The computer-based Common Admission Test (CAT) for admission into prestigious IIMs will be held at a lesser number of centres and will spread over a longer period than last year, an American firm which administered the exam said today.

After the conduct of the CAT through computers was marked by glitches last year, the US based firm Prometric said fault-plagued examination centres will be edged out this year.

Stephen Williams, Vice-President of Prometric's test development services, said the firm will take every possible step to ensure a successful conduct of CAT 2010.

The steps include a longer testing window to give candidates more choices, an improved technology for both registration and delivery and fewer online centres to ensure a better test experience for the candidates.

Williams said there were no repetition of questions last year as alleged. "Examinees mistook cloned items as repeated questions. Cloned items were those questions which looked alike. But they had variations."

On the computer crash and virus attack, Prometric's Managing Director, India, Soumitra Roy said, "We found that many centres were using unlicensed version of operating systems and software. Even anti-virus softwares used by them were outdated and expired."

The test will be conducted in 32 cities in November this year. However, the number of centres will go down as the US firm will edge out those centres that do not fulfil their set norms, Roy said.

Prometric has reviewed all the test development processes employed during CAT 2009. "We work closely with IIMs professors along with specially trained subject experts from other top Indian educational institutions. Each question is written, edited and reviewed for validity, reliability and fairness," Williams said.

Registration for this year's CAT is likely to start by the end of August.