Should You Go to Dummy School for JEE & NEET ?

In the beginning of your JEE & NEET preparation, you might get a thought to join some dummy school for JEE & NEET preparation. Many schools bother their students for attendance. They want more and more students to attend the classes held at school. If your join some coaching center for JEE & NEET preparation, your day might get even more hectic. You will have to go to both, your school and your coaching center. Some time is spent in commuting as well. And above all this, you have to do self-study too. After all, self-study holds utmost importance.

So as to make your day less hectic, you might consider joining a dummy school at the time of your JEE & NEET preparation because in a dummy school, you are not bothered at all for attendance. This would give you more time for preparing for JEE & NEET. All this looks good, but leaving your present school and joining a dummy school may even have disastrous effect on your academics.

You might not get support from you family, friends, and present teachers

Yes, that’s right. Generally, students do not enroll themselves in dummy schools. In fact, the students who are enrolled in a dummy school are sometimes looked down upon by students who study in famous schools. Since leaving your existing school for joining a dummy school for JEE & NEET preparation is not yet a “trend” in most cities, your parents might be sceptical about your decision for joining a dummy school. You might not get their support in your this decision.

Your school friends may not be happy if you decide to join a dummy school for JEE & NEET preparation. Some of your classmates may criticise you for doing this. Some may even make fun of you. If you are attached sentimentally to your school friends, leaving them might be a difficult thing to do for you.

If you are have the reputation of being a good student in your school, your present teachers will try their best to retain you in your current school. They want to get the best board results from the school students, and so they cannot afford to let a good student leave the school. They might even try to convince your parents to not let you leave the school, which will make your parents even more sceptical about your decision of joining a dummy school for JEE & NEET preparation.

How confident are you that you will clear JEE & NEET?

JEE & NEET  has the reputation of being the toughest exam in India. Around 1.5 million candidates appear for the exam each year, which makes the competition in the exam even stronger. JEE & NEET is not an easy nut to crack.

You should consider leaving your present school and joining a dummy school only if you are very confident that you will crack both JEE & NEET with good ranks, and would obtain around 90% marks in board exams as well, no matter what! If you have even a slight doubt in this, please do not consider joining a dummy school. You might end up ruining your career if you do so.

JEE & NEET is one of the toughest exams to crack in India. If you are even slightly doubting yourself that you can “crack” the exam or not, then doing well in it might be very difficult for you. We haven’t said this to discourage you. But considering the difficulty level of the exam and the sheer number of students appearing for it, if you doubt your potential, then it is not a good sign to take a big risk such as leaving your present school and joining a dummy school. Also, it is a fact that most of the students who do very well in JEE & NEET are quite confident that they will crack JEE & NEET and have faith in themselves since the starting of their JEE & NEET preparation (there might be some exceptions though).

Things that you may miss out if you join a dummy school

Although you’ll get ample of time if you join a dummy school for JEE & NEET preparation, but there are some things that you might miss out if you leave your current school:

• If you are a good student, your school teachers will pay special attention towards you. You might even become the “most favorite student” of your teachers. Special attention of the teachers is something that you might not find in a dummy school (because you won’t be attending the school much).
• If you have a good academic record, you might even become the school captain or a school prefect. Some students find this to be very cool and might do almost anything to get these titles. I don’t think the students of dummy schools get this opportunity.
• “English” is the subject that is not a part of the JEE Main and JEE Advanced syllabi. Hence, most of the JEE aspirants almost neglect this subject. They only study it at the time of tests or exams in their school. Although the class 11 and class 12 English of the CBSE curriculum is not very difficult, but the English taught in ICSE curriculum is pretty sophisticated. If you find English difficult, you might consider continuing with your current school. If you join a dummy school, you will have to study English on your own, which might be difficult for you if you are not very comfortable with English. Studying all the subjects is important for the board exams so as to score well. You should not neglect any subject for board exams as your board exam marks would determine your eligibility to get admission in an IIT, NIT, IIIT, and CFTI.
• Since there is a pressure on the school teachers to teach the students well so that they get good results in the board exams, your school teachers might be ready to help you anytime and give you useful resources to study for the board exams. You may not get this benefit in a dummy school.

These are some of the things that you might miss out if you leave your current school. If you feel that even one of the above mentioned points is very important for you and you cannot do without it, please ponder upon your decision of leaving your current school.

Benefits of joining a dummy school for JEE & NEET preparation

• You need not to attend the classes. You just have to appear for the exams.
• You will get sufficient time for your JEE & NEET preparation.
• You can study at your own pace and need not to worry about the syllabus covered in your school.
• You don’t need to participate in the extra-curricular activities that happen at school. You will hence save time.

ICSE or CBSE for class 11 and 12?

The syllabus of both JEE Main and JEE Advanced is more similar to the syllabus of the CBSE curriculum than that of the ICSE curriculum. Also, the syllabus of the ICSE curriculum is much more extensive than the syllabus of the CBSE curriculum.

Both the boards (ICSE and CBSE) are very different and have their own pros and cons. While the examinations such as the JEE Main, JEE Advanced etc., are based on the CBSE syllabus, the ICSE curriculum is advantageous if one wants to give exams such as TOEFL, SAT etc. Studying in an ICSE board school is very beneficial for students who wish to make their career in management or humanities, but if you want to make your career in engineering and want to give JEE, choosing the CBSE board might be better for you.