Cram school

Cram schools or as a whole, crammers, are specialized schools that train their students to meet particular goals, most commonly to pass the entrance examinations of high schools or universities. The English name is derived from the slang term "cramming", meaning to study hard or to study a large amount of material in a short period of time.

Cram schools often specialize in a particular subject or subjects. Cram schools that prepare students for high school and university entrance examinations are also frequently specialized to particular schools, and the staff may, like those in other schools, have access to previous years' examination papers. Special cram schools that prepare students who have failed their entrance examinations (known as rōnin in colloquial Japanese) to take them the following year are also common. In extreme cases, such students may spend up to eighteen hours a day studying to retake their tests. Students who attend regular after-school cram schools may study for four hours or more.

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 pass, or obtain a required grade in, particular examinations. In some cases this may require them to "parrot", that is, to unthinkingly repeat, information that is necessary for that examination. Cram schools are sometimes criticized, along with the countries in which they are prevalent, for a lack of training in critical thinking and analysis. However, some believe that in some cases they are necessary to compensate for the formal education system's inability or unwillingness to address particular needs.

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 in New South Wales. They are also used extensively in mathematics courses for the Higher School Certificate and other high school leavers exams.

In Bangladesh, Cram Schools are known as "Coaching Centers" and to some extent 'Tutorials'. Most cram schools provide help for admission tests of public universities and medical colleges, and public examinations like SSC, and, HSC. There are also some variants which have entered the market of ever increasing help seekers. For example, cram schools now also prepare students for language tests like IELTS and TOEFL, aptitude tests like GRE, GMAT, SAT, and so on. In recent years cram schools have also been extended to the tests for government civil services like BCS Examination.

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