SPOILER ALERT FOR KOTA FACTORY EPISODES 3 AND 5
Kota Factory has just streamed its finale episode with great success. Everyone liked its unique flavour showing the education system mixed with the journey of students in a coaching hub of country (Kota) sprinkled with love and friendship. The web series was a good effort in terms of acting, casting and has a story that everyone is raving about.
But, as I have gone through the same journey in the past, I would like to point out some flaws in the story line which I think may give a wrong direction to students.
In episode 3, Vaibhav is very irritated with inorganic chemistry. This subject demands a lot of rote learning without any fixed rules to solve problems, unlike physics or maths. So, Jeetu Bhaiya advises him to leave it and focus on other subjects. Jeetu Bhaiya tells him to focus only on getting 40% marks to get into the top IITs which can be scored easily even by not studying inorganic chemistry.
Now, many viewers are terming this advice as smart strategy. But I don’t think that leaving any subject just because of its complexity is smart.
Smart strategy includes a productive method to solve problems in minimum time. But here, the teacher is advising to leave the subject fully. One has to work hard for every question appearing in this exam. Every mark counts – it can change one’s All India Rank (AIR) by hundreds. In this most competitive national exam where everyone is trying hard to score one more mark, how can anyone afford to leave a subject? One can’t depend on other subjects only by leaving one.
At Kota, everyone is fed up with inorganic chemistry, but it does not mean leaving it. I think this is ill advice which can prove to be disastrous in an exam like the JEE. As far as the funda of 40% is concerned, it is the biggest illusion Jeetu Bhaiya creates in Vaibhav’s mind by ignoring reality. Remember, IIT is just the name of a college but the aim is to pursue engineering at an interesting branch.
40% may be enough to get into an IIT but it may not get the student a branch as per their interest and scope of choice. What’s the point in graduating from an IIT branch you don’t like? Often, amid the hyped IIT tag, one forgets that engineering at a suitable branch is the main goal. Only getting the IIT tag is not sufficient.
How can a teacher advise the student to score only 40%? Why are toppers scoring more than 60%? Rather, students should be encouraged to score as much as possible. Advice like this may make students ignorant and overconfident which can cost them dearly in exams like the JEE.
Another flaw I noticed, is over-emphasis on coaching institutes. In episode 5, Vaibhav gets selected in the top coaching institute and leaves his present mediocre institute. He changes his PG room, locality and leaves the friends he made to join the new institute only because he’s been told his chances of success will increase if he does so. This is despite the fact that he was doing well at his present institute.
Now, Vaibhav will have to take time to adjust to a new atmosphere. He has to start over. This incident in the series is the most misinterpreted, that coaching decides the fate of the student. Coaching institutes do not guarantee success. If this were true, no student from an economically disadvantaged background would have cracked the JEE.
What matters is hard work, dedication and the atmosphere surrounding the student. Like Vaibhav, if one makes good friends, then it is “sone pe suhaga.” Coaching may play a role but if one is already in a coaching hub with an average institute, then there is no worry. Many successful students don’t even go to Kota, taking online help instead.
But, I have seen many students who are busy only in changing coaching institutes and wasting their time. They are more keen on joining the best coaching institute rather than aim for an IIT.
I think these two flaws may provide an inaccurate picture to IIT aspirants watching the series. The JEE exam demands only a good mentor, determined work and nothing else. There is no fixed hard line of 40% marks. There is nothing like a best coaching institute which will guarantee success. So, instead of falling for such illusions, one should focus only on disciplined study.