Despite claims from the University Grants Commission (UGC) that the new entrance exam will not give rise to coaching culture like other standardised tests such as JEE Main and NEET, most top-ranking coaching institutes have already started offering mock test series, and preparatory courses for the centralised entrance exam for admissions to top universities across India—CUET.
Even though the exam will be based on class 12 studies, a new test pattern and the high stakes have made students anxious. With Delhi University, BHU, JMI, JNU among other top colleges admitting students through CUET, the competition is going to be high, which has made many students worried about securing a seat. The tough competition for limited seats is also leading to many opting for the coaching route.
Crash courses on CUET have received a good response from students across the country. Most coaching institutes claim that it is the students from the rural areas and state-board aspirants who need the most support.
Many coaching centres including FIITJEE feel that the uncertainty around the new exam has made students opt for the help. “Students need support to be familiarised with the exam pattern,” said Ramesh Batlish, an expert at FIITJEE Noida. The coaching institute has released a mock test and question bank series to fill this gap.
Added pressure
Batlish said, “With CUET launched, there is additional pressure on students due to multiple exams in a short span. Students whom we have trained for JEE need not worry about CUET which is expected to be much easier than JEE. We have launched the mock test series and question bank to familiarise students with exam patterns”.
Many academicians believe that the timing of CUET was wrong and it has led to confusion among kids and a rise in coaching culture. “A centralised examination makes sense for the universities to overcome the lack of standardisation across boards and use of raw scores that cannot be compared. However, for the students in the current batch, this is causing much disruption at the wrong time. The timing could have been much better. The students not only have to deal with the anxiety of their ongoing board exams but are now fending off the CUET when they were looking forward to a break. There is much uncertainty adding to the anxiety,” said Dr Sunita Gandhi, educator, and founder of DEVI Sansthan, which runs many schools across India.
“Many students already do not attend school but prefer to join coaching for NEET and JEE. Next will be preparing for the CUET. Each year we are already getting a number of requests for admission as ‘dummy’ students. It will be difficult for many students to navigate through these changes. Most affected will be the students from low-income families,” said Dr Gandhi.
Bridging the gap
In contrast to the idea behind the launch of the exam to make it more inclusive, it is students from state boards and those from low-income families who are finding the new entrance exam most challenging.
Venkat Phanikiran, chief academic officer at Extramarks, believes that with a new exam launch with such high stakes, there is a need for support for almost all students. However, the state board students would need more help to “bridge the gap between the syllabi of different boards and the NCERT” as the CUET will be based on NCERT.
He added, “Students passing their high school this year will be affected severely. Firstly, the current batch of students has already faced a lot of pressure due to the ongoing pandemic. Secondly, the sudden change in exam pattern will be quite difficult for them to ace. This batch is neither equipped properly nor has the resources required to prepare thoroughly for the CUET.”
Career Launcher began offering coaching programmes for CUET even before the exam was finalised for all central universities. Batches in online and offline mode started at the coaching institute after the CBSE term 1 board exams. The new offering of Career Launchers was needed considering “CUET is a very competitive exam with lakhs of students taking it, one needs to start the prep early”, believes Amitendra Kumar, product head of CUET at Career Launcher.
The crash course at Career Launchers offers exam-specific strategies to help students ace CUET within 1.5 to 2 months. This is a different pattern from board exams, claims the coaching centre, and hence students need to try different strategies to think and write in the college entrance test. This while not compromising on performance in board exams as class 12 marks will be considered in postgraduate admissions like IIMs, etc, said Kumar.
Maninder Singh Bajwa is the CEO, and founder of iScuela— an ed-tech platform that does not provide coaching for CUET but is mulling offering a test series for the practice of aspirants.
“Such a test will throw up challenges for students majorly in the rural sector,” he said. “While there are numerous options available for preparing for such tests in metropolitan regions, rural areas do not have much access to modern tools of learning students may be left with less assistance and more pressure. Though rural regions are catching up to urban areas in terms of possibilities and resources, there is still a gap that needs to be bridged. Also, the rural population finds it burdensome to spend money on their children’s education, and now coaching and extra classes for the test may become a hindrance for underprivileged students in their careers. However, we are hoping this whole CUET process will get more streamlined and become more easily accessible to everyone.”
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