Common Admission Test is not based on Computer Adaptive Testing model
The decision of the Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs) to conduct CAT-2009 online has the potential to change the landscape of testing – if it works well, technological glitches notwithstanding. But CAT is not CAT based. That is to say, Common Admission Test is not based on Computer Adaptive Testing model. The overwhelming number of about 3,00,000 candidates expected to be tested in about 30 sessions, 2/3 sessions each day for 10/15 days – with 10,000/12,000 in each session. For each session, an equivalent form of the test may be used. So technically, CAT is CBT with Parallel Forms, and these forms are likely to be statistically equated.
In India, the number of candidates taking tests for high-stake exams is very large and the public perceptions are not so well shaped about all the aspects of this new mode. In the last five years, many organisations have conducted computer-based exams. But the ratio of exams and number of examinees tested tilts heavily towards the paper-pencil mode. The reason being large number of candidates can be tested in a single session with same set of question paper rather than using different sets and then equating them statistically to arrive at equivalence of scores.
The number has gone as high as 6,00,000 in traditional mode (State Bank of India’s clerical examination) compared with not more than 5,000 in a session for the computer based testing. On an average, upto 2,00,000 in a single session is a rule rather than exception. In a high stake examination where one mark difference can make or mar one’s chances of getting in the list, the perceptions always favour a single session examination. Any major deviation from this is always seen as bringing in some bias. With this backdrop, IIMs’ is a bold initiative graduating CAT to online.
sourcE: http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?a=ji0lWoibdbg&title=Will_CAT-2009_follow_Computer_Adaptive_Testing_model%3F
The decision of the Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs) to conduct CAT-2009 online has the potential to change the landscape of testing – if it works well, technological glitches notwithstanding. But CAT is not CAT based. That is to say, Common Admission Test is not based on Computer Adaptive Testing model. The overwhelming number of about 3,00,000 candidates expected to be tested in about 30 sessions, 2/3 sessions each day for 10/15 days – with 10,000/12,000 in each session. For each session, an equivalent form of the test may be used. So technically, CAT is CBT with Parallel Forms, and these forms are likely to be statistically equated.
In India, the number of candidates taking tests for high-stake exams is very large and the public perceptions are not so well shaped about all the aspects of this new mode. In the last five years, many organisations have conducted computer-based exams. But the ratio of exams and number of examinees tested tilts heavily towards the paper-pencil mode. The reason being large number of candidates can be tested in a single session with same set of question paper rather than using different sets and then equating them statistically to arrive at equivalence of scores.
The number has gone as high as 6,00,000 in traditional mode (State Bank of India’s clerical examination) compared with not more than 5,000 in a session for the computer based testing. On an average, upto 2,00,000 in a single session is a rule rather than exception. In a high stake examination where one mark difference can make or mar one’s chances of getting in the list, the perceptions always favour a single session examination. Any major deviation from this is always seen as bringing in some bias. With this backdrop, IIMs’ is a bold initiative graduating CAT to online.
sourcE: http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?a=ji0lWoibdbg&title=Will_CAT-2009_follow_Computer_Adaptive_Testing_model%3F
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