My take on CAT 2025 and CAT EXAM in general - not on difficulty

Rant :snoo_angry:

This was supposed to be a twitter post, but instead i want to start this in the community.
Pardon the twitter parlance.

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Okay so let me talk about #CAT2025

I am not interested to talk if the paper was difficult, moderate or easy. There are so many posts across channels with polarizing and biased(can't blame the candidates) opinions with their slots vs others.

I want to highlight something else ⬇️

TLDR;

IIMs should give us better test taking experience which is basic and should not be compromised with lazy choices and poor regulations for centres.

  1. THE UI/UX and the basics

It is high time exams like CAT and other big sized exams that needs up their test softwares. I am not asking Material 3 level UI elements or elegance, but please bring in some decent developer, have a consistent design v functionality setup.

It cannot work depending on the centre, system and peripherals provided. It is 2025 and you still can't be living in 2000s.

And, please do not give excuses saying real world has challenges like these and they want to test our capabilities etc. Please do it with the test pattern.

  1. CONSISTENCY

I have appeared for CAT 3 times, and the last 2 times I was assigned a u/TCS iON centre and the centre had better systems(at least for me), good AC, quiet surroundings, better chairs etc. BUT, this time I had an poor and inconsistent experience, The surroundings were not quiet, brings in all the sounds from roads, speakers (in between VERBAL SECTION!), plastic chairs, weird DPI on mouse, small washrooms, useless ACs. WHY? I was so prepared to have a similar experience as my previous 2 attempts, but no.

I am not saying it should be a 5-star hospitality setup, but the least they can ensure is consistency. Same type of systems, if mouse is subjective to centres, then think of an alternative/better regulations. I personally know people who struggled with inconsistent mouse-clicks.

You cannot have X number having better infra and the Y number having poorer infra, It is hard to ensure 100% consistency across board on all the fronts, but mouse, washrooms etc are basics, not luxury asks.

  1. INSTITUTES

Please avoid predicting stuff about the exam (before), even though it is made by saying "my personal opinion", "take with pinch of salt", "I think.."

Students use your content to prepare, and when it is promoted as "4/5/6 time 100%iler" people do get influenced.
There were a lot of talk of how the paper won't be as easy as 2024, won't be as tough as 2023 etc. Why?

It is not possible to predict them unless there is inside information (which is unethical anyways)

All the candidates can ask for are these simple things for the exam day.

Posted Dec 1, 2025, 4:08 AM UTC

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