Engineering is one of the most trending career options today in our country and there are innumerous numbers of engineering universities in India. However, except for the top institutes of the nation like IITs, NITs, IIITs and other top Universities across various states, the majority have made engineering a fad. To land a seat in one of these premier institutions, all the students are faced with the challenge to qualify the herculean examination of JEE. JEE is divided into two tiers, namely Main and Advanced with the later granting access to the IITs. The ambitious exam, however, demands a very dedicated preparation which makes the examination of JEE a very serious affair. Over 12 lakh students appear the exam with a few thousand making it into the IITs and around 5% making it to reputed institutions. The complexity of the exam coupled with the extensive practice followed by the coaching centres has made the task of cracking the JEE with a decent rank near impossible. The time management and the guidance becomes even more important during JEE to be acquainted with the exam format and scenarios associated with it.
Starting with Bansal Classes in the 1980s, Indian Coaching Industry has seen a massive growth catering to the need as well utilizing the situation to profit out of it. With the promise to grant students into these top-notch institutions, the coaching institutions intake tens of thousands of students. However, as less as 1% qualify the examination and the exorbitant cost associated with it makes coaching an infeasible task for a majority. In the recent past, alternative measures in terms of online coaching have emerged and evolved as a better solution.
Online coaching is economical compared to offline coaching. The lack of infrastructure, fees made to multiple teachers which can be avoided by making the same content available to a large group etc., facilitate the economy. Online coaching also allows studying from the comfort of home contributing to the economic balance. Livelihood in coaching institution is bound to be costlier due to rents, foods, etc. It is also beneficial for students living in the remote areas saving them the long hours of commute. A large amount of time available for JEE self-study coupled with staying healthy will buy the aspirants a lot of time for JEE preparation. There are no hassles of batch shifting as well which can cause hassle to the student getting used to the teacher and format of teaching. There are however downsides such as barring a few doubt clearance is not present in the most platforms making the preparation improper and bringing a lot of hiccups to the aspirant. Also, online coaching might not provide the student with the right atmosphere during a drop year. But, at the end, the success rate doesn’t get worse than offline coaching with many upsides such as that of cost, mental health, physical health etc. allowing the student to be nurtured in a healthier environment. Parental guidance is however very important during online coaching.
There a lot of e-learning platforms such as Toppr, Byjus, Etoos, Kaysons, AskIITians, Plancess etc. along with the distance learning packages for JEE provided by Resonance, FIITJEE, VMC, Careerpoint, Vibrant, Allen etc. which can help the student prepare without getting enrolled in a traditional top coaching class. The e-learning platforms brush past the distance learning packages due to their recent involvement and their varied purpose. The DLP packages are prepared to aid the coaching scenario rather than helping the student prepare by self. Resonance with crisp study modules, FIITJEE with the best test-taking platform and Careerpoint with Video Lectures are one of the many unique features of the above companies but most of them lack video lectures and all of them doubt clearance. There are certain forums available to serve the purpose but these forums are time-taking and sometimes limit the questions. Among the e-learning platforms, there are a few options which handle the criteria of cost well.
The platforms ticking the factors of exhaustive facilities and cost-efficient support are Plancess, Etoos, Kaysons & AskIITIans. Kaysons along with video for JEE along with premium support by is priced around Rs. 14,500 while AskIITians, Etoos and Plancess is over thrice the cost around Rs. 80,000. Etoos is however flexible in terms of the number of subjects one chooses to buy and a range of teachers are provided as an option. Kaysons is the only platforms which provide the feature of doubt-clearance making it an exhaustive source of JEE or NEET Online preparation. Etoos costs higher due to classroom teaching recordings of the teachers from Kota. Plancess provides all the support but lacks in doubt clearance. Online mode of education is the most economical solution in today’s age where education has been made into an industry and made a huge profit of. The traditional coaching system in the coaching hubs are not a bad solution but are definitely costly, involves a lot of trade-offs and is more suited to sharp and dedicated students. Online coaching promises to deliver to the mass, revolutionizing the nature of education and inspiring the masses to access the same facilities with a minimum barrier.
