Hi friend, this is Dr. Apurv Mehra and I’m Dr. Zainab Vora. So here we are there to talk about Cerebellum, we call it CBA, Cerebellum Academy.
[Dr. Apurv Mehra] Here we are there to talk about Cerebellum, we call it CBA, Cerebellum Academy. The much-loved mission programs, where we talk about mission NEET PG, mission INI CET, Marathons, or Mission 200+ for our dear FMGE students, you know.
Why this word Mission came into being is something that I would like to start with. We were all sitting at Dr. Praveen’s place and we were thinking about let’s do something live and the main statement that came up was your course, our responsibility. So it came as a Mission for the students and the Teachers to complete the course.
When we went online, with lots of love from the students, everything was recorded. But then the problem was, how to read it, if we had a nature of reading then we would have read from the textbooks. But I think the inherent nature is that there has to be somebody to stimulate you.
So there came the word Mission, that we are on a Mission to complete your course with our responsibilities. So, Zainab, my question is what is the problem Mission solving for the students that are appearing for the entrance exam today? How do you see it different from recorded lectures?
[Dr. Zainab Vora] Before that, I just want to say, you know, that when we were preparing, I have seen this education for NEET-PG entrances evolve so much in the last 10 years. When we used to study, we used to go to offline classes where, you know, a teacher would teach and we would be making notes from morning till evening.So that is how it started. Then I saw the evolution because of the pandemic, everybody went online and the lectures were there. They were similar lectures as offline, but they were recorded and you know, you would see those lectures and you would make your notes and that’s it.
Now the thing is that there is just so much content. The problem is of plenty now. It’s not that there are no resources.
Now there are too many resources and the students have FOMO. Again, a very new word now that there is FOMO of what to do and what not to do because everything is pretty good in quality.
So what do you do and what do you not do? Even if you look at the Cerebellum app, we are offering recorded lectures. We are offering rapid revision also. A student will come and ask what I should see. I have this much amount of time.
So that is the main problem, that when I come from a student’s perspective, I don’t want more content. I want you to tell me what I should see. So that is what we are solving, that fine you sit with us and we will tell you what is to be done. So Mission programs were designed. When I make a Mission as a faculty, the aim is to bridge the gap between the main videos and the rapid revision videos, to bring more concepts into it, to sit with students live, and answer their doubts simultaneously, because that is something which can never be done in a recorded format, you know.
So I think why Mission programs clicked so much with the students was that one, the content problem is solved. They don’t have a question of what to do, what to leave. That is solved for you.
Second, a structure is made. What I think is very important is that you don’t have to wake up today morning and decide what to study today. You already know that this is what my next three months are going to look like.
I have to do this subject, then I have to do this subject and there is a structure. The class is from 5 o’clock. All right, before that, let me do my self-study.
Let me do my MCQs and at the end of three to four days, my subject is done. I get closure. I appeared for a test in the discussion. I move on to the next. So it gives you a whole plan of what is to be done and there’s somebody who is holding your hand through the process. So what is your responsibility? To show up.
Yes, you have to show up. You have to study in the morning. You have to revise, but your job is half done, you know, because there is accountability that is there. We are coming in the evening. This is the class. This is the test that you have to write. You have to score well on the test.
You come for the discussion. So this way everything is, you know, happening. So you have this constant clock, which is ticking that, okay, today I can’t miss today.
If you are on your own schedule, what we used to do? We used to take a break today and make a new timetable for tomorrow. You know, so you constantly make new timetables and you know, there is no accountability. So this way, you know. You know! I have to show up. Fine. I don’t want to study. I’m not studying the first half of the day, but the second half of the day, you don’t feel like it, study passively. This way I think it helps a lot of students in solving the problem of lack of structure and lack of accountability. I think that is one of the major wins for the mission program.
[Dr. Apurv Mehra] Yeah, I used to use this word when I was teaching “TIMED”, which is not an English word, but this is, what I used to say timed means time is the deciding factor. So there are three things that she said, accountable, right? The structure is there and solving what to study. And I want to add as a teacher, you know, when I was teaching online and my offline lectures had decreased, I was missing interaction with the students.So what it solves also is for me, it gets a kick. I’ll be there with my students. And you know, most of the teachers here, you know, they are mesmerizers.
When you talk to Dr. Goga and people look up to him, they want to see him on screen. And you know, when he’s taking a lecture, they will say, Goga sir, say my name. Zainab ma’am, say my name. And you see this, say my name. I was taking a YouTube live, and there was a student who said, say my name. So this is what they want. They want to talk to you because many students see up to you that these are the teachers, we are learning from them and let’s talk to them. And second thing, which I believe, there are some parts of studies which we do. Everything, you know, everything. You’re running a 100-metre race. You are throwing a javelin. Whatever you’re doing, there’s an emotion behind it.
And I think when we are interacting with each other and apart from offline aura, you know, this is the closest to it. So it is an emotion for teachers and students both. And it gives a kick to the teacher. We will be meeting the students in the evening because all of us have been so used to traveling for the last two decades, every corner of the country that we were missing it. COVID took it away, but the mission gave it back. This is what I can say.
The second point, which I believe is the beauty of the Mission is the phases it has, you know, it will be first the lectures, then the E&Ds, and then the Marathons. The three phases, as you said, if I am a student who’s studying for Mission classes, how should I prepare for it?
[Dr. Zainab Vora] I think you just stick to the timetable which is going on, you know, how we have structured it is we have put a lot of thought into it, you know, so let’s say that you are doing PSM right now, which is ongoing after that you have Derma, after that you have Anaesthesia. So first you complete these subjects. And then what we’ve also done with the mission is integrate the BTR with it.So, at the end of three subjects, then you have BTR E&D of PSM plus Derma plus Anaesthesia. So this way what happens is that you are able to complete those subjects in detail. And we make sure that you don’t forget PSM while you are in Anaesthesia, you know, so you bring them together with three subjects at a time.
Again, one advice to the student also is that don’t just do the subject you’re doing right now, always make it a habit of cumulative revision. The thing you have covered, don’t have that approach, that we would see it in the next cycle bring it together, right? That’s what you have to do the things you have done. Keep bringing it together such that at the end of the 19th subject, you have 19 subjects together, you don’t just have the 19th subject and then you start all over again.
So that is the whole idea of why we also integrated BTR with this and we mixed up and clubbed subjects. And we keep having grantees also. That’s one more thing we have with the Mission subscribers.
We have GTs, you know, once every two weeks. So, this gives you a structure of everything that you basically need to do. So you show up in the evening, you do that subject in the first half of the day when you don’t have a class and let’s say you’re not an intern or you’re not working.
If you have that day to yourself, the idea would be to revise what you did yesterday, read those notes so that’s consolidated, and also solve MCQs. You know, you can keep practicing the questions and I would advise you to do mixed-bag questions. Don’t just solve complete QBanks, create custom modules and solve mixed-bag questions from that subject so that that keeps getting done simultaneously.
Solve the previous questions of that subject so that once the four days or five days of PSM are over, complete PSM is done. And again, it’s never complete, you know when I say complete, it’s the main things that are done. The PYQs are done, you’ve solved at least 50 questions on a day-to-day basis. That is good enough for the content and then you keep revising the same and you keep consolidating the same.
[Dr. Apurv Mehra] I remember what she just said that it’s going to keep a real-time check while you’re running for the final kill. If you are preparing and in between you run for two subjects, three subjects, do their questions, and reassess yourself along with the granted, you know how you are doing it. When Milka Singh was interviewed at the race in the Olympics where he finished fourth and was asked why he chose the 400 meters, he said I was the best in timed 400 meters. But do you know the fact that at the end of 200 meters, he was leading?If it had been a 200-metre race Milka Singh would have got India gold. But somebody would have told him that if you continue at the same pace, you’ll finish first. But there was nobody.
But here these E&Ds in between, these integrated BTRs in between are a stimulus to tell you how you’re doing in the interim of your preparation because sometimes you’re so lost that we go for the entire course, then the first division, second division. We actually don’t have a quality check of what exactly is happening. So here is a check.
Look, you just did Anaesthesia 10 days back and you are doing an E&D today. You’re forgetting it. So, it’s an extra dose of revision till you come to your revision.
So it will see that two to three times, there’s a revision in the way of BTR, the E&Ds, and the Grand Tests. That’s how we close it, Zainab.
[Dr. Zainab Vora] That’s the idea that we hold your hand, you know when we started and it’s going to be one year soon to when Cerebellum launched, you know, we promised students something that we are going to hold your hand through the entire process.And it is an app. Why is it different? Not because of the content, it’s different because we are there with you and we are listening to what problems you are facing. And that’s what I think the Mission has done for us is to solve the main problem of students, which is content to have, but how do you do it? You know, so that’s what we are showing that this is how you have to do and we are with you along the way.
[Dr. Apurv Mehra] And the beautiful thing is I think Cerebellum is an app where the teachers are so dedicated that everybody is ready to do this for a cause, you know, and all our teachers, but one name, which I would like to say is helping us run it so beautifully apart from the entire team is Dr. Praveen Tripathi, Universe Boss, because he’s after the Mission classes, the scheduling and talking to everybody and listening to us to restructure it, to reschedule our classes. So we keep on bothering him, but since his name is Universe Boss, he handles it beautifully. And this is for you, Praveen, well done!And the students love you for that. We all respect you for that. Thank you very much.