Is joining a coaching institute mandatory for IIT JEE, AIPMT, NDA and CAT preparation?

There are just too many roads to take when you are chasing your dreams and one of the majorly faced conflicts of all times is “Which road to choose”? The reason this question plagues the lives of many is that when you have chosen a path you are forced to wonder what would have been if you had chosen a different one!

To ease off this dilemma and perpetual confusion we are sharing a few tips and a few ground realities.

Whether to join or not join a coaching institution?

While preparing for competitive exams, this question is faced by everybody. Coaching institutions take up a lot of time off your day; things become even more hectic and hard to manage if the same is being done parallel to school. Now the crucial question comes into play - Should you or should you not join one?

Surely, coaching institutes come with a lot of benefits but they have their demerits as well.

Merits

• Amongst the many benefits of joining an institution the primary is that they provide tailor made study material along with notes on different topics which serves as a time saver for students.
• Almost everything is taught by teachers in real-time.
• Students can take-up their queries and get their problems/doubts resolved by their teachers, along with that test series are held on national levels, students can take part in such series and gauge their standing in the competition.

Demerits

• First amongst them is time consumption. Students mostly have to travel to far places to reach their institutes and that consumes a lot of time and energy, along with the long hours of daily classes.
• On a regular basis a student spends almost 6 hours in school, add to that an average time of travelling of 2 hours and 6-8 hours of sleep, a couple hours for eating and other daily routines; with all that, students are left with only a couple hours during which they can choose to self-study or join a coaching institute. So, clearly a choice has to be made here!
• Another important factor that weighs heavy on the scale while deciding to join an institute is money.

Coaching programs are much more costly today as compared to that from a few years back, the reason being the emergence of an entire market, increased competition, increased business prospects and booming inflation.

So, deciding whether to join an institute or not is no more a complex business, all you have to do is weigh the pros and cons as per your preference and decide based on rational thinking and real factors. 

•      If you are good at managing your time and spending a good amount of money does not           bother   you then joining a coaching institute is a great idea,
•      If you can handle the money but are not as efficient with your time management skills             then it     is a good idea provided that you work on the latter.
•      If money and time management is something you lack, then it’s highly recommended that       you start working on the latter part because without it there is no success, joining an institute   or not depends on your personal inclination here. 

But to be made clear, it is very much possible to crack entrance exams like IIT JEE, AIPMT, CA CPT, NDA, SAT etc. without joining an institute provided that you work very hard with absolute determination.

Another alternative to regular coaching is online coaching courses; these online programs cover all the weak spots of offline medium. 

• These offer ready-to-access content in a pen drives, tablet devices etc. using which students canget their lessons anytime and at a pace they are comfortable with.
• Plus there is also the added advantage of 24*7 counseling on any problems and doubts that occur while you are studying.
• It’s obviously cheaper than its traditional counterpart and provides video lectures and presentations helping student to understand tough concepts.

Joining a coaching institute helps a great deal and since the competition is based on relative grading and a whole lot of students join one and reap the added benefits, you are somewhat forced to join one too. However it’s not a compulsion; there are students who have and who do crack IIT JEE, AIPMT, NDA and CAT without any outside aid, but they are either geniuses or extremely focused hard working individuals.

In conclusion, there is a clear choice present between online and offline mode of coaching, the former is a lot cheaper and equally effective as its counterpart, gives another set of added benefits and great accessibility too. But if you have a taste for real time classrooms, in-person interaction with your teachers then offline platform serves as a great help.

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