If you’re planning to seek admission to a graduate school abroad, you can’t forget the GRE. But to secure impressive scores, you need proper guidance. Fortunately, India has many GRE coaching centers that can help you out.
If you’re looking for GRE coaching online, AbroAdvice.com is a great option. But there are offline choices as well! Nowadays, several coaching centers also offer online versions of their classes. They are meant to address some of the challenges of offline sessions. However, the popularity of these online batches has yet to become more widespread. That’s because students can’t help but question its effectiveness.
Well, the answer is YES! Online coaching has undergone a complete transformation over the past few years. If you’re hesitant about opting for GRE coaching online, just visit AbroAdvice. You’ll get a better idea about why this is a better option for many and GRE exam is for which country.
Comparative Analysis of Online and In-Person GRE Coaching
Online coaching has always had a tough time gaining popularity in India. That’s because everyone has a misconception that online learning isn’t as effective as in-person learning. This is a major setback in terms of mentality. It is also the reason why students who have online degrees from recognized institutes are not given priority over those who have offline degrees, even if the former has better grades.
But over the past few years, online coaching has evolved. It has addressed various shortcomings and has completely transformed to provide students with the best learning experience. Here are some unique features that you can enjoy.
1. One-on-one coaching
When you choose online GRE coaching, you can opt for private sessions with a tutor. Usually, in-person coaching classes do not offer such options. If you decide to opt for in-person classes, you’ll receive your instructions in a batch of other aspirants. As a result, it can be difficult for one tutor to focus on the specific issues that you face. Unless you speak up and get your doubts clarified, you’ll fall behind the rest.
But that’s not the case for private online sessions. The best part about such coaching is that it is –
- Significantly cheaper than hiring a private tutor
- Personalized according to your needs
- Shorter in duration than group sessions
Even though the tutor might not be there in front of you in person, you can get real-time tutoring by setting up live classes.
2. Flexibility with classes
Many GRE test-takers often study for the exam while completing their degrees or working. As a result, it is often quite challenging for them to attend regular offline classes. These sessions are usually conducted for a fixed number of times throughout the week. Missing out on a single class means losing a lot of valuable information that could help you with your exam.
Fortunately, online classes provide more flexibility. These sessions are perfect for test-takers who don’t have a fixed routine or can spare only a few hours every day to study for the GRE. Online coaching centers often provide pre-recorded instruction videos, which candidates can view at their convenience. Even if you miss an online live lecture, you can access recordings of the class or attend another session with another batch of students. So, there is a lesser chance of you missing out on important sessions just because of your schedule.
3. Access to more study materials
You can access study materials from online and in-person classes. However, in-person classes provide limited notes because the centre has to print out a lot of content. That’s why in-person coaching is usually more expensive. You have to pay steep prices to receive hard-copy study materials – but you’ll end up with less content because it’s impossible to provide thousands of materials.
However, online classes have adopted a great balance. Most of the study materials that you get are in PDF form. You can access them from your online portal whenever you want. Besides, they are more convenient to carry around than bundles of physical notes. So, you can review your notes during your commute or any time when you’re sitting idle.
4. Access to pre-recorded lectures
Some online GRE coaching institutes provide free access to a limited number of pre-recorded lectures. These recordings help you figure out whether –
- The tutors have in-depth knowledge of complex topics
- The experts are able to teach in a simple language
- The sessions are worth the price
Generally, these pre-recorded sessions are available to view even after your course ends. This is extremely helpful for students who are slow learners. In in-person sessions with multiple students, tutors can’t follow a pace that’s perfect for everyone. Some students are bound to fall behind. If these students don’t take proper notes in class, they can’t revise the content covered on their own.
But pre-recorded lectures remove this issue completely. You can pause and rewind sections in the lecture as many times as you want. There’s no need to follow someone else’s pace. Naturally, this option is more effective than in-person classes. Since you can go over the same content multiple times, it’s easier to take notes and refer to certain sections if you need to refresh some points.
5. Live doubt-clearing sessions
Both in-person classes and online coaching offer doubt-clearing sessions. However, the process varies. Usually, if you’re attending an offline session, the tutor allows students to clarify all their doubts about the topic they have covered previously within the first 15-30 minutes of the class. This reduces the total duration of the class spent on learning new content. For example, if the class goes on for 2 hours, then you only learn new content for 1.5 hours.
Online classes have two options for doubt clearing –
- Non-urgent questions – If you’re merely curious about a particular issue and don’t mind waiting to receive your answers, you can send a message to the tutor and receive a solution within a few hours or days.
- Urgent questions – Sometimes, you might have queries that should be dealt with immediately. Otherwise, you might not be able to progress to other topics. In such cases, you can send your questions in the chatroom during live sessions, and the tutor will clarify them immediately.
Since online sessions don’t have a fixed time slot for query resolutions, you can cover more topics during the allocated time.
6. Live recordings of classes
Online GRE coaching centers offer more flexibility with timings than you would find with in-person classes. But despite that, there might be instances when you miss a few sessions. In that case, you can request live recordings of the classes that you have missed. Some institutes require students to apply directly to access these sessions. Others provide recordings to all students after the session ends, irrespective of whether they attended the class or not. This is a great practice since there might be instances where students –
- Get distracted and miss parts of the discussion
- Miss out on noting down important points
Getting live recordings of the sessions means you can go over the content while the lecture is still fresh in your mind. Additionally, these recordings are a savior for those who miss out on a few sessions. Instead of adjusting your schedule to attend a make-up session, you can just go over the recording at your convenience.
In-person classes never offer this convenience. You have to stay alert at all times and take immaculate notes without any breaks. If you miss a particular point, pray that someone else has noted it down because there’s no chance you can replay that part again. Besides, it’s impossible to retain all the details of the session. Once an hour or two passes, you’ve probably retained only 60% of what was covered. However, with live recordings, you don’t have to worry about forgetting anything.
7. Instant results to online tests
If you want to ace your GRE, there’s no better option than attempting practice tests. After all, this helps you to check your progress. Once you go through a few tests, it becomes easier to figure out which sections you need to focus on more. Thus, you can adjust your study schedule accordingly.
Now, you have to appear for offline tests if you opt for in-person classes. Furthermore, it takes the experts at least 1-2 days to review your papers and provide a critical assessment. That’s just the best-case scenario. In most situations, you have to wait multiple days. But nowadays, many online GRE coaching classes use high-end AI technology to conduct online exams and provide results immediately. Such quick assessment makes it easier to gauge a student’s progress and adjust their study schedule and focus sections accordingly.
In conclusion
Online GRE sessions are as effective, if not more, than offline classes. The sessions are specifically modeled to cater to those who do not have the time to spare for regular offline sessions. So, these are quite popular amongst students with hectic schedules and working people. Besides, even though India has many GRE coaching centers, reliable ones are hard to come by. Some might be so far away that online sessions are the only option available to many students. That’s why the quality of education imparted through the online medium has improved significantly over the past few years. So, rest assured that this medium is as effective as in-person classes.
