How to select the right Coaching Institute?
So you want to be a Doctor? and you now have to select a Coaching Institute for your Competitive exam preparation.
There so much advertising, promotion, marketing going on that its very easy to lose sight of your goal and fall prey to unscrupulous money making machines.
How do you select an Institute for your NEET studies?
After all its going to cost a minimum of 2-3 lacs for the 2 years preparation .. so you have to ensure you
not only get the best value for your money BUT you also get everything needed to get selected for your professional career. You certainly need to score high (above 500/650) in the NEET exam, in order to be eligible for Medical College Admission.
So How will you go about finding the “Right” Institute? Here are a few things you can do :
1. First try to see who in your relatives / friends / known circles have taken an admission to a Good
Medical College like Grant Medical, KEM, GMC etc. Try to find a mutual contact to get you introduced. Take
time to meet at-lest 2-3 such successful candidates. Ask THEM How they studied, which coaching they
attended, who are some good teachers .. in short get to know the information first hand.
2. DO NOT get influenced by “Top Results” published by coaching institutes .. Most of the times these ”
top” institutes BUY results b paying Lacs of Rupees to successful candidates, who actually did not
study there .. There have been Instances in recent past where same topper students names were published by 3 “Top” Institutes as their own! SO the results and claims sometimes might be fake.
3. Before or after you visit a institute talk to at-least 5-10 students who are studying in that
Institute. Do It Discreetly. Ask them about all subjects, teachers and their attention to students.
4. Fees from MOST Top Institutes are NON-Refundable and some even lock you into paying full fees (by taking
Post Dated Cheques), even if you don’t complete the course from there or leave mid-way. Be wary of getting locked into future payments too early.
5. Most Institutes have a “Top batch” or ” rankers batch” or a “star batch” of students and focus only on them. This means Non-performing or weak students don’t get good teachers, and their performance goes down instead of improving. Make sure all students get the best faculty and attention is paid to improving every-ones scores.
6. Don’t Go after “Showmanship” or “Trends” or “Buzzwords” like Kota pattern, Latur pattern, Hyderabad pattern et.al. Remember when you are part of a Huge crowd, you are just a small person whose personal needs are no longer cared for. You are better off in a small group of 40-50 students than in a crowd of 250!
7. Don’t go after tall claims of covering more study material than everyone else. While their may be 10-15% additional study required, most of the time it is the standard prescribed NCERT books that MUST be covered and are enough to score better. Don’t study too many irrelevant things that confuse you more.
8. Make sure your State Board studies are included and completely covered. Some institutes focus exclusively on one board resulting in neglect of board studies. Remember the score you get in Board decides your rank, when marks are same in competitive exams.
9. Make sure you get ample Chapter-wise tests, Module tests, test papers, test series and doubt clearing sessions.
So do some research, before you signup for a institute. Make sure it suits you and helps advance your career.