IT training and education company Aptech has bagged the contract to conduct the AICTE’s maiden management entrance test — Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) — for admission to post-graduate diploma in management institutes. The test will begin next month. Pravir Arora, executive vice-president (enterprise business) at Aptech, tells M Saraswathy how Aptech is prepared to ensure smooth conduct of CMAT. Excerpts:
How is Aptech preparing for CMAT scheduled this February?
CMAT is a very big and good opportunity for us. The way we are executing CMAT is exactly the way people are expecting it to be. We are conducting the test in 61 cities across the country. A student can also choose the date on which he wishes to appear, apart from choosing his examination centre. There will be more than one centre in places where there is a surge of additional students. Trial tests for CMAT have already been conducted in 10 cities, under the supervision of external observers. We are prepared to handle approximately 2.5 lakh students, expected to appear for CMAT. We are using UPS along with gensets to meet the necessary power needs in cities that may face problems of power-cuts.
There were reports of technical glitches in the trial tests of CMAT. Comment.
I have not seen any technical glitches. Contrary to media reports, the trial test was open on December 12. Moreover, there were articles saying that the questions in the CMAT trial test were irrelevant. Our idea was to initially give the students a look and feel of the test engine. Therefore, the test purposely had irrelevant questions. Later, when there was negative reportage against this decision, we immediately rectified it. For registration too, we have enabled both online and offline mechanism, though it has been observed that online payment has been more preferred.
What were the challenges you faced while preparing for CMAT? Do you think the experience would be better than CAT?
We have made sure that we up the bar every time. The issue that we are facing is more of a logistical nature. For instance, some colleges are only ready to provide us with UPS and not gensets. In that case, we have to procure it from other sources. We are hoping that this experience will be better than CAT. We have come a long way and the market has also understood the on-line pattern very well. It has also been ensured that physically handicapped students do not have to face any difficulty. We will try our best to offer the city a student has opted for, and have more centres wherever possible. Our team has simulated all possible things that would go wrong, so I can say that we are well prepared.