The much awaited results for the Common Entrance Test (CAT) 2009 were finally declared on Sunday. According to R Shiva Kumar, director — research & development of CAT training firm Career Launcher, about 4,000-5,000 students are expected to get calls from the top eight IIMs this year.

“Last year about 3,500 students had received at least one call from the IIMs, but with the inclusion of IIM Ranchi from this year on, the number of students likely to get group discussion and personal interview (GD/PI) calls will increase,” he added.

Following the announcement of the results, the shortlisted candidates will receive a letter from the IIMs for the second phase of the admission procedure, comprising group discussion (GD), personal interview (PI) and essay writing.

Himanshu Rai, chairman — admissions at IIM-Lucknow, said, “The call letters for GD/PI will be sent to the shorlisted candidates by March 3 or March 4.” IIM-Ahmedabad (IIM-A)CAT convener Satish Deodhar was unavailable for comments.

Ankit Srivastava, one of the aspirant CAT students, who clocked 99.94 percentile, has already been shortlisted for IIM-A. “I also expect other IIMs to shortlist me, but I am not sure about IIM-Bangalore as it considers details other than the CAT scores like the educational background as well as job experience,” he said.

The results, which were supposed to be declared in January, had been deferred to the end of February. The IIMs’ maiden computer-based CAT had come under criticism from various sections due to the mismanagement. Originally scheduled to be conducted between Nov 28 and Dec 7 last year, the test had to be extended by three extra days due to technical glitches. The first phase of the test was completed on Dec 8, 2009, while the second phase was conducted on Jan 30 and Jan 31, 2010.

“The very fact that results are being made available one month after the scheduled date is a good enough reason for many students/institutes to feel aggrieved,” Shiva Kumar of Career Launcher said.

Rai, however, said that this fiasco was a one-off incident and going forward the online format should be continued. “A paper-based exam involves wastage of resources and is cumbersome. Even for students, an online exam is much more relaxing as against a PBT one,” he added.