CAT 2012@ Men in the hot seat: How do CAT Convenors plan a glitch free test for future managers

July 21, 2012 - PRLog -- As soon as the announcement for CAT exam is made by the IIMs, all eyes turn expectantly towards the CAT Convenor. CAT Convenor is the one who is responsible for a successful conduct of premier MBA entrance exam, the Common Admission Test (CAT) conducted for admissions to IIMs and many other Top B-schools in India. Every year, over two lakh MBA aspirants register for CAT, and the CAT Convener is the person who does everything related to the CAT- right from the planning and designing the test content, to format, logistics.

The job has especially become more complicated, especially since the time the CAT has changed its avatar from traditional paper pencil based test to the computer based format. After the first computer based CAT in 2009 underwent a huge snag, it was an additional responsibility for the forthcoming CAT Convenors to ensure a glitch free testing experience for the CAT takers and the future managers.

In this exclusive article of MBAUniverse.com, we would share the plans and aspirations of the past and the present CAT Convenors. Prof. Himanshu Rai of IIM Lucknow, Dr. Janakiraman Moorthy of IIM Calcutta and Prof. SSS Kumar of IIM Kozhikode played the crucial role of  Convenor for CAT 2010, CAT 2011 and CAT 2012 respectively.

The priority of the CAT Convenors vary from year to year, but the overall priority and commitment they have is  to offer a smooth testing experience to the test takers and also to ensure that the test format can select the best of the brains of the country who are competent in logic, number and language.

When Prof. Himanshu Rai of IIM Lucknow took over the charge of the CAT 2010, his priority was not to repeat the history of CAT 2009. “There will definitely be some changes which the test has to undergo since it had faced certain issues when it went computer based last year. We don’t want the same incidents to repeat this year, but all the changes and alterations can be done by next week only,” he had said to MBAUniverse.com when asked about his plan for CAT 2010.

Prof. Rai teaches Human Resource Management at IIM Lucknow. He is a B.E. (Electrical & Electronics) and Fellow of IIM Ahmedabad. His research areas include Negotiation, Dispute Handling, Cross-Cultural Issues, Gender, Management and Religion, Spirituality, Influence Tactics, 360-Degree Feedback and Proxemics.

For Dr. Janakiraman Moorthy, CAT 2011 Convenor and the then Professor of IIM Calcutta, the aim was not just to continue a snag free computer based test, but to ensure that the CAT aspirants don’t have a skewed score in the sections. After introducing a revamp in the pattern of the test, Dr. Moorthy stated, “The reason why we have reduced the number of sections from three to two and time-bound sections is because we want proficient students at our IIMs, who would be equally competent in both Quantitative Ability as well as Verbal Ability. Till last year we have seen many students who had skewed efficiency.”

Dr. Moorthy was a Professor in Marketing in IIM Calcutta. Recently Dr. Moorthy has been appointed as the Dean of IMT Dubai. He has also taught in IIM Lucknow.

The CAT Convenor for the year 2012, Prof. SSS Kumar from IIM Kozhikode, aims to offer a hassle free CAT 2012. “With the ultimate goal of conducting a glitch-free CAT 2012, my immediate goal is ensuring a hassle free experience in the run up to appearing in CAT 2012,” said Prof. Kumar.

Prof. SSS Kumar, faculty of Finance, Accounting & Control is the CAT Convenor for 2012. Prof. Kumar joined IIM Kozhikode in 2003, prior to which he has taught in ISM Dhanbad and National Institute of Bank Management, Pune.  Prof. Kumar obtained his doctorate from Indian School of Mines Dhanbad. He did his MBA from S.V. University and B.Tech from REC Calicut.

While sharing the responsibilities as a CAT Convenor, Dr. Moorthy stated, “CAT is an annual specific time bound project kind of activity. You can look at the convenor’s position as a programme administrator or a project manager. The Convener has to take the responsibility of mobilizing all required resources to deliver on quality deliverables within the time limits.”