conducted from Wednesday, October 16 to Monday, November 11, 2013, the Results of which were declared on Tuesday, January 14, 2014. IIM Indore was the convener of CAT 2013. CAT aptitude test is one of the most prestigious examinations in India for admission into the IIMs as well as other premier management institutes.

Candidates have filed an online petition demanding a re-evaluation of their Results. Although re-evaluation of CAT examinations/results is not permitted, the IIMs are working with their test administration partner Prometric to address student grievances in the face of the multitude of complaints, which threaten to disrupt the admission process of management institutes that accept candidates based on their CAT scores.

Several test-takers from the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Indore and Ranchi are planning to file Public Interest Litigations (PILs) against their scores and have met officials of IIM Indore regarding the same.

As per the candidates, their scores are radically different from what they had expected and particularly dismal in the verbal section. Moreover, some candidates who acquired higher scores have got lower normalized scores than candidates with lower scores. Candidates have also claimed that there are major differences in scores in the 2 sections of the test-Quantitative Ability (QA) and Data Interpretation (DI) as well as Verbal Ability (VA) and Logical Reasoning (LR). Moreover, some candidates who have answered just one question correctly have acquired over 55 percentile scores, due to the marking pattern of the CAT examination. However, according to IIM officials, candidates who scored less than 55 percentile possibly did so due to negative marking. A correct answer in the examination fetches three marks and an incorrect one Results in one mark less due to the system of negative marking in CAT. According to sources from Prometric, the difficulty level of the CAT examinations has been raised as per IIM direction. Hence, the top performing candidates only have acquired the best scores. CAT has not been designed to measure average scores.

This year, the IIMs appointed the services of the government run agency - National Informatics Center (NIC) to ensure fairness in CAT Results. It is to be noted that last year the scores of 80 candidates of CAT 2012 were found to be tampered with, leading to score-inflation, as per a probe.