Blog 1 :Just another 🩺NEET Aspirant👨🏽‍⚕️ (School Selection) 🏫

 This is the 1st blog in the Just Another NEET aspirant Blog series, in this blog, I would like to focus on the 1st every step that parents & students need to take before embarking on the NEET preparation journey. It is of course the School selection. Thousands of schools, private institutions, and tuition centers are available to provide NEET coaching, but how do we decide? For that first of all we need to know the different options available to choose from. 



From my perspective, there are broadly 3 choices available 

  1. Enrolling in a private CBSE school with Allen or Aakash tie-up

  2. Enrolling in a private CBSE school with Integrated NEET coaching 

  3. Joining Allen or Aakash Classroom course 


  1. Option: Enrolling in a private CBSE school with Allen or Aakash tie-up

What is a private CBSE school with an Allen or Aakash tie-up? These types of schools have a normal CBSE curriculum where the school faculty members teach the students the regular 11th and 12th CBSE syllabus in the morning session, just as it is carried out in other schools. However, the difference is that in the afternoon session, external faculty from either Aakash or Allen will come to the school campus to give NEET coaching for around 3 to 4 hours per day. 


Pros and Cons 


Pros:

  1. The only advantage of such schools is that the student is given equal importance regarding CBSE board preparation and NEET preparation. This fact is often compromised in those private CBSE schools with integrated NEET coaching, which I will explain later on. 

  2. Guided by professional staff from Allen or Akash, which are regarded as the leading NEET coaching centers 


Cons:

  1. Only providing 3 or 4 hours of NEET coaching per day is not sufficient time to teach all the core subjects of NEET with full understanding 

  2. I feel that having two sets of faculty members, one set for teaching regular CBSE patterns and then another set of external faculty members for NEET preparation would be too diluted of a learning experience. Every day, the student has to deal with almost 

5 different faculty members for CBSE board preparation 

  1. English Core 

  2. Mathematics 

  3. Physics

  4. Chemistry 

  5. Biology 

and 5 more different faculty members for NEET preparation

  1. Chemistry 

  2. Physics

  3. Botany

  4. Zoology 

So roughly the student would be encountering 9 different faculty members per day. This is not that beneficial for a particular student as he or she with limited time would not be able to bond with each teacher that much and adapt to each of their teaching style that quickly. 


3. I am not sure whether this is a generalized fact but word of mouth from my friends is that these teaching faculties tend to just come and teach the students for the sake of teaching and they lack the passion. Such an instance does not favor the student's preparation.



2.  Option: Enrolling in a private CBSE school with Integrated NEET coaching

 What is a private CBSE school with Integrated NEET coaching? This option is the one that I chose and the option by which I stand as the best option to go for NEET coaching. In these types of schools, the management does not follow the regular CBSE pattern, especially in 11th standard at least, the full focus is on the NEET syllabus. Since only the 12th standard portion is being tested for the CBSE Board exam, the 11th CBSE Board topics are neglected so that more time can be invested in NEET coaching. Thus, mathematics and Core English lessons are often avoided and very rare with almost no importance. With such a reality why do I still stand by this option as the one of the best or the best option? 


Pros and Cons


Pros 

  1. Many schools provide such programs all over India. Everyone would be familiar with the names of these top groups of schools

  • Velammal Bodhi Campus (17 campuses in Tamil Nadu) 

  • Sri Chaitanya (750+ all over India) 

  • Narayana (51 centres in 15 cities )

  • Resonance 

  • Green Park Coaching Centre (Namakkal) 

From the strength of each of the institutional groups, you can see how widespread they have grown and the reason for this is their success throughout the years of coaching with the unique formula that they have provided. From my personal experience, such Schools are the best as they have a solid, trustworthy, failproof framework regarding teaching experience, materials provided, or even the setting of question papers. They have been in this NEET coaching field for more than 20+ years and I would not have felt this safe in their hand when compared to the rest. It is a trend in these premier schools to only hire faculty members with over 15 to 20+ years of experience in this field so all the teachers have it running in their  blood



2. These groups of schools often provide integrated courses that is they cover both the CBSE syllabus and NEET syllabus at the same time so it is 2 birds with one stone. Especially since half of the NEET syllabus overlaps with the 12th Board exams, it would be easy for the students to cope and manage with  


Cons 

  1. The only drawback I experienced is that such schools tend to disregard the CBSE syllabus completely in the 11th standard and only limited time is given for CBSE preparation. I remember that full-fledged Board preparation only began in late December which is only 2 months from the actual Board exams. As a result, CBSE Board Mathematics preparation felt rushed and I was not able to cope well in mathematics, which was the main burden to my CBSE Board exam score.

3. Option: Joining Allen or Aakash Classroom course

Many ads can be seen popping up on the web to join Allen or Akash Classroom courses whether it be online or offline. I have not yet asked any friends or experienced it myself, so I do not have much guidance on this option. But what is feel is that the students can attend free sample classes from Allen or Akash's classroom and see whether they are comfortable with the method of teaching. If they are comfortable they can sign up for either their offline or digital classrooms. 



In Conclusion, there are three broad options to choose from and many more options that I have not yet discussed. I personally feel that enrolling in a well-established private CBSE school that provides integrated NEET coaching. I am not self-promoting but I believe that the faculty at Velammal Bodhi Campus, Ponneri has one of the most amazing faculty members for Chemistry, Physics, Botany, and Zoology. They have definitely inspired me in different ways that I had no idea was possible and have changed my life forever. Finally, it is up to the parents and their children to decide which path they want to walk down and I can only give the benefits and disadvantages that I know of. 

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