BANGALORE: Even CAT scores are tampered with. The official website of the Common Admission Test — considered the most competitive exam in the country and acknowledged for its unblemished image — is showing inflated scores of 80 students.

According to the alert sent by the CAT convener on behalf of all the IIMs, the scores of 80 students were tampered with and appear inflated on www.catiim.in This is how it happened. The conduct and evaluation of the test is entrusted to Prometric, a global testing agency. As is the practice, the test results are published on the website www.catiim.in , which is hosted and managed by Web Weavers.However, a comparison of CAT 2012 scores available on the website with a master database of the scores (those received from Prometric) showed that scores of 80 examinees were altered. The new scores were higher. The rest of the examinees' scores on the website were found to be intact, and match the master database.The authorities, finding the discrepancies, filed an FIR on June 15, 2013, and an investigation is on. The IIMs are reviewing the process by which data is managed and published externally, they said in a statement. However, there will be no issues in the admissions already completed in the IIMs, as they've used information from Prometric's master database for short-listing. "The admission process has in no way been compromised in any of the IIMs, as a result of the tampering," an official said.But the IIMs have alerted non-IIM institutes which use the CAT score for admissions, as they rely on the official website. They've also been given the original scores.