NEET preparation can sometimes get tedious owing to the amount of time students spend studying, watching helpful videos, or even paying attention to the blackboard for hours at coaching centres. This, in turn, results in eye strain, stress, and headache. This is where Aakash AudiPREP comes to the rescue, as it enables a student to grasp the content while listening to an audiobook.
One of the most interesting features of Aakash AudiPREP, which comes from the house of Aakash+BYJU'S, is that it provides multi-sensory learning. It makes the process of revision of lectures accessible and more convenient. The audio-based technology is truly something to behold.
"A lot of content in the book is not of use which will be required in the entrance examination. Students can extract the key points, important formulas, and key definitions through our quick recap feature available in the audiobook. Mnemonics is a very powerful tool that very few teachers use in the classroom," said the National Academic Director, Anurag Tiwari, speaking about what sets the audiobook apart.
While this comprehensive audiobook is available free of cost to Class XI and XII students who have subscribed to Aakash+BYJU’s courses, we look at what they stand to gain via this thoughtfully curated learning tool.
When did you feel the need to develop an audio book along the lines of Aakash AudiPREP and how long did the process of putting it together take?
Four to five years back, while I was pursuing a course in Leader Management International, I realised that they had audio content from their book, which is on leadership and management skills. So while I was pursuing my course, I started listening to the audio content along with reading the books and could experience how this learning experience is. Actually, I was able to understand the concept well and was able to retain it for a longer time. Then I started researching and found out it’s a multi-sensory learning impact when more senses are getting involved in doing a task.
Then I thought why can't we do this for Science as well, we know that for books on management, stories have no pictures and most importantly, no diagrams, so it's easier to record the content. But when we talk about recording content for Science it's challenging as Science is not just theory-based. It demands a lot of application and understanding of how one can apply theory concepts to practical questions, we have used a lot of features and then we have created our version of an audiobook. It took almost 3.5 years to implement this idea to create a Science audiobook for NEET aspirants from Classes XI and XII.
Seems like the audiobook is equipped with new-age features. Do elaborate on spaced repetition features and which dry areas of the subjects does it specifically address?
Yes, it has new-age features. The Science audiobook demands a lot more than the regular podcasts which are available everywhere. Additionally, we have made the audiobook interactive which means whenever you have completed listening to a certain part of the audiobook, we have made sure that you have to attempt questions to ensure that you have grasped the content. Along with the questions, we were able to use interactive quizzes alongside the audio.
We realised another important point, that only reading the book and listening to it is not going to be helpful, it is helpful in Science when a teacher explains the way it is explained in the classroom. We are giving the same experience to students that they get while sitting in the classrooms. Furthermore, we have used a quick recap concept that only takes three to four minutes of listening for each chapter in the audiobook.
Other features too are geared to improve the retention power of students. Like mnemonics and more. Tell us more about this approach.
When we teach our students, we ask them to revise as many times as possible.
Students can extract the key points, important formulas and key definitions through our quick recap feature available in the audiobook. Mnemonics is a very powerful tool that very few teachers use in the classroom, but different sets of teachers have different sets of mnemonics. So every student doesn’t get all the mnemonics in one place, so this audiobook has all the kinds of mnemonics that are being used by several teachers across the country.
Moreover, with the help of this audiobook, students will be have extra explanation of diagrams, tables, and every complicated thing which is required to recapitulate concepts.
In the time of videos, tell us about how an audiobook enhances the experience of studying for NEET.
While we were working on Aakash AudiPREP, the one thing which came up during these COVID times is the screen time. Students were compelled to study via screens. Whether it was a live class or recorded lectures, students were struggling with screens which was leading to eye strain and stress and headaches. Videos have their own cons and these cons can be minimised through AudiPREP. When students are listening, they need not watch anything on the screen. High screen time will be in check and will not have a negative impact on students’ health. Through audiobooks, they will be able to understand and learn everything the way the teacher teaches in the classroom.
Why did you feel the need to go beyond the NCERT syllabus with the content builder? What else does this feature encompass?
NCERT syllabus is very important for NEET aspirants and 90 per cent of questions come from NCERT, the rest are beyond NCERT. We want to give the full package of NEET to our students. If we talk about the content, it contains all those components which are beyond NCERT that’s why the content builder is there.
How has the response been so far for the audiobook?
We just launched the Audi Prep six days ago and we are getting a lot of good feedback from students, and the teaching fraternity. This is the first Science audiobook for NEET preparation, and everyone is excited. They are giving us feedback on every feature, and the feedback on quick recap is extremely good and on mnemonics too.
What about the students who have not subscribed to Aakash+BYJU’S, will they be able to access it as well?
As of now, we are only giving this free of cost to all the students who are associated with Aakash + BYJU’S no matter whether they are in classroom courses or DLP (Distance Learning Program) courses.
Are there any plans to launch audiobooks for JEE and other entrance exams as well?
Being a pioneer in Medical education, we have worked for medical first. In the future, of course, with the kind of success we are seeing with audiobooks, we will be launching for JEE entrance exams, and foundation courses for Classes VIII, IX and X.
