Education
Cram schools may specialize in a particular subject or subjects, or may be aligned with particular schools. Special cram schools that prepare students to re-take failed entrance examinations are also common. As the name suggests, the aim of a cram school is generally to impart as much information to its students as possible in the shortest period of time. The goal is to enable the students to obtain a required grade in particular examinations, or to satisfy other entrance requirements such as language skill (e.g.: IELTS). Cram schools are sometimes criticized, along with the countries in which they are prevalent, for a focus on rote learning and a lack of training in critical thinking and analysis.By region
Australia
Cram schools are referred to largely as "coaching colleges", they are used primarily to achieve the necessary results for the entrance exam for selective schools inBangladesh
In Bangladesh, cram schools are known as "coaching centers" and in some cases, "tutorials". Most cram schools provide help for admission tests of public universities and medical colleges like BUET, CUET, RUET, KUET, Universities ofBrazil
Cram schools are called "Cursinhos" (lit. ''Little Courses'') in Brazil and are attended by students who will be taking a vestibular exam to be admitted into a university.Chile
Cram schools are called "Preuniversitarios" in Chile, and are attended by students before taking PTU ( University Transition Test) in order to get onto undergraduate studies.China
Buxiban () are cram schools located in China. They are related to the phenomenon of buke, which is extra study for the improvement of students’ academic performance in National Higher Education Entrance Examination (commonly known as ''Gaokao''). They exist due to the importance of standardized exams, such as: * High school entrance exam (after junior high, at 9th year of school). * The National Higher Education Entrance Examination, or 高考, mandatory for college admission. * English language exams. Passing the College English Test (CET) band 4 and 6 is sometimes a prerequisite for bachelor's degree, and the certificates are often important to finding employment. The TOEFL and GRE tests from ETS are required for studying abroad in English-speaking countries. * Entrance exams to domestic graduate program. Over recent years the competition has intensified, partially because many new college graduates fail to find satisfactory jobs and seek post-graduate education instead. China has a test-driven system. Education departments give entrance examinations to sort students into schools of different levels. Examinations like the National Higher Education Entrance Examination (''Gaokao'') are vital, deciding the academic future of the participants. This education system cultivated the cramming style of teaching. Schools and teachers usually regard grades to be the primary goal. This sometimes leads to teachers imparting exam skills instead of knowledge and inspiration. But as the population of students decreases each year and admission to domestic universities expands, the pressure of the Entrance Exam has been reducing.France
The national exam ( baccalauréat) ending high-school is easy to obtain (the success rate is about 90%), and the grades obtained matter relatively little (most higher education school choose their students before the baccalauréat results, based on grades during high school). Thus, baccalauréat cram schools are rare. Individual tutoring is more common. After the baccalauréat, about 5% of the French students attend the selective '' Classes Préparatoires aux Grandes Écoles'' (prep school) or CPGE. These two-year programs are meant to prepare undergrad students to the entrance exams of high-profile graduate schools ( Grandes écoles) in science, engineering and business — including École Normale Supérieure, HEC Paris, EDHEC, ESCP, EM Lyon, ESSEC, École polytechnique, Arts et Métiers ParisTech, Télécom Paris, École des Ponts, CentraleSupélec, École des Mines, and ISAE-SUPAERO. A large proportion of CPGE are public schools, with very small tuition fees. There are about 400 CPGE schools for 869 classes, including about 58 private schools. They have produced most of France's scientists, intellectuals, and executives during the last two centuries. French prep schools are characterized by heavy workload and very high demands, varying however between schools. Programs are heavier than the first two years in public universities, covering several majors (for example Maths and Physics). Students in CPGE have between 36 and 40 hours of class a week, as well as one or more weekly 2-to-4 hours written test on each major (often also on Saturday). Students are expected to work on their own at least 2 hours a day, while the most ambitious students can work more than 5 hours every evening after classes, as well as during the weekend and holidays. Moreover, students have to take what is called "colles" (or "khôlles") mainly 2 times a week, which are oral interrogations. For science topics, it consists of an hour-long session where a group of typically 3 students, each on a board, and dealing with a question related to a specific lesson (e.g. a demonstration of a theorem) and/or exercises. The teacher listens to, assists and corrects the students, then grades them. Khôlles on languages (e.g. English) consists in a 30 minutes test: first listening to an audio or studying a newspaper article and summarizing it, and then writing a short essay on the theme. Everything is then presented orally to the teacher. Literacy khôlles often consist in preparing and presenting an essay. Entrance competitive exams to the "Grandes Ecoles" consist in written and oral exams. For scientific branches, a project involving research-oriented works has to be prepared. Written exams are typically 4h-long sets of exercises and problems built around a specific topic (which often can't be fully treated in the given amount of time), and require both reasoning and raw knowledge. Oral exams are often similar to khôlles. This is a two-year track. In most schools, only the second year is explicitly focused on entrance exams preparation. If a student could not obtain the school(s) they wanted, they can repeat the second year. There are three main branches : * Scientific branch study mainly math, physics and chemistry, IT, industrial sciences, biology and earth sciences. Sub-branches are : math-physics, physics-chemistry, physics-industrial sciences, and biology-earth sciences. Many French research scientists went through scientific CPGE. * Economics/business branch (often called "Prépa HEC") study mainly social sciences, economy, math and languages. Many important French public figures and politicians went through this way. Sub-branches specialize in math/economics, economics/social sciences, or management. * Humanities branch (called Khâgne) study mainly philosophy, literature, foreign and ancient languages, history. Sub-branches specialize in social sciences or literature. The tracks and schools are known for their folklore (slang terms, songs and hymns, anecdotes), and often inherited from early 19th-century generations of students.Greece
Φροντιστήρια (from φροντίζω, to take care of) have been a permanent fixture of the Greek educational system for several decades. They are considered the norm for learning foreign languages (English language learning usually starts during the elementary school years) and for having a chance to pass the university entrance examinations. The preparation for the country-wide university entrance examinations practically takes up the two last years of upper high school, and the general view is that the amount of relevant school hours is insufficient for the hard competition, regardless of the teachers' abilities. This leads to students taking state school lessons from 08.15 to 14.00 at school, going home for lunch, continue for two or three hours in the cramming school and returning to prepare the homework both for state school and "frontistirio". In the weekend, the students usually have lessons in the cramming school on Saturday morning and on Sunday morning revision tests. Unhired teachers by the state find a way to employment through these private businesses. These two popular views pave the ground for the abundant number of cram schools, also attended by numerous high school students for general support of their performance.Hong Kong
Cram schools inIndia
Numerous cram schools—referred to as coaching centers/institutes, tutorials/tuitions, dummy schools or classes in India—have sprung up all over the nation. These tutorials have become a parallel education system and it is very common and almost mandatory for the students to go to cram schools. They aim to tutor students to pass schools and college exams and getting their clients through various competitive exams to enter prestigious institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology for engineering courses the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences for medical courses at the undergraduate , postgraduate levels and the National Law Universities for legal and judicial courses and UPSC to become successful IAS and IPS officers. Many such schools prepare students to crack prestigious national entrance/scholarship exams at the high school level such as JEE (Joint Entrance Examination) Main & Advanced to enter prestigious engineering colleges like the IITs, NEET-UG (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test – Undergraduate level) for entrance into major medical science undergraduate programs and Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) for entering into premier law schools of the country. Initiatives like the National Level Common Entrance Examination (NLCEE) complement these efforts by organizing scholarship exams and exposure programs, which provide students with career guidance and visits to premier institutions like IITs. Such initiatives aim to help students make informed decisions, reducing the stress and uncertainty often associated with competitive exams. Various such exams are held for entering fields such as scientific research, engineering, medicine, management, accountancy, law and also into India's premier central and state government services organized by UPSC, SSC etc.Indonesia
Cram schools in Indonesia are called bimbingan belajar (learning assistance), often shortened into bimbel, and accepts students preparing for National Examinations before passing elementary school, junior high school, high school and college entrance exams. These cram schools teach students with exam simulations and problem-solving tutorials. Usually, these cram schools teach students by past exam questions. Bimbels in Indonesia offer lessons after school hours, weekends or public holidays.Ireland
" Grind schools", as they are known in theJapan
It is a large industry in Japan and caters to all types of school tests preparations, from kindergarten to high school graduation; it began growing rapidly in the 1970s. At that time, the number of universities was small, but college competition was intensive because almost 95% of students graduated from high school. In addition, Japan had the highest achievement test scores in the world from the 1980s to 2000, causing the cram school industry to grow. The cram schools, called juku, are privately owned, and offer lessons conducted after regular school hours, on weekends, and during summer and winter breaks.Malaysia
In Malaysia, it is considered a norm for parents, especially those from the middle and upper class, to send schoolchildren for private tuition. Such services are often provided by tuition centers and/or private tutors. These tutors may be full-time tutors, schoolteachers, retirees, or even senior students. Many concerned parents choose to send their children to different tuition classes or schedules based on the child's entrance examination subjects. Some students may go to tuition for their weaker subjects, while many schoolchildren are increasingly known to attend at least 10 hours of private tuition every week. Correspondingly, the reputation and business of a tuition center often depends on venue, schedule, number of top-scoring clients, and advertizing by word of mouth. It is not uncommon for private tutors to offer exclusive pre-examination seminars, to the extent where some tutors entice schoolchildren to attend such seminars with the promise of examination tips, or even supposedly leaked examination questions.Pakistan
In Pakistan, it has become very common for parents to send their children to such institutions, popularly known as "academies", after school for further private coaching. It has become prevalent in almost all levels of education, from junior classes to colleges and, to a lesser extent, universities. Due to the near-universality of this system, it has become very difficult to compete successfully in almost any level of exams without them, despite the added burden on the students.Peru
In Peru, cram schools, known as "Academias", are institutions which intensively prepare, in about a year, high school graduates to gain admission to either University ("Academia Pre Universitaria"), or Military Schools ("Academia Pre-Militar"). Cram Schools in Peru are not an admission requirement to enter any tertiary institution; however, due to fierce competition, preparation in a cram school allows the candidate to achieve the highest grade possible in the entry exam and so gain entry to their desired Tertiary Institution. Cram Schools are independent of universities, however, of recent a post-high-school, pre-university school has started at some public and private universities in Peru. Under the name of CEntro PREuniversitario (name or acronym of university, for instance CEPREUNI or CEPREPUCP, after Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria or Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, commonly referred to as "the CEPRE" or "the PRE"). Some of these CEPREs offer automatic admission to their university to their students who reach a set level of achievementPhilippines
In the Philippines, cram schools are usually called "review centers" or "review schools". They are often attended by students in order to study for and pass college and university entrance examinations, or to pass licensure examinations such as the Philippine Bar Examination, the Philippine Physician Licensure Examination, or the Philippine Nurse Licensure Examination.Singapore
In Singapore, it is very common for students in the local education system to be enrolled in cram schools, better known locally as tuition centers. Enrollment in these after-school tuition centers is extremely high, especially for students bound for national exams, such as the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), GCE O Levels, or the GCE A Levels. Students attending tuition centers on a daily basis is not unheard of in Singapore.South Korea
Although the South Korean educational system has been criticized internationally for its stress and competitiveness, it remains common for South Korean students to attend one or more cram schools (" hagwons") after their school-day is finished, most students studying there until 10 P.M. Some types of cram schools include math, science, art, and English. English language institutes along with math are particularly popular. Certain places, such as Gangnam inTaiwan
Cram schools in Taiwan are called ''supplementary classes'' (補習班), and are not necessarily cram schools in the traditional sense. Almost any kind of extracurricular academic lesson such as music, art, math, and physics can be termed as such, even if students do not attend these classes specifically in order to pass an examination. It's a traditional belief that parents should send their children to all kinds of cram schools in order to compete against other talented children. Therefore, most children in Taiwan have a schedule packed with all sorts of cram school lessons. But when they study English, often with a "Native Speaker Teacher", they are actually studying at a private language school. Furthermore, since this study is ongoing, they are not "cramming" in the traditional sense of the word, and therefore, these language schools are not cram schools by strict definition. Taiwan is well known for its cram schools. Nearly all students attend some kind of cram school to improve their skills. The meritocratic culture, which requires some skills testing for passports to college, graduate school, and even government service, is dominant on Taiwan's policy.Thailand
Cram schooling in Thailand has become almost mandatory to succeed in high school or in the entrance examinations of universities. Cram schools in Thailand, which are called ''tutoring institutes'', ''tutoring schools'', ''special tutoring'', or ''special classes'' for example, are widespread throughout the country. Some of them do not have instructors in class rooms in a traditional sense; students receive their tuition via television network, which can either relay a live session from another branch or replay a pre-recorded session. Parents generally encourage their children to attend these schools and they sometimes can be perceived as pushy. The system of cram school is currently blamed for discouraging pupils from independent studies. The main reason given by attending students is to increase understanding in their lessons. The secondary reason of junior high school students is to want to know faster techniques whereas the reason of senior ones is to prepare for exam. The most attended subjects areTurkey
The ''dershane'' (plural, ''dershaneler'') system was the Turkish counterpart of cram schools. The Turkish ''dershane'' system resembles Indian and Japanese systems. Students, typically after school and on weekends (especially during the last year), are drilled on various aspects of the (YKS). This is cheaper than private tutoring. The dershanes were closed due to the AKP-Gülen movement conflict after the AKP government banned them due to the Gülenists being politically active in dershanes. A similar network of cram schools are still active with different names, although still colloquially termed as dershane.United Kingdom
Crammers first appeared in Britain after 1855 when the Civil Service Commission created the Administrative class of government employees, selected by examination and interview rather than patronage. Crammers offered to prepare men of 18 to 25 years old for these examinations, mainly in classics, economics and foreign languages, which would provide entry to civil service or diplomatic careers. The opening scenes of Benjamin Britten's 1971 television opera '' Owen Wingrave'', and the 1892 novella by Henry James on which it is based, are set in a military crammer; its master plays an important role in both. Terence Rattigan's 1936 play '' French Without Tears'' is set in a language crammer typical of the period. These civil service crammers did not survive the Second World War. Tutorial colleges in the United Kingdom are also called "crammers", and are attended by some who want to attend the most prestigious universities. They have been around since the early 20th century.United States
A number of businesses, called "tutoring services" or "test preparation centers", are colloquially known as cram schools. They are used by some GED candidates,* ACT, Inc. - publisher of the ACT (test)See also
* Storefront schoolReferences
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