[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by Saanil

I think this depends entirely on the teacher teaching the subject rather than the board. I find it extremely hard to judge quality of teachers at a particular school.

I think this is the biggest challenge in most schools today. All the stuff about syllabus, board etc is irrelevant if you do not have the right teachers. Unfortunately in todays times teaching is not a sought after profession. Teaching is an art and a skill and is not just about qualification. Unfortunately today it is mostly seen as just another job and that reflects in quality of teaching. In spite of private schools extracting huge amounts as fees, teachers are still quite underpaid for the effort they need to put in.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by Saanil

I had a chat with one school representative and I was given some thumb rules about choosing the board. I do not agree with them but just highlighting it here:

a) If the child wants to do IIT JEE, then CBSE is the best board.
b) If you want all round development, then go for ICSE.
c) If you have the financial resources, go for IB / IGCSE.

If CBSE is easy in terms of syllabus, how does it help for IIT - JEE?

CBSE helps in a couple of ways. Passing board exams is very easy, so one doesn't have to put a lot of effort in subjects that are not useful for JEE. CBSE syllabus is more aligned with JEE and the ecosystem is also more aligned with JEE prep. In other words, you can take it easy with CBSE boards and just focus on JEE prep. You will find so many classmates, schools, tuitions, coaching centres, etc. having similar objectives and so it certainly helps to be in CBSE stream.

CBSE schools also tend to be huge in size with lot of infrastructure and offer great opportunities for competitive sports and extra curricular activities. Not by design but due to the vast number of kids in the system.

People tell me that IB / IGSE is all concept based learning i.e. more about application of concepts. I think this depends entirely on the teacher teaching the subject rather than the board. I find it extremely hard to judge quality of teachers at a particular school. I spoke to some parents in my building and all of them were fine with their current school choices. You can try watching some Youtube videos on which boards to choose but I did not find them to be worthwhile.

IB/IGCSE are modelled after the typical educational system in the west. As you are aware, competitive exams like JEE/NEET are alien to those societies. The curriculum, assessments and evaluation are very different - rote learning or speed of answering doesn't help much. Often you will be given books and calculators to do your test. There are subjects without formal books. As a result, even though the teachers and administration are drawn from the same talent pool as other schools, the curriculum/assessment criteria forces everyone to go in a creative/critical-thinking/application-oriented route. Of course, traces of Indian DNA of rote learning still remain but as you get into higher grades, the influence of the curriculum would be very strong.

It is not easy to score high in tests unless you really understand the subject and its application. They probably make it easy to pass (few easy questions) but getting top scores is very hard. In comparison, you can be the state topper of CBSE without really understanding half of what is being taught.

The downside is that our society is not ready for this type of learning. Our system assumes that board exams are utterly useless and they have to have an entrance exam for every college admission. The entrance exams are horribly designed to assess speed and reproduction of facts. Coaching techniques used in our country further reduces the need for critical thinking and sadly they are very effective in cracking these competitive exams. Bottom line is that IB/IGCSE puts you at a great disadvantage when it comes to college admissions in India. It is also very expensive. A combination of these two facts make it popular among only those students who want to go abroad for under graduate studies.

If you don't want the kids to go abroad after +12, you will have to chart your own path and it has many risks and benefits. Your kid is likely develop a mind of his/her own and say he/she wants to do liberal arts and not JEE/NEET ;-) You may have to play close attention to what interests your kid and what subjects he likes and so on. They are not likely to follow your advice blindly, which can be painful to accept for some parents. Borderline spoilt brats by Indian parenting benchmarks. All said and done, to study in India, one needs to deal with the competitive exams and it will be good to sensitise your kid about such exams and may be switch to a conventional school after 10th std.

All things being equal, I think it is better to send them to IB/IGCSE schools upto 8th standard and then take a call after that.

PS: This is a very complex subject, I just tried to give some basic idea about different ecosystems in India. I agree there are IB/IGCSE students cracking JEE/NEET entrance exams and there are CBSE students proficient in critical thinking etc. Kids are very adaptable and good parenting can easily compensate for a bad school (much harder the other way around)

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by androdev

...may be switch to a conventional school after 10th std.

All things being equal, I think it is better to send them to IB/IGCSE schools upto 8th standard and then take a call after that...

I've got a niece in IB curriculum since day 1 of formal schooling, and I'm inclined to think the mindset shift required to switch to a rote-based learning system in high school might be too brutal for the child.

[bharanidharang]

Originally Posted by NPV

While Jain has been around for many years, I don't know first hand how good/bad they are.
You may want to consider RV University (private university) - I think they started BBA courses last year or the year prior, have heard they're good. This one is at the RVCE campus on Mysore Road near Kengeri (metro station right outside the college gate).

The RV group also runs RVITM (affiliated to VTU) in JP Nagar 8th phase and you could check that out as well, but I don't have first hand information or details about courses offered there.

Thanks a lot. I will check it out. Do let me know if any other colleges / university cut the ice.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by bharanidharang

Thanks a lot. I will check it out. Do let me know if any other colleges / university cut the ice.

Do look at St. Joseph's Commerce college too.
https://www.sjcc.edu.in/admission_procedure.php

[androdev]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

I've got a niece in IB curriculum since day 1 of formal schooling, and I'm inclined to think the mindset shift required to switch to a rote-based learning system in high school might be too brutal for the child.

IMHO, switching to CBSE is more of a social challenge than an academic one. IB school students tends to be from well to do families with different aspirations and low tolerance for doing things the hard way. Most do not fancy going to engineering colleges, and certainly not through merit quota. Narayana Murthy of Infosys famously said his son went to Stanford (or something like that) because he could not get into IIT. That's a load of BS, he would have sent his son to Stanford even if he had got into IIT.

To those parents who can afford IB/IGCSE schools but do not wish to send the kids abroad for under graduate studies, I feel there is a pragmatic middle ground approach. Put the kids in IB/IGCSE schools, let them have the foundation in critical thinking, creativity, working in groups, self-confidence, etc. If they show good aptitude for math and science by the time they reach grade 10 - you can most certainly pursue engineering/medical professions in India. They may not get merit seats and hopefully you can afford a seat in colleges like Manipals/MS Ramaiah, etc. I am sorry if this post sounds very elitist but I absolutely do not like to make a virtue out of JEE/NEET - they are horrible and crush childhood like no other.

Obviously, the role of parents and school far exceeds the role of curriculum. My post is a very broad generalisation and individual circumstances are unique to each of us.

[boniver]

Originally Posted by bharanidharang

We are looking at a few more as well - Christ University / NMIMS Bangalore etc. Any suggestions would be of help.

Christ is undoubtedly one of the best colleges for BBA in the entire country. That was the case when I had passed out of school back in 2017, and now when I'm studying my Masters in Christ, I do notice how sharp BBA students are. Add to that, they get some of the highest placement packages in the campus, sometimes more than the MBA grads.
I have some Jain BMS grads in my class, but none of them are very academically inclined so to speak. If your son secures admission in BBA in Christ central campus, nothing like it.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by androdev

IB/IGCSE .... ... As a result, even though the teachers and administration are drawn from the same talent pool as other schools, the curriculum/assessment criteria forces everyone to go in a creative/critical-thinking/application-oriented route. Of course, traces of Indian DNA of rote learning still remain but as you get into higher grades, the influence of the curriculum would be very strong.

Here is a sample Cambridge checkpoint test paper for Grade 8 science:

[ATTACH=SCIENCE-02-P1-Cambridge International Examinations Cambridge Secondary 1 Checkpoint.pdf]2295963[/ATTACH]

[mazda4life]

Originally Posted by androdev

IMHO, switching to CBSE is more of a social challenge than an academic one.

I agree 100% with everything what androdev has posted. My nephew did took this exact route and is now in a top engineering college in KA. IB really helped with critical thinking and to question with an open mind. Even though it appears to be elitist, but we did see a dramatic change in the way he now analyzes problems and by no way it has been bookish and for an economics class assignment I still remember him going to the suburban railway station near Navi Mumbai and collecting data from real people / commuters for some report on income disparity between urban / Semi urban areas.
Having said that, the transition from IB to regular curriculum is not easy and requires a high touch handling and some good teachers who are open to students asking critical questions than shutting them down.

[sagpatel]

Originally Posted by androdev

Here is a sample Cambridge checkpoint test paper for Grade 8 science:

[ATTACH=SCIENCE-02-P1-Cambridge International Examinations Cambridge Secondary 1 Checkpoint.pdf]2295963[/ATTACH]

I really appreciate the way you have tried to explain CBSE and IGCSE, but what about ICSE/CISCE. Is it somewhere in between CBSE and IGCSE?

[androdev]

Originally Posted by sagpatel

I really appreciate the way you have tried to explain CBSE and IGCSE, but what about ICSE/CISCE. Is it somewhere in between CBSE and IGCSE?

I could be wrong but ICSE seems like a very rigorous academic regime passionately adopted by the kind of schools that put discipline and obedience above all else. Very popular with convent schools.

To be honest, my research was limited to CBSE and IGCSE as ICSE landscape (curriculum and type of schools) didn't appeal to us. We started our kids in IGCSE (without thinking much, kind of an accident) and moved to CBSE (for non-academic reasons) and regretted the decision and moved back to IGCSE. My kids are in Grade 6 and 8. The future is not as well-laid as in the case of CBSE stream but I find it totally worth sticking to IGCSE stream. By the time they are ready to join a college, Indian college scene would have matured a lot beyond JEE/NEET.

"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain."

John Adams, the 2nd President of the United States

[drumbrakes]

Hello
I hope everyone is doing well

My younger sister is planning to get admission in Btech Computer Science this year. She have her board exams scheduled this month and jee exam in June.

She secured a seat at KIIT. Please share your experience with this college if you can. Regarding quality of teachers, hostel environment and overall experience.

And how is SRM University?

Also please share what are the best college options for her both private and government.

She is interested in computer sciences and from north India.

Thank you.

[Quatro]

I really appreciate the way you have tried to explain CBSE and IGCSE, but what about ICSE/CISCE. Is it somewhere in between CBSE and IGCSE?

As I understand, the choices are two Indian Boards - CBSE and ICSE. CBSE is more prevalent and it tries to cover broad varieties of topic. However, in the process, it compromises and does not go too deep in any subject. ICSE on the other hand is more rigorous and tries to go deeper in each subject. There are Pros and cons for both options and hence I will not be able to advice to select one over other.

Surprisingly, the two international board are IB and IGCSE mirror this approach. They have been quoted as virtually one board in many of the posts here. Actually they are two different board and many schools chose to offer IGCSE up to level X and IB in 11th and 12th. IGCSE is Cambridge curriculum and like ICSE goes in-depth in each topics. IB is International Baccalaureate and like CBSE believes more in the spread (width) of knowledge then depth.

My kids had studied in ICSE till 6th, joined IGCSE from 7th to 10th and did IB in 11th and 12th. Quite happy with their overall progress.

[the_skyliner]

We recently switched from SSB to IGCSE board for our son who is in 4th Grade. Just in two weeks we observed that his whole attitude towards school and overall learning changed. He is now more eager to go to school and shares with us what all he learned in a very open and conceptual way.

It is still too early to conclude but we are already happy with our decision.

[lifeinpune]

Dear BHPians,

My wife's nephew completed 12th this year in Pune from state board. He has scored 76% overall in the board exams. However, he scored 196/200 in computer science (CS). He spent a month with us in Bangalore and I spent a few hours a week teaching him basics of CS. In my sessions, I focused on understanding the basics and problem solving skills.

I don't know if the good marks in CS was because of my sessions/teaching approach or whether it's generally easy to score well in Computer Science. But my reasoning is that he could have scored well and also understood concepts better in other STEM subjects if he had quality teaching. I figured that he is not good at self learning and needs a good teacher.

The above information is just to give some context. Now coming to the question, he is keen to take a drop and prepare better for engineering entrance exams next year. Looking for some advice on the following questions -

1. Is it ok to take a drop of 1 year with the aim of being better prepared in the entrance exams? He says that many students do it.

2. What are some of the good coaching institutes in Pune for engineering entrance exams? Would it be wrong to expect these institutes to improve the learning and understanding in addition to getting good scores in the entrance exams?

I feel that just being in good company and having good teachers will make a world of difference to both his learning and scores.

Thanks in advance.

Mods: Not sure if this thread is appropriate for this topic, but this is the closest I could find. Please move to a more appropriate thread if needed.