In view of the 1st and the 2nd corona wave in India, the aspirants of competitive exams are in a spot. While many of the national and state exams have been postponed, there is a delay for the other exams as well. Due to the delay, aspirants of the various competitive exams like banking, SSC etc. are struggling a lot.
The cancellation/delay of exams do not only delay the selection of students who have prepared well for the exams but also puts a great amount of mental stress on them. While the move is being considered a necessary intervention under the given circumstances, the repeated delay is causing stress and anxiety among students.
Many aspirants are giving up the exams due to frustration of repeating, the entire process of preparing for competitive exams. It is not easy as it requires utmost discipline and tremendous focus. Rescheduling the exams has made the situation highly uncertain for students.
For ambitious students, their entire academic year is compromised and it has become imperative to find reasonable solutions. One has to make extra efforts to start the entire process of revision which adds up to the frustration. (Students often spend many years in preparing for these exams. Most enrol in coaching institutes that specialize in training students to crack the exams.)
Not just the delay, but the ambiguity on the matter of conduct of multiple competitive exams has had negative impact on a lot of students and this might affect their academic performance.
Due to the above factors, many exam conducting agencies have also introduced other modes of online exams to neutralize the effect of various disruptions. Like MAT a leading exam for admission at various management institutes of India have introduced MAT IBT (Remote proctored internet based test) in which the students can take the exam from their home. Earlier MAT was conducted only in PBT (Paper based exam) and CBT (Computer based exam at various examination centres) modes. It is high time that students shift from the traditional learning to the hybrid/ online mode due to the following benefits.
In hybrid and blended programmes, students can obtain an array of new real-world skills that could continue to benefit them for years to come.
BENEFITS OF HYBRID LEARNING
Convenience
One of the most obvious benefits of hybrid learning is that it offers unparallel convenience. Many people have responsibilities, jobs and other duties to take care of. Hence hybrid learning is very beneficial for working professionals who form a major portion of aspirants of competitive exams.
Reduces cost
The tuition fees for online education are much less than that of conventional offline mode. The reduced tuition fee lessens the burden on the preparing students. Moreover the online education provide more educational material and require fewer expensive books and that’s a real bargain.
Enhanced learning
If done with a proper planning, the blended teaching is just as effective as offline teaching.
Easy access and flexibility
Students living in faraway places especially villages who were earlier unable to study in coaching institutes due to geographical locations now can access the study programmes by sitting in their homes at their convenient time
Self pacing
In the traditional face to face model there isn`t a lot of room for self-pacing. The students must attend lectures as they occur, with blended learning students can watch online lectures at their own leisure and contact the teacher electronically with ease. Moreover if the student miss some class due to illness they can watch the videos and compensate the loss.
It is how we embrace the uncertainty in our lives that leads to great transformations of our souls.