Finally IIM Ahmedabad has made the picture clearer for the CAT aspirants as it has declared CAT 2009 is going to be a computer based test (CBT) and not internet based test (IBT). This means that the candidate does not take the test on an internet site. Instead of reading the questions in a paper booklet and darkening the ovals on the answer-sheet, a candidate will read the questions on a computer terminal and choose an answer by clicking on the correct option. Unlike GRE or GMAT, CAT is not going to be a computer adaptive test. The format of the test will remain more or less the same except that a candidate reads question on a computer terminal and clicks on the correct answer.

A candidate will take the test only at designated test venues in about 25 cities across India. Detailed information will be provided in the CAT 2009 advertisement which will come into the market by the later part of August 2009. At the test venue, each candidate will be seated at a desk with a computer terminal and he/she will be provided with a writing pad with numbered pages for calculations.

After the test, candidate will have to leave the pad including all the pages in it at the desk. Also note, the rough-work cannot be done on any other paper/sheet as nothing will be allowed to be taken inside the examination hall. Candidate Testing Fee is Rs. 1,400 (Rs. 700 for SC/ST candidates). Application fees is very high

Also this time most of formalities will be done online so the candidate needs to have a valid email ID. CAT 2009 will be conducted during a ten-day window starting at the end of November 2009. Exact dates will be mentioned in the next advertisement of CAT 2009. And the results are expected to be declared by the end of January 2010. Exact date of result declaration will be informed at a later stage.