Yes, catalyst and catalytic converter are the same thing. They are the first "units" after the 02 sensor, and your engine might also have "pre-cats" just aft of the exhaust manifold.

If you read my referenced posts you should understand that lack of proper "conditioning" is an absolute recipe for FAILURE.

You must arrange that the car is tested immediately after a good warmup that includes high speed driving and brisk acceleration, and NEVER, EVER shut down the engine prior to the test. You have to "manage" your test.

Letting the car sit for 50 minutes in sub-freezing temperatures is just not going to cut it, and idling the engine to warm the coolant will not get the catalysts hot enough.

You're probably going to need to retard the timing by shorting the R16/1 resistor and disabling the vacuum advance as I discussed in the other threads.

This is a lot easier and certainly cheaper than replacing the catalysts, which won't in and of itself gurantee a pass.

Duke