Coaching giants started prep for common entrance test much earlier

The scope for the CUCET has expanded several-fold for the 2022-2023 academic session. While it was the gateway examination for 12 central universities in 2021, undergraduate admissions in all central universities will be held only on the basis of their CUCET score from this year — making it the only filter for admissions for some of the most sought after undergraduate varsities such as Delhi University, Banaras Hindu University, Jamia Millia Islamia, University of Hyderabad and Aligarh Muslim University.

Coaching giants such as Aakash, BYJU’s and Career Launcher are among those who had begun offering preparatory classes and test series for this examination.

Aakash, which specialises in preparation for the JEE and NEET, is offering coaching and test series courses for the CUCET for the first time — but only for science aspirants. They launched their first batch on March 11, and a second batch is proposed to be launched in early June.

So far, the institutes have been developing all the content and test paperwork along the lines of previous years’ format. “We have designed and developed entirely new study material keeping the syllabus and pattern of questions of CUCET at the core of its development process… However, we shall be immediately making changes as per the requirements,” said Anurag Tiwari, National Academic Director (Medical) at Aakash.

In 2021, the exam consisted of two sections— Part A which tested English language, general awareness, mathematical aptitude, and analytical skills; and Part B which tested domain knowledge. In 2022, there will be three sections — Section I will cover languages, Section II will have subject-specific questions and Section III will be a general test.

Career Launcher had started its sessions as early as January, and this is the first time it is offering CUCET coaching as well.

“We had been helping students prepare for some of the different entrance exams by central universities such as BHU and DU for some courses. Till 2021, CUCET had lesser-known universities under it. So this is the first time we’re offering CUCET coaching and there is a lot of interest — a 50%-60% jump in registrations compared to what we had seen for the programmes for different central universities in the past. There are students preparing for other exams such as CAT and IPM who are also preparing for it to keep their options open,” said Amitendra Kumar, product head for CUCET at Career Launcher.

On starting classes far before the official UGC notification on it, he said, “… As an institution, we understand format as exact nitty-gritty of how much time, how many questions. What had emerged through statements by officials and vice-chancellors so far is that this entrance will test aptitude and subject knowledge, that is what we are covering. We started early because students are not going to have much time after their board exams to prepare.”

Other major institutes include Vidyamandir Classes, BYJU’s Exam Prep, Unacademy, Pratham Online — offering up to 300 hours of preparation through online and offline classes and testing, so far based on the past formats.