Glitches in the very first day of the common admission test (CAT) exams, being held online for the first time, has not only questioned Prometric?s (the organisation conducting the entrance test this year) capabilities but has also jeopardised the image of India?s technological capability, since the malfunctions resulted in several frustrated students returning home without taking the test. People in the technological fields are taking stock of the possible damage to Brand India, which is successfully implementing various services across the globe and to multinational firms.
Industry experts say Prometric and its implementation partner, NIIT, should have localised the model instead of simply replicating the US-based model. Though Prometric used the web offline proctor system, it failed on account of viable concurrency tests. Prometric had admitted on Monday that the first online format of the exam had been a failure.
Vijay Mukhi, consultant, cyber law, DSK Legal, said, ?There are various questions being raised globally about India?s tech capability. The larger concern is that none of the organisations (Prometric, NIIT or IIMs) are ready to take responsibility and are simply blaming technology, which in turn will affect Brand India.? Had the exam been conducted in a proper manner, it would have led to agencies like the railways, which conduct a large number of recruitment tests, considering this option.
According to Ninad Karpe, CEO & MD, Aptech Ltd, ?There are a lot of benefits in using an online test as it does away with the hassle of organising test papers, invigilation, assessing test papers and then declaring the results. A successful implementation of CAT examination could have pushed other government agencies to consider the option, thus resulting in revenue flow for the industry.? Experts say Prometric and NIIT had failed to conduct concurrency tests to determine the load and other related factors. Since India does not have a high network bandwidth, a load test could have avoided the technical hassle.
Uday Kulkarni, executive V-P, Assessment solutions, Aptech Ltd, said, ?Test centres need to have dedicated machines that are not used for any other purpose. This keeps the local servers and connected nodes completely secured against any threat from viruses.? Assessment Solutions, which conducts similar tests, is a 100% subsidiary of Aptech Ltd.
Mukesh Sharma, founder & CEO, QA Infotech said, ?There are many unknowns in the way the CAT test was conducted. Prometric might have conducted tests, but the conditions could have been different like in the US where network clogging cannot happen.? Before a test is conducted, the platforms are usually tested for load testing of applications, performance and capacity in terms of simultaneous login and submission users, according to experts.