The CAT (Common Admission Test) 2016 was help in 138 cities all over the country on Sunday in two sessions. The test wasn’t “glitch-free” this time as candidates informed that, in the QA (quantitative ability) section, three questions on the computer screens showed the π (Pi) symbol instead of the √ (square root) symbol.

The computer-based test was taken by over 1.95 lakh students for admissions to the leading B-schools in the country, including the IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management). While the exam had more than 2.5 lakh registrations, 83.6% of the applicants took the test, as opposed to 2015’s 82%, said the convener of CAT 2016, Rajendra K Bandi. He also said that the exam was conducted smoothly.

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In the QA section, at least one question was claimed to be “wrong” by the experts and applicants. However, no candidate came up to confirm this as they had all signed a non-disclosure agreement that leads to a Rs 2 lakh fine and a jail term. However, a candidate on anonymity did say that their friends and teachers agreed that a few questions had some problems. They also mentioned that they’re unsure if compensation will be made for these mistakes. The experts said that the number of questions (100) as well as the difficulty level remained the same as 2015, and there were no surprises this time.

There were three sections in the test – 34 questions of verbal ability and reading comprehension, 32 questions of data interpretation and logical reasoning, and 34 questions of quantitative ability. The most difficult of the lot was said to be data interpretation and logical reasoning.

Directors of Roots Education, Deekshant Sehrawat confirmed that, although there were no surprises in the exam, a few computers seemed to have some problem regarding the π and √ symbols. He said that this may have caused loss of precious time and marks.