New Delhi: There was a new pattern but no surprises for students who appeared on the first day for CAT 2011.

The exams which began on Saturday were online, and went on without any major technical glitches or problems.

"There were no major surprises in the CAT paper," said Ulhas Vairagkar, director of T.I.M.E. Institute, Delhi.

The Common Admission Test (CAT) -- the gateway to pursuing MBA from the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) among other prestigious institutions - is being held from Oct 22 to Nov 18.

Nearly 205,000 students have registered this time against the 3,000 IIM seats. This marginally exceeds last year's number of 204,000.

The exams ends on Nov 18.

Parasharan Chari, academic head at Endeavour Tutorials in Ahmedabad, said that the paper on Saturday was close to expectations and more towards the international standards.

"The overall paper was an attempt to come closer to international standards, and it decreases, if not eliminates, the luck factor," Chari said.

In the new exam pattern, the CAT paper will have only two sections instead of three.

Till last year, the paper was divided into Quantitative Ability, Verbal Ability, and Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning. The candidates do not have the flexibility to choose the section they would want to attempt first.

A time of 70 minutes each is fixed for both sections. A 15-minute tutorial before the commencement of the exam is also done to familiarize candidates with the test.

"Candidates should check the CAT website as well as their emails regularly, and in particular a day before their test, in case there is any important update or information," says Soumitra Roy, MD, Prometric India which organised the online test. IANS