How to choose Coaching Institute after 12th Boards for Aptitude Tests

Now with class 12th Boards already over or on the verge of so depending on the student’s stream, the entire focus now shifts towards the upcoming entrance exams. Several Aptitude tests (CLAT, AILET, DU-JET, IPM, SET, IPU-CET, MH-CET etc.) are now lined up which will test students’ abilities way beyond their school curriculum. Students and their parents are often undecided on which institute to join, as there are seemingly several options available. Herd mentality also plays a part among teenagers as they tend to want to join institutes where their friends go. However, certain parameters exist based on which students and their parents must choose the said coaching institute.
The most important ones have been listed below:

Faculty:
Like any other segment of the education industry, quality of faculty plays a very big role. The qualifications and relevant experience of the trainers must be noted down. While qualifications are necessary to provide the intellectual inputs, cracking entrance exams is often about the tactic rather than knowledge alone. That is why the experience of knowing what each entrance is about and how to handle certain tricky questions, is of utmost importance.
It is important to stay cautious at this stage as quality of faculty could be replicated by smaller boutique institutes too, but many of them are extremely dependent on single big names. A big brand name on the other hand will have a pool of trainers who can replicate one another. As multiple batches are formed at this stage, only the larger brands can ensure that each batch or centre is equipped with the best possible resource.

Study Material:
While classroom lectures are the foundation, students also need extensive material for self-study. Material must be adequate for students to imbibe the theories and also practice further. The material must also include content on past years’ questions and answers so that students are focused on the relevant topics. Typically, it is considered that for every hour of coaching, a student must go through three hours of self study or testing.

Online Content:
In the Digital Age, where everything is getting converted into bits and bytes, education is no different. A truly top class coaching institute must have online material to back up its offline content. A lot of tests themselves have moved on to the online mode, so students must be familiar with methods of speed reading content on a screen. It is generally understood that the speed of reading and the span of attention both reduce for those not familiar with online tests. Thus a through practice on one’s account provided by the institute is pertinent.

Guidance on Colleges:
Coaching is not an end in itself, but a means to reach the preferred college. So beyond the subject domain knowledge, the personnel at such institutes must be able to guide the students on various colleges, career options, alternatives, form filling procedures, fees, rankings or affiliations.

Testing:
Another crucial cog and this is where the difference between any local instructor-led brand loses out to national level players. At the top aptitude coaching centres in the country, a student not only competes against his/her handful of classmates, but against an entire nation of test givers. This gives the student real time analysis which is in tandem with the actual paper.
Overall, every student at this stage must understand that the time left is minimum, so he/she needs to maximize the opportunity. Proper guidance of the tactics and approaches is necessary so the choice of coaching institute will make a difference as major as the final college itself.