The whole world today is at war with COVID-19. The unwanted & unprecedented pandemic has thrashed every sector in the world & education is no exception. Children of all ages, all communities, all countries, all strata are equally affected. It is not just the health crisis but students have been impacted in many ways. For them, it is a loss of structure, loss of attending school, having fun with teachers & friends, playing pranks on friends, sharing lunch, laughing & giggling in corridors. They are missing on dance classes, sports, clubs, class parties, picnics, movies, theatres, games & Stage activities etc. The pandemic has affected their social, physical, emotional well-being & caused many changes in their habits, behavior & routines.

Even if schools re-open, neither the schools nor the children will be the same. The behavior of the children will not be the same as before. New normal will require schools to disinfect classrooms & campuses, temperature checks of students & staff every day before entering the schools. Students will be attending classes with varied sitting arrangements, rotations to maintain social distancing. Wearing of masks & frequent handwashing will be the new normal. 

Varied break timings will be followed to avoid crowding. Strict No-No to sharing of lunches, morning assemblies, crowded buses & sharing of equipment or enjoying the swimming activity. Cross class-mingling will be avoided. Extra vigilance will be required by teachers, management & support staff. Priorities of schools & parents will not just be academics but more important will be the emotional & social health of children. Life-skills, value education, etc.

Pandemic has increased anxieties, fear, anger & sadness in children. Collective efforts will be required from school & parents for the overall well-being of children, to make them comfortable, safe & help them to adapt to new normal. Getting children back to school will not be easy for schools, parents & society. Online classes too have posed many challenges though it was an option to continue learning & keeping children safe.

Every child is unique. Some children by temperament are more anxious and will require special attention & support from the school Counselor & other school staff. Many students have been forced to drop out of school due to many reasons associated with the pandemic like the migration of labor to their hometowns. Many students have faced monetary poverty at home due to the business or job loss of their parents. Not only financial loss, but few children have also seen the loss of their family members during a pandemic. Teachers will require extra sensitivity, empathy & care to recognize the physical symptoms & behavior changes in the students & to help them cope up with the reality. Very young children have been at home with their parents for a long time & may show some separation anxiety symptoms & take time to settle.

Time has been equally challenging for parents & that too has taken a toll on students. Some parents have lost their jobs & business, some have suffered salary cuts & extra working hours. In the absence of child care support, they have been juggling to bring work-life balance along with child care.

Pandemic has reminded us all to be grateful for everything we have. It has reminded us to respect nature, be compassionate & caring. We have learned the value of family, health & hygiene & learned  

To accept change & adapt.

Life is a lesson; we learn every day and we will continue learning every day.

Meenu Bhargava
Freelance trainer & Counselling Psychologist

read more

Holistic Learning Experience

Holistic learning approach will reduce stress on students for competitive exams like JEE and NEET and with the 10th boards being lifted , the stress for students will reduce even more. Practical based hands-on learning which is not merely limited to a conventional cramming-based learning environment will boost confidence in students enabling them to take better life decisions in future.

Digital Learning+sports Integration

Learning coding from age 6 will empower students to develop skill sets for tomorrow. Sports have such strong and positive influence on mental wellbeing and some mental illnesses. Participation in regular physical activity can increase self-esteem and reduce stress and anxiety. Students will learn to deal with failures and prepare themselves with an attitude of winning and team spirit.

Change In The Pedagogical Structure To 5+3+3+4

This change is going to increase employability in youth and in turn help in reducing stress over jobs and being financially secure. The decision to choose which field is now made easy- elimination of rigid streams in secondary education and with more structured way of learning , students will be able to have the clarity of what they want to do in life.

Focus On Pre-primary And Multidisciplinary Courses

Statistics tell us that three in four mental illnesses start in childhood. Early childhood care and education play a vital role in building a foundation for life. The NEP focuses not just on critical skills but also social and emotional skills like knowledge seeking, logical thinking, empathy, skills like communication, teamwork, etc.

What Is Mental Health

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress,relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Positive mental health allows people to:

Realize their full potential.Cope with the stresses of life.

Work productively.

Make meaningful contributions to their communities

Skill based & vocational learning

Skill based and vocational programs can help youth with severe mental illness develop the skills and attitudes necessary to attain employment. Skill gains and positive changes in work attitudes will be seen for youth of the future.

Multiple Exits + Common Entrance Test

Issues like career counselling problems, including poor decision making skills, unwillingness to make commitments, unclear values, low career self-efficacy, undeveloped personal and vocational identities, and career foreclosure-such decisions will be easier.

Teacher Training

An educators’ mental health is one of the biggest factors in a students’ academic growth, as the mental health of teachers and students are interconnected, thus directly affecting their learning and outcomes.Teachers will be well equipped with not just better results but even dealing with students going through stress andmental pressure.

Expansion Of The Food Program

Factors such as poorer physical health, and living in poverty, or deprived communities, have been found to be associated with poorer mental health and wellbeing. Better nutrition equals better mental health. The program will help have a positive impact on turn out ratio and better mental well-being.

Mental Health In School

- To better enable the educators to identify, support and refer students needing help.

- To increase knowledge, behaviours in teachers, students and parents supporting good mental health and well-being.

- To increase the willingness students and parents to seek help for mental health issues.

- To decrease stigma towards individuals living with mental illness.

The New Education Policy

The Government replaced a 34-year-old National Policy on Education, framed in 1986, and has significantly made the new policy more mental health inclusive. With low stakes in board exams, more focus on liberal and vocational learnings, students are less likely to be mugging books and carrying heavy bags to schools,students would rather be more practical and vigilant citizens of our society under this policy.

 

read more

No sphere of life has been left unaffected by this pandemic and the world is now striving to find ways to adapt to the changing way of living and students are no exception to this situation. Many exams have been postponed due to the pandemic and students can now see their career plans derailing. However, every cloud has a silver lining. In the present scenario, the silver lining has been presented by e-learning. Many technologies are being developed to facilitate the learning process of students and are allowing them to keep up their learning curve even amidst the pandemic. One such technology is proctored tests.

A proctored test is a test where a candidate is monitored in real-time with the help of a web-cam and artificial intelligence. Special efforts are taken to formulate a report of the candidate’s performance in the fairest manner. As the World’s Learning Company, Pearson has adapted this state-of-the-art technology to help JEE Advanced applicants. 

Pearson MyInsights is all set to conduct FREE remote proctored tests for JEE Advanced applicants. Through these proctored tests, applicants will get a clear understanding of the pattern and format of the exam and get the hang of the authentic exam experience. This is an excellent opportunity for candidates to identify the areas that need to be polished before the day of the exam and brush up their concepts. These tests will provide candidates with their all India ranks and let them have a clear insight into their preparation level by creating an environment identical to the kind applicants will have to face on the day of the exam. Moreover, these tests will be offered by Pearson free of cost to allow applicants to prepare for their JEE Advanced without any obstacle. 

Here’s what applicants can get access to by registering for these proctored tests.

read more

So you have a groundbreaking idea for a startup and are all set to take the industry by a storm. But let’s face it, without the necessary capital, even the best ideas can only go so far. One of the most popular ways to secure this capital and #AccelerateYourCareer is, to look for funding. 

There are multiple options you can choose from when you’re finding the right source of funding for your startup. You could choose to bootstrap your business, look for angel investors, or go for crowdfunding. However, no matter what you choose, getting through with the process of acquiring funds for your startup requires you to complete a few steps.

Let’s look at them closely.

Be Clear About Your Growth Potential

Investors are always interested in looking at the longevity of your plan. Your proposal should clearly indicate the value of your business and reflect how the potential is projected to grow with time.

Understand that the investors are looking for ways to put their money to good use and are hoping to see cycles of growth. This is why your plan should have well defined projected growth patterns and show how your business can help the investor meet their goals of having a stable ROI.

Have A Problem Statement And A Viable Solution

A good business always aims to resolve a problem. Your business plan should identify a need-gap in society and propose a viable solution to it. This projects that you have thoughtfully considered the usability of your product or service and have studied how it may be desirable to your audience.

Ideally, the problem should be affecting a large group of people as having a very small niche can be problematic for a business in its starting stage.

Be Open About Your Margins

Needless to say, investors would be more interested in investing in your business if they can clearly see profitability in your idea. In fact, having big margins can easily be the best way to impress your investors.

Make sure that your plan clearly showcases the numbers in a well-defined professional manner.

Have Clear Industry Understanding

Having a clear understanding of your industry and competition is extremely important while presenting your investment pitch. Your plan must clearly communicate the details of Total Available Market (TAM), Segmented Addressable Market (SAM), and Share of Market (SOM) for the first few years.

Along with this, it is important to present how your business would fit in the current competition and how it would be different or potentially better than the competition.

Focus On Your Communication Skills

Last but definitely not least, you must brush up your communication skills. You should use the kind of communication that brings forward your idea and business ethics, reflect your integrity and passion towards your idea, and attempt to touch the heart of your investor.

In other words, the investor should be convinced by your belief and conviction in the business through your communication and presentation skills.

The following infographic summarises these points for a quick recap.

read more

Cracking a competitive exam is your pathway to a lucrative career. However, being successful in cracking these exams is not a piece of cake. It requires consistency, dedication and a well-planned strategy. While some students take up coaching classes for their preparations, it might not be enough.

Students now have access to ample online resources that can enable them to study independently from the comfort of their home. Not only does this help in brushing up the concepts taught in the coaching class, but it also helps students assess themselves and test their progress.

In fact, many experts believe that studying independently and assessing your progress can significantly enhance your learnings. With the right resources and a mix of online and offline modes of instruction, students can effectively prepare for competitive exams and pursue their dreams of having a lucrative career.

Here are a few tips that can help you attain the perfect mix of online and offline modes of instruction and make your preparations rock-solid.

Shorter Study Sessions Work Better

Several studies have proven that it is incredibly important to moderate your time when it comes to studying. In fact, some researches have shown that students can cover the same amount of syllabus in one-hour sessions spread over four days as they can in a single six-hour long session.

While you cannot control the schedule of your coaching classes, this is an incredibly important tip while creating your self-study schedule. A good tip is to take small assessments to test your progress on a day to day basis. Devoting multiple small portions of time to your preparations would ensure that you are learning with an energetic mind and prevent you from getting bored, which is one of the biggest problems students face when they try to study on their own.

Synchronize Your Online And Offline Syllabus

The syllabus for competitive exams is often extremely vast and requires you to be completely thorough with every concept. That is why, it is extremely important to dive deep into the topics and have the entire syllabus on tips. However, If stats are to be believed, people forget more than 70 per cent of their learnings if not reinforced the same day.

Which is why it is recommended to synchronize your online and offline syllabus. If there’s an important topic being taught in your coaching session, revising the same concept through digital assessments gives you an opportunity to brush those concepts at your own pace and develop a deeper understanding of the syllabus and identify your weaknesses.

Avoid Studying Till Late At Night

While it is understandable that different individuals have their own preferences when it comes to their favoured study times, experts don’t recommend studying at odd times. This is majorly because having a proper sleeping schedule is incredibly important while preparing for any exam.

A better alternative could be balancing your study schedule by waking up early. The image below showcases a few benefits of studying early in the morning.

read more

JEE Advanced has been constantly looking to update and enhance the level of the examinations. In general, JEE Advanced tries to test your understanding of the application of concepts and higher-order thinking. Every year they come up with some new challenges for you. So, to help you out with this, our team of subject matter experts have come up with the analysis of the last 7 years of JEE Advanced papers, wherein they have analyzed the level of the questions, the chapters of all subjects from which most questions are usually asked, and so on.

When JEE Advanced was introduced 8 years back, and with two exam theory was decided upon then, the level of the questions asked from all three subjects have been different. Generally, the level of questions asked in the Chemistry section is moderate and is the easiest section to do. The questions asked in the Physics section are tricky and difficult and require a deeper understanding of the concepts and their applications. So, you must have an absolute understanding of the concepts and their applications to attempt most of the questions. In the Maths section, the level of questions vary from moderately difficult to difficult almost every year.

First, understand the JEE Advanced 2020 Marking Scheme.

Paper 1
Type of Questions	Number of Questions	Marks	Negative Marking	Maximum Marks
Single Correct Answer	4	3	-1	12
Numerical Value-Type Questions	8	3	0	24
One or More Correct Answer	6	4	-2	24
Paper 2
Type of Questions	Number of Questions	Marks	Negative Marking	Maximum Marks
One or More Correct Answer	6	4	-2	24
Numerical Value-Type Questions	8	3	0	24
Matching List Type	4	3	-1	12

Here, you can get an idea about the total number of questions that are asked in JEE ADVANCED from Class XI and Class XII and the level of questions over the last 7 years of JEE Advanced exam.

Physics: In JEE Advanced, the level of the questions in Physics generally varies from Understanding Medium to Hots Difficult. A major chunk of the questions is based on Understanding Difficult to Hots Medium level. Every year, Physics is usually the toughest paper to attempt in JEE Advanced.

read more

In today’s world, having a command over the English language has become incredibly important. No matter what your age-group might be, being fluent in English can be a great boost to your confidence and can help you in expressing yourself better. While there can be many ways in which you can learn English, interactive measures have proven to be quite effective in ensuring that your learning has a lasting impact. Keeping this in mind, Pearson recently launched MyPedia Skill in collaboration with Amazon Alexa.

The MyPedia Skill is essentially an upgraded version of your favourite ‘MyPedia Reader’. It is an audible storybook, a guide, and a gamebook for learners and enables them to be more imaginative while telling their stories in the English language. It shares interesting and creative tales by students detailing out their own experiences, problems and aspirations. The stories are hand-picked by celebrated authors and educationists and are narrated through students’ points of view. It enables students to think critically and write creatively.

As the World’s Learning Company, we understand the effectiveness of auditory learning. Most of us tend to remember things that we listen to, much longer than the things we read or see. This is why we have introduced MyPedia Skill. This interactive learning platform allows learners of all age groups and skill levels to enhance their vocabulary and comprehension with the help of engaging stories, fun facts and quizzes. To get started, all you need to say is  “Alexa, open MyPedia”, or simply “Alexa, I want to learn English”.

This program can be exceptionally helpful for young students as it can enhance their interest in the English language. The stories can give wings to their imagination and inspire them to be expressive and polish their story-telling skills. Moreover. the skill’s simple and engaging voice interface can enable them to learn in an interactive manner, at their own pace. 

Overall, the MyPedia skill can provide a holistic approach for students to enhance their language skills from home. Considering the current scenario as we follow the social distancing norms, students spend more time at home. MyPedia Skill can help them make the most of their time through this unique learning environment.

Pearson wishes to provide all age-groups with rich content and a learner-friendly experience, to enhance imagination and creativity. This is just another step to bolster this and help students polish their language skills from home.

Return to blog page

read more

Preparing for a competitive exam can be an incredibly daunting experience. Aspirants are required to cover an extensive syllabus and learn complex concepts in a short amount of time. While coaching centres can provide a helping hand and guide students in the right direction, the present crisis in the world doesn’t allow students to attend their regular classes. However, an effective and convenient solution to this issue is utilizing online solutions.

There are many advantages of taking online assessments to prepare for a competitive exam. These assessments can be accessed as per your convenience and have an upper hand when it comes to matching with the pace of the student. This means that you can take an assessment as many times as you want to and strengthen your hold on any topic that you feel requires more clarity. With these assessments, you can work at your own speed without any added pressure from your teacher or classmates.

However, with the competitive exams right around the corner, students need to approach these online assessments with more dedication and strategic planning. This guide will help you identify a few effective ways to take your online assessments while preparing for competitive exams.

Do Not Take Your Online Assessments Lightly

The most important practice that helps you to take online assessments successfully is being dedicated and consistent. You need to be a self-starter and motivated to reach your goals. As there is no one chasing you to take these assessments, you need to be willing to take these up on a regular basis without slacking off.

The best way to do this is to have a fixed schedule. Obviously, you can reschedule it if need be, but having a schedule puts you in a habit of taking these exams regularly. This helps you in prioritizing these assessments and being motivated. Remember that when it comes to online assessments, you are accountable for your own self!

Manage Your Time

While the flexibility of online sessions and tests is what makes them excellent for students, one must remember that managing your time wisely is still essential. Online sessions give you the freedom of taking your classes according to your own convenience, however, you must not forget that you need to complete your syllabus on time. This is why managing your time and keeping deadlines is incredibly important.

It is a good idea to map your syllabus and have deadlines set to complete all the topics on time. This would help you get through with your syllabus, and avoid any last-minute hassles.

Create A Work-Space

Right now, considering the overwhelming conversations that are taking place about the global crisis, it can get a little hard to concentrate. However, it is important to have your goals set straight. Creating a regular working space could be a good step in this direction. This would create a ‘work-only zone’ and help you eliminate any negative thoughts once you have entered this zone.

Remember that the purpose of taking online assessments is that they allow you to recognise your strengths and weaknesses and provide you with the right path. That is why it is important to focus while taking these assessments. Studying at the same place everyday conditions your brain to get into the right mode and helps you pick up from where you left. You can also arrange all the required supplies around your workspace to prevent wastage of time once you get into the zone.

With these tips and tricks, you can take up your online sessions effectively and prepare yourself to ace your competitive exams. If you are on the lookout for a good online course, Pearson MyInsights can be the one for you. MyInsights is a thoughtfully designed, intuitive assessment engine that customises  to each learner’s level of knowledge to bring them to where they need to be when preparing for competitive exams. MyInsights provides you with the leading edge of digital preparation based on the pattern of real-time exam experience. Half of the overall tests are proctored where applicants receive the actual rank that they are likely to get in the high stakes examination, giving them a clear idea on where they stand.

read more

NTA has been constantly in pursuit of updating and enhancing the level of its NEET examination. In general, NEET tries to test your understanding of basic concepts and their applications. They come up with some new challenges for you every year. To help you out with this, our team of subject matter experts have come up with the analysis of the last 7 years of NEET papers, wherein they have analyzed the level of the questions, the chapters of those subjects from which most of the questions are generally asked and so on.

When NEET was introduced 8 years back, the one exam theory was decided. Ever since then, the level of the questions asked of all three subjects has been different. Generally, Chemistry is the easiest section, and the questions from Physics are a bit tricky to attempt. So, you must have an absolute understanding of the concepts to attempt most questions. In the Biology section, the level of questions vary from easy to moderate almost every year. Of these three subjects, the questions are typically based on cognitive as well as difficulty levels, as tabulated below.

Cognitive Level
Knowledge	Easy	Medium	Difficult
Understanding	Easy	Medium	Difficult
Application	Easy	-	-

To know about the concept of cognitive level in detail, visit MyInsights.

Here, you can get an idea of the total number of questions that have been asked in NEET from Class XI and Class XII and the level of questions over the last 7 years of NEET exams.

Physics: In NEET, the level of questions in Physics generally varies from difficult knowledge-based questions to moderate application-based questions. A major chunk of the questions is based on Understanding Easy to Application Easy levels. Every year, Physics is considered the toughest paper to attempt in NEET.

read more

JEE Advanced 2020 is right around the corner—only 60 days left for D-day. You are not left with much time to go through with whole syllabus. So, how smartly can you prepare in the time that you have and by putting less effort to maximize your scores in the upcoming JEE Advanced exam?

The first thing to know is that NTA does not allocate any weightage to any chapter and that you should try to learn and understand all the chapters of all subjects. So, if you know clearly which chapter will be important and fetch you the maximum marks in the exam, then it will be easier for you to take the right route in completing the whole syllabus smartly.

Well, our team of subject experts have analyzed the pattern of the past years’ papers of JEE Advanced to give you a clear idea of the syllabus, by breaking chapters into 4 groups based on the effort required to learn and score in the exam as well as the weightage of each chapter.

EASY MARKS FETCHING –

read more