Hyderabad: YouTube videos appear to have taken over the classroom board, helping some students not just understand the concepts but also aiding them to clear the exams. And, in the process, proving yet again the importance of video-aided lessons in classrooms.
The dependence on YouTube lessons has increased given the change in the question paper pattern and teachers not appearing to teach the same.
“The school teaches the syllabus and our teachers send us pictures of sample papers on Whatsapp to practice by ourselves, without solving them on the board or helping us with the answers. The questions are ‘twisted’ in the Board exams, and we cannot solve them if we only study what is taught in schools,” said Akash Srinivas Reddy, Class 12 CBSE student.
He added that the students needed more books, tuitions, and YouTube tutors were helping them solve the old exam papers and sample papers by conducting live classes.
Even though the marks allotted for the papers are almost the same this year, the number of MCQs (multiple choice questions), case studies, and critical thinking questions has increased, especially for mathematics and science.
Pooja Shah, another Class 12 student, added that the questions asked for case studies and critical thinking are reworked in a complex manner which are not taught in schools but on YouTube there are live lessons in solving sample papers.
“My friends and I study together by referring to lessons on YouTube, and help each other clear doubts and practice as many questions as we can. We refer to textbooks only for learning the formulae,” she said.
“It gets very difficult to answer such questions as we are not trained and these twisted questions take away a lot of time and confuse us more. This only increases panic among us students in the exam hall.”
Parents said that they pay Rs 1.25 lakh fee annually apart from the extras but the YouTube lessons which are free sometimes are helpful. “What is the point of paying a lot of money in schools when students are passing with the help of other mediums,” a parent asked.
Some students have taken the responsibility of completing the portion by themselves and teaching their friends as schools fail to do so.
Talking about the syllabus not being completed, a student from a private school said, “We have a lot of pending syllabus. We are not guided about the paper pattern. The English paper was a shocker; it was not related to the pre-boards we wrote in school or the sample papers prepared by teachers. We have to do it ourselves by browsing the internet and learning important topics from YouTube,” the student said.
