MAY Lecture Schedule

Lecture Schedule of May Month is out. Check the Schedule & Register yourself for the relative Topics. Classes will start from 7th May 2012.

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Madhya Pradesh to join common engineering entrance test from 2013

INDORE: The Madhya Pradesh government after its initial resistance and reluctance over the common test for admission to engineering colleges, have decided to join the Indian Science Engineering Eligibility Test (ISEET) from the next academic session.

Though the entrance exam will be introduced from this year by the union government, the Madhya Pradesh has decided to follow the common engineering entrance examination from 2013.

From next year merit of the test will enable students to gain entrance in all major and regional engineering colleges including the IITs. Confirming the state's stand on the participating in ISEET, Sanjay Singh, principal secretary, technical education said, "There were few issues earlier, which have been sorted out at the ministerial level. The state will join the entrance exam from 2013, which will benefit the students of state."

Earlier, Madhya Pradesh including several other states opposed the common entrance examination this year which the union government proposed to conduct in English and Hindi languages.

Madhya Pradesh could have joined the format this year as both the languages are spoken and written by the students of state but officials have taken a year's time to let the students adopt to the format.

Under the new format separate merit list for state and centre will be declared. The state merit list will be used by each state for giving admission in engineering and pharmacy colleges. The decision will benefit students as they will get a reprieve from appearing in multiple entrance exams to secure a seat in good top colleges.

Currently, the students keen on an engineering career appear in minimum three entrance exams like IIT-JEE and AIEEE, along with MPPET. Narendra Dhakad, additional director, higher education said, "State has to accept the format as central government holds the power under the constitution to implement its policies." He said that students will benefit as they will not have to spend money for filling examination forms for multiple entrance examinations.

The Cramming Town.....

On the banks of the Chambal, in the midst of an industrial region is a tuition town that is the proud home of numerous IIT-JEE rank holders and aspirants. Kota, Rajasthan, is everything you have read about and more — dotted with close to 400 coaching centres, it generates a certain heat that matches Kota’s summer temperatures. One would expect a slump in business due to the proposed change in JEE pattern, and the common ISEET exam in place of JEE and AIEEE. But what we instead see are hoardings for seminars on ISEET, and motivational publicity material on how to adapt to the changes. Through these posters, the coaching centres are trying to place themselves as the destination for any competitive exam.

The Kota centres offer training for many exams, but the focus on JEE is enormous. In fact, Bansal Classes, one of the pioneers, began offering AIPMT (All India Pre Medical Test) coaching only from this year.

Before tuition centres

Pramod Maheshwari, 40, founder of Career Point, has seen Kota grow from a nondescript industrial town to a hub of coaching centres — partly his contribution as well. In the late Eighties and early Nineties, some ex-employees of the textile industry, which was facing a lean patch, began offering tuitions. This metamorphosed into a coaching town. “In my days we did not have these coaching classes. When I was attempting the JEE, I had subscribed to the Agarwal’s correspondence material, which basically was a collection of previous years’ question papers,” says Maheshwari, who started coaching students in a tar godown. When Maheshwari was moulding himself into an IITian — he graduated from IIT-Delhi in 1993 — VK Bansal also organised his private tuition model and started focussing on competitive exams.

Bansal left a lucrative job with JK Synthetics, in Kota, in the late Eighties to coach students in the locality. His first IIT success happened in 1985, when his student made it to IIT-Roorkee. Diagnosed with muscular dystrophy in 1975, Bansal immersed himself in coaching young minds. His brother, PK Bansal, CEO of Bansal Classes, narrates the story, “He started teaching students at a dining table. After a few years he had to increase the size of the table. But after a while he had to shift to a garage, as his students grew out of the dining tables.”

According to Maheshwari, the JEE fever caught on in Kota after a few success stories made news. “My senior (from IIT-B) Sanjeev Arora received a `1 lakh cash prize from Brilliant Tutorials for clinching AIR (All-India Rank) 1 in JEE in 1986. It was then that people started recognising Kota as a place that was churning out some good results. There was also Sudeep Gupta, AIR 5 in 1989,” says Maheshwari.

Kota slowly and steadily grew to be the national coaching capital and is a `1,000-crore industry today.

Organised coaching

Each of these pioneering centres cater to more than 15,000 students a year! In Kota you get to witness what a corporate thought process can do to an unorganised sector like private tuitions — Career Point is listed on BSE and NSE. In defence of the coaching culture, Maheshwari quips, “Centres like ours help in giving opportunities and spreading awareness about competitive examinations to those who don’t have access to such information and guidance otherwise.”

PK Bansal agrees that they are not magicians. He says, “We can help a 1,000th rank-getter to get to 500. But for someone who is not initiated in the process it will be difficult. And if a candidate does not mind skipping a year or working very hard to make sure the rest of his life is comfortable, why not.”

Hordes of uniformed students march into classes as early as 6am and return long after sunset. “Our students have swipe cards. If they are absent for more than three days, we track them to their hostels and inform their parents. The aim is not to police them, but more about their welfare. In case we find they are ill, we take them to a hospital and tend to them until their parents arrive,” explains Maheshwari.

Personal attention

A special feature of these centres are the doubt-clearing-booths. Teachers occupy these booths after classes to clarify any doubts on an one-on-one basis. Time tables, exam schedules and holidays are listed on notice boards, proving these centres are at par with top universities, when it comes to corporate management skills. At Bansal Classes, parents can track their child’s performance online. “We even have a small auditorium where we screen movies related to academics or feature films (rarely though),” says PK Bansal.

Career Point hosts a kiosk “through which students can access previous test sheets, solutions, academic record and attendance,” explains Maheshwari. The sheer innovation and constant attempt to improve their services bring students to this city and the centres.

South Korean footprint

Etoos, a South Korean coaching giant that set foot in Kota a year ago, is trying to implement a new style of coaching. “Students can register for one course at a time with a teacher and a time slot of their choice. If they’re not satisfied with the teacher, they can shift to a different guide the next month,” says Gyung Sig Chin, director, Overseas Business Division, Etoos. According to Sig Chin, his country saw the same coaching craze 20 years ago. “Private coaching is very popular in South Korea as the school system is not strong and teachers do not get hefty salaries unlike the coaching centre faculty,” explains Sig Chin.

Etoos’s long-term plan is to offer online coaching. Presently, all their students get a handheld device, which has preloaded lectures by Etoos faculty. Sig Chin believes that this industry has great growth potential. He is confident that ISEET will not offset their India plans. In fact he has a message for Kapil Sibal, Union minster for human resource development. He says, “There will be attempts to revamp the system to root out coaching centres, but they will be thwarted. If the toughness quotient is reduced there will be more opportunity for corruption and the test will not be fair. My vote is for a single IIT-JEE. Students will get confused and stressed if the pattern is changed.”

Support system

In many Kota houses you will notice the board, ‘Tolet for Students only’. This is clearly a city that has been very welcoming to its students. “The students are a great addition to the environment here. They are focussed and do not cause trouble. We are proud to have housed champions of IIT-JEE,” says Saurav Agarwal, who runs Raghukul Residency in Vigyan Nagar, the hub of coaching centres. In addition to PG accommodation and hostels, the food joints and mess serve students a great deal. “If coaching centres were not here, my 15 employees would be jobless,” says Jitendra Agarwal, who runs Satkar Foods. It’s obvious the coaching boom has birthed a myriad of jobs in Kota. “If coaching centres take centre stage, people like me, autowallahs, van drivers, servants and shopkeepers are on the backstage. Lot of people from nearby towns come here for jobs,” says Jitendra.

Just like any other town, Kota has its own mall, on the outskirts and closer to the coaching hub of Vigyan Nagar. As expected, 80 per cent of the mall-goers seem to be teenagers. But we soon discover this is not the normal scene. “We are here to celebrate. Our classes have finally ended. We are going home. The mall visit is saved for birthdays only. We don’t have the time usually,” reveals Geeta Sharma, a student.

No time for school

While the target students are shuttling between coaching and hostel, the two-year coaching students who join after Class X and continue till Class XII have a different story. It is no secret that students from other towns and cities who join the Kota centres skip a major chunk of their schooling. The popular theory is that the school education is not giving them what they want, so they would be better off by concentrating on competitive exams. Agninarayan Singh from Ratlam, MP, has been visiting coaching centres in Kota to collect brochures and choose the best centre for his son. He is also looking for schools that will provide his son a “dummy admission”. He says, “I have brought my son to Kota because it is very famous for JEE coaching. Schooling can be taken care of, he will get an attendance waiver in some schools here.”

Nobody is leaving any stone unturned in this town. Even schools are playing their part in creating an environment for students to focus on entrance exams. Coaching centres on their part schedule classes for Class XI-XII students only in the evening. A student who did not wish to be named revealed that some coaching centres even have “collaborations” with schools and assist students in getting attendance waiver. The student said, “Most attend school only for the lab sessions and skip classes otherwise.” When this reporter contacted a couple of schools in Kota under the pretext of getting her brother an admission and attendance waiver she was told that it could be ‘arranged’.


: Published in " indianexpress.com " 31 Mar 2012 10:49:10 AM IST

Course Schedule of April 2012

Time Table of New Session, April Month is out. Check the Schedule & Register yourself for the relative Topics. Classes will start from 10th April 2012.

Hurry up!!! Seats are limited.

Why it is necessary to solve IITJEE question papers?

To understand the standard of any entrance exam it becomes imperative to refer to older question papers. Same is in the case of Joint entrance examination or JEE. By all means JEE is a very tough qualifying exam testing the candidate’s ability and aptitude for engineering. Most successful winners of the JEE exam work relentlessly and devote two years of their life to crack it.

Attending coaching institutes or taking special tutoring for JEE is the most prevalent norm students adopt to prepare for it. But the preparation for JEE is far from complete if previous years papers are not referred too. The practice to solve old JEE question papers will give students insight into the question pattern and the syllabus at large. 

The general pattern of the JEE questions in the last few years has not changed much. It's just that the application principle applied to each question which differs. The IITJEE syllabus has remained unchanged for last 10-15 years. Therefore referring to previous year’s questions papers is significant. At the same time do not negate the possibility of surprises which the JEE paper is so capable of springing.

From 2013 the JEE pattern as well syllabus will change profoundly. But we are still not aware of how the new syllabus is going to be outlined. Those who wish to take JEE in 2013 will have to wait a bit longer till all the modalities of the exams are understood and possible solution is applied to it.

As for those who will be taking the exam in April 2012, it is time to brace up and put in the best effort. These last 18 days are particularly important. Refer to previous year question papers and solve it to develop speed and accuracy. When solving these questions do not be tempted to look at the solution. Take your time and solve it till the right answer is found. Take as many mock tests as possible which will serve as the precursor to the main exam.

Last Minute Preparations for Entrance Exam

With entrance exams round the corner, last minute preparations are under way. Here are few more tips to help you out!

Don’t try anything new at the last moment!

It is common that we get an urge to learn as much as we can. Ignore this feel and restrict yourself from trying anything new. Doing new questions at the last moment will let you in despair and reduce your confidence. So, what should be studied? Revise concepts from your class notes, formula lists, and also your institute’s practice test series. The whole idea is to practice what you have already done. Focus towards your aim (JEE) and avoid procrastination.

Stay cool and confident!

Keep mind fresh and avoid any hot arguments with anybody at your home, neighbors, or friends, whatever the case may be. Anger and arguments leave you depressed with a disturbed mind. Never lose your confidence! Convince yourself that you tried your best to do whatever could have been done in the past 2 or 3 years.

Mimic IIT JEE exam conditions!

Practicing mock tests will be very fruitful if you take them in similar settings and time intervals. Wake up early morning and get ready just like you do on the day of exam. As in JEE exam, ensure that you split your sessions into two: 9.00-12.00 and 2.00-5.00 PM. Also, make sure you complete the papers dot on time.

Never let your logic down!

In addition to your problem-solving skills, the capability to judge the problem correctly also plays a major role in cracking IIT-JEE. When you are confused whether the formula for perimeter of a rectangle is 2(L+B) or 4(L+B), apply your logic. You know obviously a rectangle has 2 lengths and 2 breadths only. It is a simple example, think similar for tough formulas too. Good luck!

Keep Yourself Cool before the Exams

Exam anxiety is not unnatural. It is indeed a type of performance anxiety, which arises when we are under pressure to perform well at something. The more important an exam is, the more likely we feel stress. Jut recognize when you are under stress. For someone, just the idea of taking the test can bring him/her into a panic. Observe deeply to understand your level of stress. Lack of sleep, difficulty in breathing, loss of appetite, irregular eating, random mood swings, uncontrollable crying, and aggression may all indicate that you are stressed.

To effectively handle stress and stay focused on your goal, inculcate in you good habits like managing time, eating well and healthy, having proper sleep and rest, doing light exercises, etc.

Make yourself organized! Keep cool and think about what you have to study; plan accordingly. While working out a time table, make sure you are allotting time for a nice walk in the evening and a cold coffee in your favorite café. Reward your hard work and praise yourself! For example, “If I complete revision of ‘Electricity and Magnetism’ chapter today, I will watch the highlights of the last day’s cricket match.”

Share your thoughts freely! Involve the ones who are close to your heart. Let it be your siblings, parents, or friends. Let them listen to you — talk, cry, or simply sit with them quietly. Never hesitate to have a frank communication!

Afford a calm setting in your study! A quiet place is a lot more soothing for proper study and privacy. Don’t continue reading and practicing if you hungry or thirsty. Light meals and fresh juices are always a healthy diet, and it is a good choice, rather than junk food, for reducing stress.

Manage your breaks between studies! Listen some music and/or do something energetic when you need a real break from studying. Relaxation and fun both reduce stress remarkably. Do some breathing techniques that help to maintain your heart beat rate. Indulge in hobbies you like; let it be gardening or playing violin. Be optimistic! If you worry, blame, or apply too much pressure, your stress levels will increase. Of course, your performance will decrease. Believe in heart that things will be all right, no matter what the results are. :-)