Taking MAT to 35000+ masses across the country

MAT is conducted four times annually and receives up to 100,000 applications every year from students who aspire admission in the B-school of their choice. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in lockdown in March when AIMA was already gearing up for the MAT examination in May. It forced AIMA to choose whether to defer the exam or shift to an online mode.

AIMA wanted the right technology partner after deciding on conducting MAT in May. While AIMA had already contemplated digitizing MAT, the pandemic expedited the process, making it explore the available technologies to conduct remote proctored exams and ensure exam continuity. Since thousands of students took MAT every year, AIMA wanted to offer an efficient alternative to center-based tests it conducted till now.

AIMA intended to offer its students the flexibility and freedom to take the exam from anywhere. The pandemic and the related infrastructural constraints left AIMA with the sole option of conducting virtual exams. However, maintaining the exam’s quality and credibility was equally a priority and a significant challenge, aside several issues for which AIMA needed quick solutions.

The four major challenges that AIMA needed to address immediately before shifting the MAT to the online mode were:

Let’s explore them in detail

• Cheating Prevention

MAT is a prestigious test accredited and endorsed by top government bodies. AIMA needed to ensure the credibility and success of the exercise. Curbing instances of cheating, impersonation, and other malpractices was a significant challenge in digitization. While eliminating the need to travel to a physical center to take the exam was a necessity during the pandemic, AIMA wanted to maintain control and quality over the execution of the exam.

Students were not under the direct supervision of physical invigilators. Therefore, AIMA suspected that students might indulge in unfair means, use phones, browse the internet for answers, or have someone answer the questions for them by impersonating or being present in the same room. For AIMA, virtual exams meant multiple distractions and cheating opportunities.

AIMA wanted to simulate the same level of credibility offered in the physical center-based exam. The high level of control in physical invigilation had been a standard practice for AIMA. The new mode of exam needed to offer the same authenticity.

• Stakeholder experience

MAT is taken by thousands of students from far-flung towns across the country. AIMA prides itself on its reach in the remotest locations in India. The sheer volume and scale was a significant challenge in shifting MAT to an online mode of examination. Given its eminence and high-stakes, a massive number of applicants needed to access the test simultaneously and seamlessly, without technical glitches.

• Robustness and scalability

The aspirations of thousands of applicants are hinged on this exam every year. It was vital to improve the test-takers’ experience while shifting the mode of the examination.

MAT had continually conducted center-based exams. Hence, facilitating a similar or improved experience was a notable concern for AIMA. Students were habitual of appearing for the exam in the traditional format. Therefore, a significant benchmark for the virtual mode of MAT was to ensure the same accessibility without hampering the candidate performance and experience.

• Accessibility

A bulk of MAT applicants come from tier-3 and tier-4 cities, where internet connectivity and bandwidth are pertinent concerns. AIMA was apprehensive of disincentivizing aspirants from such geographies by moving to a virtual mode.

MAT was round the corner, and AIMA had a daunting task ahead. Its reputation, along with the other 600-plus institutes associated with it, was on the line. AIMA set out to partner with a compatible technology platform that could fulfill its varied requirements and address the challenges that had dissuaded it from going online till now.

The Solution- Mercer | Mettl’s proctoring and platform suite

Mercer | Mettl combined its top of the line tools and services to create an impeccable solution after understanding AIMA’s unique challenges and considering the importance of the MAT exam. Catering to AIMA’s every concern, Mercer | Mettl offered its state-of-the-art proctoring features, robust platform and services.

• Proctoring suite: Artificial Intelligence (AI) + human proctoring

Mercer | Mettl assured AIMA of a double-layer proctoring – AI operating in the background, with human invigilators remotely monitoring the students.

AIMA’s concerns about students cheating and using unfair means to pass the test were put to rest with a 98% cheating detection rate. Mercer | Mettl’s AI-based proctoring flagged facial detection, voice detection, device detection, multiple people detection and other distractions.

The Mettl Secure Browser (MSB) enhanced the safety and security of MAT by enabling browser lockdown functions and allowing minimum navigation control to block all external ports. This addressed on-screen cheating and restricted test-takers’ access to all unauthorized resources. A notification was shared with the human proctor if they attempted to navigate away from the screen.

Human proctors could invigilate multiple candidates in a single view. They could zoom in on students, check on them, even chat with them to assuage their concerns or warn them. The system also recorded test-takers’ every activity and flagged questionable actions in a time log to ensure the examination’s credibility. These processes provided a verifiable mechanism to alleviate any doubts on the exam’s integrity and results.

The interventions mentioned-above created a watertight environment, negating any possibility of cheating.

• A seamless and robust platform

Mercer | Mettl’s advanced platform provided a simple, interactive, and user-friendly interface to cater to MAT’s large scale while ensuring ease-of-use for all stakeholders.

Mercer | Mettl’s highly scalable and secure cloud-based platform was designed to seamlessly manage the magnitude of MAT applicants without glitches. Mercer | Mettl had already conducted 100,000 proctored assessments in a day, which assured AIMA of its platform’s prowess. Mercer | Mettl ensured that MAT was made accessible to everyone, irrespective of their location, with minimum requirements of low bandwidth internet connectivity and a webcam. This encouraged candidates even from tier-3 and tier-4 cities to take the exam from the convenience of their locations.

• Exceptional delivery and support

Even though AIMA first contacted Mercer | Mettl in April to discuss the deliverables, Mercer | Mettl was committed to ensuring exam continuity for MAT’s test-takers. The company worked tirelessly to fulfill AIMA’s specifications, customized the tools and the service model, and successfully implemented the virtual exam within the promised timeline.

Mercer | Mettl’s uninterrupted operational support and promptness empowered AIMA to solve all its challenges and conduct nation-wide MAT with the same robustness and credibility as in a traditional format, making the alliance a resounding success.

AIMA’s technology partner: Experience with Mercer | Mettl

AIMA’s experience with Mercer | Mettl was enhanced because of its:

Here’s how –

• Rich expertise

For AIMA, Mercer | Mettl’s rich expertise and experience in conducting large-scale and high-stakes examinations over a span of seven to eight years played a crucial role in assuaging its concerns about scale and credibility. Mercer | Mettl had enabled countless institutions to take their exams online, ensure high exam integrity, and facilitate cheating prevention through advanced measures. This assured AIMA of taking MAT virtual, with Mercer | Mettl’s platform proctoring suite.

• Customization & flexibility

Due to AIMA’s immediate need and its accreditation with government bodies, it needed Mercer | Mettl to be flexible in its processes, tools, and service model. Mercer | Mettl accommodated all of AIMA’s prerequisites and modified its tools to fulfill the specifications of MAT.

• Uninterrupted support

Given its maiden attempt at giving such a high-stakes exam online, AIMA needed 24×7 support and rudimentary hand-holding and training by a partner with considerable experience in facilitating such an undertaking. Mercer | Mettl offered continual assistance and impeccable support to AIMA to ensure a successful drive.

• Enhanced outreach

MAT is conducted in 55-57 cities in the country. While there is a sizable number of test-takers from tier-1 cities, aspiring students from tier-2, tier-3, and tier-4 cities participate more prominently. Since the test’s outreach was always limited to specific geographical locations, shifting to a virtual mode of exam resulted in an increase in the number of test-takers, especially from such distant areas, who didn’t have to travel to a center to appear for the test.

• Greater convenience

Mercer | Mettl removed locational or center-related restrictions, enabling a vastly larger number of students to take the exam from the comfort of their homes.

Mercer | Mettl empowered AIMA to implement its vision by allowing aspiring students to take the exam and plan for higher education. MAT’s reach in remote locations has created more opportunities for future collaboration between AIMA and Mercer | Mettl.

The way forward

AIMA houses many departments under its name. The Center for Management Education offers degree programs and foreign universities exchange programs. AIMA is seeking to extend remotely proctored examinations to students of other programs who can also benefit from it.

Mercer | Mettl’s customization prowess has instilled a deep trust in AIMA that it can seamlessly undertake examinations of all formats and scale. AIMA is writing a new future of exams with Mercer | Mettl and digitizing education to ensure learning continuity.