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in Engineering Admissions
What they really teach you at Bansal classes
If you are planning to join the ‘JEE Topper Factory’, here’s what you can expect,
says Rashmi Bansal
As such no school syllabus teaches you to think
along lines of competitive exams. For that you have
to join a coaching class and today, Bansal's is the
most preferred.
Why? Because in all 1538 Bansal students got
selected in IITs in the year 2007. The secret of their
success is 'pre selection'. Admission to Bansal classes
is based on an entrance exam after class 10. There
are 2 exams - the first is around April 15th, just after
the 10th Boards. This exam is called 'Bullseye'.
The second entrance is in the first week of June. This
exam is called 'Acme'. It is better to give the first
exam, as you will have a 2 month advantage and
also, first batch students get the better teachers.
Second exam is of course
an option for people who
have missed the first one.
Majority of students who
make it to Bansal's are from
CBSE or ICSE board. In my
time barely 2 students from
state board made it! But
even for CBSE students the
Chemistry portion is tough
as what we are taught in
school is not enough.
Yes, there are 15 day crash
courses to help you get into
Bansal classes such as
'Garg classes'. Not only do they coach you for the
Bansal test, they teach you 2-3 chapters of their study
material so you can score better in the first few
weekly tests. Yup, it's one hell of a competitive
environment.
You see the 'merit rank' that you get in Bansal
entrance determines which batch you get. The top
rankers are part of the 'elite' batches which get the
best teachers. Of course the ranking has to be
maintained by your performance in weekly tests. You
get a cumulative ranking based on scores of past
and present tests. Those who scored less in the
entrance and therefore got a lower batch do have
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a chance to move up.
But in general, the elite batches have an edge. The
catch is you don't know what rank you've got until
you've paid your fees in full. By which time it's a fait
accompli.
Aspirants can take heart from the 2007 topper Achin
Bansal. He is a fresher who joined in S4 batch, which
is one of the lowest. But he worked his way up to A1
batch by class 12. It's rare, but it can happen!
The Grind
There are two kinds of students - freshers and
'droppers'. Freshers are those attempting JEE for the
first time, droppers are those who are repeating
a year to give it again.
Some join Bansal's dropper
batch directly and for them
there is an entrance test
called 'Sterling'.
In the past people would
drop upto 3-4 years and
keep trying for JEE. Often
they repeated to get a
better rank. But with the
new rules you can only give
JEE twice.
In class 11 - which consists
of 'freshers' , the topper
batch is P1, followed by P2
and so on upto P6. At the next rung are batches Q1
to Q6, similarly R and then S (upto S6). That is 24
batches of freshers in all. Then you have an addition-
al 9 batches who join through the 2nd test are num-
bered from J1 to J9. In 12th standard the batches are
numbered A1, A2 and so on with A1 being the
cream of the class.
Before 2007, more droppers used to get selected
than freshers. Now that you can't keep giving JEE, the
ratio has improved.47% of selections were freshers
and 53% were droppers. Among freshers, most of
those selected were from the top 6 batches ie A1 to
A7. In batches after that only 2-3 students got select-
ed. There are 75 students in every batch.
www.bheja.in Engineering Admissions
Fresher classes start at 2-2.30 pm because officially
morning is 'school timing'. Of course no one attends
school, we use that time to do homework of 'DPPs'
(Daily Practice Problems). The toughness of these
problems rises to maddening heights. Of course now
that JEE pattern has changed solving these problems
is not so important, now many students don't take
them as seriously.
Droppers have no school issue - they study all day.
Classes start at 8 am, batches are named X, Y and Z
(there were 8 batches per series in my time!)
The Teaching
The main thing is mental toughness and keeping
yourself motivated. If you fall behind, you fall behind.
You may be lucky and find
a sympathetic teacher
but mostly you're on your
own. There are all kinds
of teachers.
For example there was
a Physical Chemistry
teacher who was a 25 yr
old Chem Engineer from
IIT Bombay. He was
rumoured to earn Rs 1
lakh a month and they'd
also given him a Tata Scorpio. Last heard he had left
Bansals to pursue a course in fashion design having
obtained an AIR 2 in a national level entrance exam.
(yeah, ironic isn't it!)
Also one of the 'maverick' but good teachers, like
Mr.Narendra Awasthi aka "Sodium" who taught
Physical Chem has left (current whereabouts not
known). Mr Jeevan Jyothi Agrawal aka "JJ Sir",an
excellent and extremely committed Maths teacher as
well as a good human being, has left to teach at
"Allen's", a very famous medical coaching institute at
Kota. He was the one from whom I received max
guidance during my 3 yr stint.
So quality of teachers and teaching keeps changing.
Teaching method is quite informal. There is an a/c in
the class but it's never switched on. It's only a
showpiece. Also, the original Mr Bansal only teaches
Maths. His brother manages the admin.
A roaring business
When I gave the Bansal exam in 2004, 5000 stu-
dents took the test. Of which 2000 got in. Now they
are taking in more students. Currently there would be
around 10,000 students in Bansal classes. Of which
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2800 would be 'droppers', 3000 would be the class
12 fresher batch and rest would be class 11 freshers
(3800 or so in number).
Earlier there were 75 students in a batch.Now we
have 85 to 90 in the topper batches and 120 to 150
in lower batches. They have 2 buildings in which
classes are held. The new one has classrooms where
150 students can be seated.
When I joined 2 years back the fees per year were
Rs 35,000 p.a.. Then it became Rs 50,000. Now it
is Rs 60,000. Which means an estimated turnover of
Rs 60 crores. Two years ago their official turnover
was Rs 18 crores. And I forgot, they have a
correspondence course called 'Locus' as well.
Bansal's main centre is
Kota - that's where close to
1400 of the 1538
selections are from. There
are only two 'branches' -
Jaipur and Ajmer. Of these
Jaipur is bigger and more
preferred (had 154 selec-
tions vs 8 in Ajmer). Jaipur
and Ajmer branches are
generally offered to those
who don't make it to Kota.
Incidentally, the 1538 selections includes 60 SC/ ST
students as well.
Bansal selection break up:
top 100 JEE ranks: 32 students
top 1000 JEE ranks: 250 students rest rank far lower.
My rank was 4800, there were 860 Bansal students
above me, Of course at 4800 I had no chance of
admission to an IIT. I eventually joined BITS Goa.
The only other JEE coaching class of any repute in
Kota is Resonance. They take in 10,000 students and
boast of 800 selections but there are hardly any in
the top JEE ranks. Also only about 450 of the
selections would be through classroom coaching,
rest are people who are in Bansal or other classes
but took up one test series from Resonance.
Most students give both Bansal and Resonance
entrance tests and prefer Bansal if they get both.
Resonance tries to lure you by offering scholarships.
They have a hostel called 'Lakshya' where they offer
some of the toppers a free stay, provided they keep
up their performance. Resonance has hardly any
selections in the top 100 but many in the top 1000
www.bheja.in Engineering Admissions
(includes both classroom and test series). There are
also institutes like Career Point and Insight.
There are barely 300 girls at Bansal classes. ie
around 8-9 per batch. The front row is reserved for
them.
There are a lot of students in Kota from UP and
Bihar. Mr V K Bansal is not very pleased with the
Bihar students. A couple of years ago they burst
a rassi bomb in one of the toilets, But it must be said
Biharis are generally intelligent, good in Maths.
Life in Kota
Bansal does not have any hostel facility. This means
booming business for private hostels and PGs. A
room close to Bansal can cost Rs 4000 p.m. And this
is a tiny room converted from a kitchen. You can get
a better room in Vigyan nagar for Rs 2000-2500
p.m. and Talwandi for Rs 1500 p.m. But living in
Talwandi wastes time as you have to cross a highway
and the signal does not work there.
Yeah, every minute counts!
Hostels are more or less the same. They charge
Rs 6000 p.m. for lodging, food, washing clothes.
Food starts out ok then deteriorates.Many survive
on Maggi - they keep a gas in the room. There is
a hot water problem in winter. Often the solar
panels don't work. Then people skip baths or heat
water with a rod.
On Sundays the mess has a holiday. The only decent
restaurant close by is Eatos. Many prefer to eat at
thelawalas or then at places like Saat Handi,
Maheshwari etc further away. There is a new trend
where sometimes mothers come and stay with the
kids to ensure they have no 'food problems' and can
concentrate on studies!.
Bicycle theft (from landlord's homes, hostels and
even parking lots of coaching institutes with security
guards is a very common phenomenon). Students
are therefore advised to buy second hand bicycles
only which are readily available everywhere.
Then there is the issue of attending 'school' . Most
people join DAV public school - they actually ask for
your Bansal admit card at the time of admission. Of
their 400 class 12 students, 350 are from Bansal. Of
course they are phantom students and they populate
imaginary divisions. We only go for practicals once
in a while. You wake up in 12th class around
Jan-Feb and cram for exams.
Occassionally there are CBSE 'raids'. But you
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generally come to know in advance and rush to
school, complete the books etc. Another school
called 'IL' was raided and shut down Now the school
is derecognised but Bansal has taken over the
building and holds classes there!
Due to these raids no CBSE school is ready to give
fraudulent admissions so people are now opting for
Rajasthan Board or National Open School.
Perseverance is most important. Living in Kota on
your own, many deviate from studies also. There are
lots of net cafes, pool and gaming parlours. The non
serious types spend 2 years doing masti, roaming on
their bikes and bunking classes.
Other Coaching Classes
In Hyderabad Ramaiah is the most sought after class.
They take 150 students, of which 130 students clear
JEE. They have stringent rules, including studies from
4 am! Classes like FIIT JEE and Brilliant’s are known
more for correspondence material than classroom
now. Even Bansal students join so names overlap in
the list published by different classes.
Mention must also be made of Vidyamandir Classes
based in Delhi. It is run by three brothers and takes
in the creme-la-creme of students in Delhi and
adjoining areasn.The focus is mostly on self study
and classes are held only twice a week for which
students come from as far as Faridabad.
The entrance test is the toughest of any JEE coaching
institute in India as they want students who can do
everything on their own. 140 out of 160 VMC
students clear JEE every year. For those who don't
make it, their study material is freely available in the
market for couple of 1000 bucks.
But obviously with all these classes it's more about
PRE-selecting students who are likely to succeed.
And here's a newsflash: At the end of the day IITs call
upto JEE rank 7200 for counselling and classes can
claim all of these as 'selected' candidates. The last
decent course ends around rank 3500. Therefore the
numbers claimed as 'successful candidates' by class-
es is far higher than those who actually get IIT seats.
Another point to note: One disadvantage of studying
at Bansal is you can't compete for your home state
colleges. Your 'home state' becomes Rajasthan as
that is where you gave your board exam. So getting
into a good college through AIEEE score (where state
rank is considered) is next to impossible.
Lastly, in the last one year Bansal's has increased the
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intake substantially. The toppers come there
anyways, there's no harm in admitting more and
letting them live the dream. Why give other coaching
classes any business?
This article is based on the personal experience
of a student who spent 3 years at Bansal classes
(2004-7).
Here’s the perspective of another aspirant:
“I travelled all the way from Guwahati to Kota with
just Rs. 2,000/- in my pocket and a cheque for
18,000/- in the name of Bansal classes. I had
cleared the screening with rank 4300, and
expected them to welcome me with arms wide open.
Instead, I was asked: "How dare you ask about
accomodation assistance? First show your screening
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card, 12th marksheet, 10th marksheet... then we'll
think about admitting you". And all this while I was
thinking that I was the customer here. I lost my
temper, and joined Resonance out of spite. At least
they were polite.
But even there I couldn't take it for more than a
month. Bad food, no sleep, depressing environment,
no friends (everyone crams 15-16 hours a day).
I quit and came back home. And I'm glad I did that.
I studied on my own. Didn't make to an IIT but got
20th rank in my state and made it to a good NIT. At
least I'm a normal human being today. I can't
imagine why parents let their children go through
so muchpain at such a young age. I'll never do this
to my kids”