CAT 2009: MBA coaching portals logon to new computer-based format (Part 1)

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Updated on July 16, 2009
Many MBA coaching and testing portals have come up to cash in after the CAT 2009 became computer-based test

The announcement by the IIMs that CAT 2009 will be a computer-based test sent a majority of the MBA aspirants across India into a state of frenzy. Until last year MBA aspirants used to take the traditional paper and pencil pattern of CAT for getting into their dream MBA schools. But ever since the announcement, MBA aspirants have been running amuck in order to get their queries answered on how to go about the CAT 2009 computer-based test. Sensing the gap, many online MBA coaching and testing portals have come up to cash in on the rising demand of online testing. According to the information shared by some of these portals with MBAUniverse.com, their popularity is rising among MBA aspirants across the country. 
 
PLAYERS IN THE FORAY:
The new genre of MBA coaching and testing portals TestFunda.com, TCYOnline.com, topCATcoaching.com and 100Percentile.com, to name a few, are gaining popularity among the MBA aspirant circle. MBAUniverse.com analyzes three such online MBA coaching portals: TestFunda, TCYOnline and topCATcoaching.

TestFunda boasts of having a content and technology team with a vast experience in MBA coaching and computer-based training and testing. “TestFunda is managed by a four IIT-IIM alumni. Our team has nine years of experience in designing and creating international award-winning eLearning courses,” officials from TestFunda said.

Kamal Wadhera, CEO, TCYOnline said, “TCYOnline stepped into the world of education in the year 1998. We began with a dream to provide quality support to students and teachers ranging from K-12 to MBA exam, MCA, GRE, GMAT exam, SAT, NTSE among others. Currently we are serving the students through three modes, via classroom training, distance learning through correspondence and online training.”

One of the recent entrants in this domain is topCATcoaching.com. “At topCATcoaching we have experienced faculty who have aced most of the competitive examinations like IIT, AIIMS, CAT exam, GATE, GMAT exam and GRE. Our faculty used its years of experience in teaching and research to create study material, practice questions and mock exams specifically targeted for competitive entrance examinations,” Manish Gulati, CEO and co-founder of topCATcoaching.com said.
 
AND THEIR TARGET?
Given that well established brick-and-mortar players like T.I.M.E., IMS Learning, PT Education, and Career Launcher, among others, are also increasing their online presence, what kind groups are these online MBA coaching portals targeting?

MBAUniverse.com found that with a 24x7 medium like internet that reaches far flung areas with ease, these portals are finding maximum takers in time starved working executives, and even undergraduate students. 

TestFunda, which mainly targets the working professionals and the undergraduate class of MBA aspirants, said, “TestFunda is beneficial to all MBA aspirants, especially working professionals and undergraduate students, looking forward to get into the best of the MBA schools in India.” Even topCATcoaching aims to coach students for top-tier MBA schools. “Our MBA coaching portal is mostly suited for students who are preparing for MBA entrance exams like CAT exam, XAT, FMS, IIFT and GMAT exam,” Gulati said.  

Some of the online MBA coaching portals also provide coaching for other competitive entrance exams like engineering, medical, UPSC and GRE. Wadhera of TCYOnline said, “Our target visitor is any learner who prepares for any exam such as CAT, engineering, medical, placement tests or standardized tests like GRE, GMAT exam, CA, UPSC or someone who wants to improve his skills in English or Reasoning.”
 
RISING POPULARITY:
he MBA coaching portals say that they are finding a lot of takers. According to the number of test takers mentioned by these websites, TestFunda scores the highest with around 2,000 to 3,000 of test takers each day. However, the other two websites, TCYOnline and topCATcoaching are not far behind.
“Every day more than a 1,000 MBA aspirants take the test and the number is growing day by day,” Wadhera of TCYOnline said. topCATcoaching also gets almost the same volume of traffic. “Around 1,000 CAT 2009 aspirants take mocks every day and the numbers are rising,” Gulati said. With their rising popularity, these MBA coaching portals offers the MBA aspirants with an alternative mode of preparation.
 
So how much will MBA aspirants benefit from this change? Can joining such online MBA coaching portals really help students get into the top MBA schools of their dreams? Part 2 of this series will make you ware about the offerings and USP of these MBA coaching portals. Keep reading MBAUniverse.com!
 
Next: CAT 2009: What do these MBA coaching portals have to offer? (Part 2)