Coaching Classes: Are They Really Worth It?
“Sharma Ji’s son got AIR 36 in JEE last year. I heard he went to that coaching institute…the one that’s under the station? Yeah, the one with the blue uniforms. You should also start going there from next year. We’ll go and talk to them today.”
How often have we, as students in India today, heard this godforsaken statement? In my class of forty-eight, save one or two students, all are going to coaching institutes and even those who are not presently, are only deciding and taking their time to choose “the perfect one”, or rather, the one which will get them AIR 1. I mean, even students who are not preparing for competitive exams like JEE or NEET are searching for coaching because that’s just how our education system and society are now. Besides, to call it a “system” is stupidity. It’s a business.
A booming business praying on irrational expectations and fever dreams.
As someone who has been going to coaching and has been around similar people for the past three years, I have my own viewpoint of how coaching helps and how it does not. Of course, everything in this world has its pros and cons. But with rising mental health concerns and suicide articles every day, it’s time to ask the question: To Coaching, or not to Coaching?
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
I joined coaching when I was in Grade 8, or rather, the second year of COVID. I spent the entire year doing online lectures. I still remember the night before I was to start coaching, my mind was a blur of emotions. I was brutally aware of the fact that my life was about to change. I had seen my elder siblings stay for six hours in that institution only to come back again and study, not even bothering to change the uniform. In such a situation, most students would’ve been apprehensive. But I was excited…and I remember thinking that something was wrong with me - I was excited because I was going to study more. I was placed in the Advanced batch and I still remember the Singer and Nicholson Model which we learned in our first lecture.
My parents have brought us up in such a way, that we have always been studying more than the school level. Both me and my brother have been giving Olympiads since the second grade.
But in the seventh grade, my marks in olympiads such as IMO and NSO were barely 50%. In the ninth grade, two years after coaching, I received International Rank 1 in the IMO Olympiad.
My point here is, that as far as studies are concerned, coaching helps a lot. Of course, the batch you are in also matters, most institutions have two or more batches segregated based on level but regardless of the batch, just the atmosphere, the frequent exams, the modules and question booklets and sometimes even the uniform is enough to motivate you to study and actually take an interest.
But here’s the catch. Much like how god helps those who help themselves, coaching institutions also only help those who help themselves.
If you are the kind of person who is going to coaching just because their parents told them to - if you don’t worry or ask doubts about every single topic and every single exam, if you don’t revise what is taught and are always okay with being with the averages when the exam results are sent on the group, then no one there gives a shit about you. And I’m saying this in the nicest way possible.
Like I said, it’s a business. If they think you can give them results, then they will fight tooth and nail for you and be at your beck and call. For them, you will be an investment. On the other hand, if they think that you are just someone who is coming here because their dad told them to, then they are going to treat you like any customer - and put your future on hold.
Coaching institutions are not like schools. They will not spoon-feed you. They will not go according to your pace. They will not wait for you to catch up. They will not help the weak student unless, of course, the weak student asks for help. And they will most definitely not give a damn about your mental health.
Almost all institutions I know about have regular doubt-solving sessions, big fat modules with extra information and questions from hundreds of reference books, frequent formatted tests, and teachers from IIT (see the irony?) and most importantly, that competitive edge...so there isn’t a dearth of resources. But if and only if you use those resources the way they are meant to be used - if and only if you practice extra questions at home, revise whatever is taught the next day, show up at the doubt counters at least twice a week, be frequent in giving tests, always try to stay within the top ten - will you “flourish” in these institutions.
But let’s be real here…all of this is too idealistic. No one really does all this. It’s too difficult for a normal student to do.
Well, here’s the brutal harsh truth.
IIT is difficult.
AIIMS is difficult.
A normal student does not get into these institutions.
Only the tough ones do.
(wow this took a depressing turn.)
I’m in 11th grade now, and while I’m not preparing for either of these exams, almost all of my friends are. Some of them have taken integrated, some of them are doing school with coaching and some of them are still undecided. But all of them want to go to IIT. I’m not claiming to be an expert at this - I’m not even taking the exam. But the thing is, I was in the Advanced batch of a coaching institute for three years. I have seen kids who have been studying for JEE ever since they were out of the womb and I’ve seen kids who still think exams are meant to be given in groups. I’ve been stuck in the rat race. I’ve been in the top five of my class and even been in the top twenty. There have been days when I have felt immensely proud of myself when I take the auto back home, and days when I’ve questioned my worth and questioned whether I really belong here or not.
If you want to get into IIT or AIIMS, then you need to get used to this. You need to get used to sacrificing your school life, your Netflix goals, your late-night chatting sessions, your Instagram addiction, and maybe (most probably) your mental health. But most importantly, you need to take a stand. You need to decide whether this is what you want or not. Not your parents, not your friends, not your teachers, and most certainly not your coaching institution - you need to ask yourself the question and you need to answer it truthfully: Am I really up for it? Will I be able to do all this? Do I even want to do all this?
Comments