Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Department of "Awesome-if-true": 37 % of those who got through JEE didn't use "specialized coaching'"


A good catch by commenter Raj:

Candidates appearing for JEE prepare either through “self study” or through “specialized teaching (other)”. Data (Table A8) for JEE 2011 shows that 295618 out of 468280 (63.1%) have prepared using “self study”. Out of the 13196 candidates who qualified, 4912 (37.22%) have used the “self study” mode.

What are the odds that the sociological data collected by JEE is just deceptive fluff? [And, yes, this probably means the income effect is tainted as well].

4 Comments:

  1. Dheeraj Sanghi said...

    When the new batch joined IITK, I asked about 100 students (a mixed crowd) whether they had gone for some sort of coaching - about 91 or 92 said yes, and I got this feeling from the body language that many of the other 8-9 were not fully truthful. Of course, it is possible that this set wasn't random enough or that all the self-study students get ranks beyond 5000 (and hence did not come to IITK). Also, during the counseling time, I receive 100s of emails in which selected candidates talk about themselves and then ask for advice on what they should be doing. And I find one standard line in all those emails as, "I was one of the toppers in coaching, and was expecting a better rank." I have also traveled to other IITs, and talked to many students. It is uncommon to come across students who say that they didn't go for any coaching, and I think some of them are lying.

    The assumption, of course, is that candidates while filling up the forms lie a lot. Some of them have told me that they don't know how this data will be used, and there is a fear that on getting equal marks, IITs might prefer someone with self-study, or someone with poorer background, etc. over the other. Once they join an IIT, their reason to lie disappear. And they can openly admit to coaching.

  2. Ungrateful Alive said...

    What a wonderfully traditional Indian way to embark on higher education: lying!

  3. Sivaramakrishnan said...

    I agree with @DheerajSanghi. As a recent (B.Tech) graduate of IIT Madras, I would be extremely surprised if you told me that more than 1/3 of my batch did not attend coaching. On the other hand, I could make a claim that on average, students in my batch might have had 3-4 years of coaching, if you get what I mean. I think students are too scared to be honest in that survey. It would be nice if the IITs could take a survey of their incoming students in the first few days.

    Secondly, I'll say that coaching is not bad in itself. I attended JEE coaching (during 11/12 std) and I learned a lot from the teachers at my coaching classes. These agencies are filling in an important role (for which there is high demand) because our schools are not up to the mark. So the concept of coaching in principle is not a bad thing. The methods used and the emphasis is often incorrect, leading to unfortunate consequences (ironically) for the students.

  4. S said...

    From my experience, I cannot believe that a single person can pass JEE (i.e., get the high enough score), without heavy coaching.