Why we shifted FRC to Naugaon from Gurgaon? + Happy Diwali everyone!
So have been getting questions from students why we shifted Forum Residential Coaching (FRC) from Gurgaon to Naugaon. Also read some obnoxious comments as to why forum may had made the shift.
There were a few reasons, but one of the reasons that weighed significantly was this.
Air Pollution
When we called people from FRC 1 st batch in Guragon, we had no inkling so many people would fall sick because of air pollution. I mean people from Delhi ( or North ) were born into this gas chamber of NCR so they didnt have much of a choice. But when we were callig people from South India and North East it was gruseome to push them into the pollution zone we had in Delhi. Also hospitals are full of such people and for those for whom this is a problem, it becomes the only problem - trying to study while coughing and sneezing and feeling drowsy all the time under anti-histamines, inhalers, monteluckast and what not!
So so many students - nearly 1/3rd of the students would always be sick - coughing or having a hoarse voice for nearly 3 months. Not just students, but staff would also keep falling sick and everyone had kids and senior citizens falling sick at home.
This is not ordinary dust pollution, given that SPM 2.5 is known to perforate the lungs, enter the capillaries and lead to heart blockage in the long run. We will see this in maybe 10 years from now.
Proof — watch the short clip from the FRC class where people can be heard coughing. This was sometime in the winter of 2024; in the first 8 seconds you can hear coughing.
Watch the clip on YouTube (YouTube Shorts)
Was at the frc campus yesterday and moving from Karol Bagh area to Gurgaon ( old FRC location ) to Naugaon campus, the difference in pollution levels was very evident. Felt vindicated about the choice of location.
Picture 1 : AQI at Karol Bagh
Picture 2 : AQI at GGN ( old FRC Location )
Picture 3 : AQI at new FRC campus
At worst I think the AQI should remain less than 150 and never exceed 200 ( though you never know wind action ) when Delhi/GGN pollution reaches 400+ - at which point we stop measuring
Source : Google Maps
Also, Happy Diwali everyone! Breath safe!
Is there a way to know what faculty will be teaching at the Naugaon tapasya campus?
what will be the teaching schedule like? @Neyawn
Karol Bagh center teachers will be there at FRC also. Prem sir, Shubham Sir, Basva Sir, Sahil Sir, Vikrant sir , Rudresh Sir , these are the ones who teach at KB. They also teach at FRC.
Actually most people stay at Gurugram. So it takes the same commutation time - given the traffic , 90 minutes to reach any of the Center’s. Since FRC has a campus with staff quarters , sometimes people like to stay overnight.
what are you concerns ?
I am no knight. Do not call me Sir|Philosophy behind ForumIAS
Siebzehn,no concerns, just wanted to know if we get a new set of faculty at Alwar or the same ones from delhi/gurugram - and you've clarified that. I read up on what the day's schedule looks like - sounds good. thanks!
Is it necessary to join the hostel. Can't I just only enroll for SFG
No you don’t have to. Regular SFG is happening at Delhi and Gurugram. At tapasya campus issue is tons of unnecessary issues some students may create - some genuine , some juvenile - such as outsiders coming, then use of library by outsiders ( one may say one may not use it, then one day one may use, then fight for seat - does not bother sincere students, but there are always small minority who are distracted and looking for one more reason to claim they have lost peace of mind at FRC because outside people are coming - better to avoid .)
I am no knight. Do not call me Sir|Philosophy behind ForumIAS
u urself can read it here
https://www.reddit.com/r/UPSC/s/pV5xxvoCvs
i hope this comment u dont delete sir, because it goes against forum interest
Answering your query
"Only 2 were able to qualify the upsc exam in 2025 Air 38 sharma ji ka baita and other girl Looking at the success ratio of this initiative, which is obviously very low"
We are currently very satisfied with the results we are getting, and we believe that this can be further improved, as long as are able to get candidates who follow the plan.
We have 10+ selections in the final list from the odd people who joined us. 40+ cleared the prelims. You get hardly get under 100-200 ranks from coachings with 10,000 - 12,000 students and we are able to get that from a small crowd. This is very much in line with the kind of work we want to do.
Note that the biggest problem in working with most people with multiple attempts is that they have massive negativity and trust deficit - and they trust neither them nor the institute nor you, and it takes time to build that trust. Also most people these days have done some edtech course, half here and half there and are nowhere, so they are a lot acerbic and acrimonious, and they feel nothing is going to happen to them.
Anyway, There were several people who cleared IFoS cut off for the first time in 3,4,5 years. Even now, some students are reaching out. This is from last week probably
looking at the cost of the initiative which is very high I would suggest not to join this
clarification : it may be possible that accommodation may be expensive for some people . we tried our best to try to accomodate the total cost of living to within 15k at first and then to 18k. But the issue is that 14k-15k which was affordable for many people ( which we wanted ) came with plenty of expectations - such as 24X7 plumber , electrician support , and then espcecially on the food front where people want fruits, proteins and what not - and no mess person was able to do it at that cost, so we have to move the cost upwards. we moved it to 18k per month without AC, and people could get their own ac OR rent one 10k for the season. The FM had declared that student hostels with less than 20k hostel fee will be exempt from GST, but this year the department has refused this exemption saying hostels by coachings are not student hostels and GST @18% will be applicable
Wheather the cost is justified or not depends on how much value you extract from it, and clear the stage at least which you came from
However, students can choose to follow the courses online or offline at delhi center.
better join forum ias mains test series and start preparing for mains till December and from January join sfg prelims test series and clear this exam
Clarification :That is perfectly good strategy. This is what most people have done till now. The idea for FRC came because we were meeting people who were academically also good since school and were flunking prelims like 4-5 times. when students like natasha goyal ( https://forumias.com/blog/natasha/ ) were not able to clear pre- we thought we need to monitor them better because results can come with better monitoring ( she was asked to go for frc during her interview, but she cleared the exam that year itself , and the program was designed for candidates like her ). We don;t want everyone to come for FRC , and frankly it wont work. Karol Bagh and online students remain our main centers.
These are my score for this prelims I have cleared it in my second attempt Scoring in abhyass , doesn't assure good marks in upsc prelims On that day everything abhayas or simulator score doesn't matter
Clarification :It is very true, and it is how the world works. Your tests are practice sessions. There are no guarantees. Think of it. Nikhil Chopra may throw javelin several times breaking world record at 4AM in practice ( and it wont count ), but that does not mean he will 100% do well there. That day in Olympic s will matter. But he has a good practice, chances are that he will do well. However, if you consistently not doing well on tests, it won't be possible to clear the exam there, just like continuously doing poor at 4am practice clearly means that nikhil chopra may not even be selected to represent india in Olympics.
I am no knight. Do not call me Sir|Philosophy behind ForumIAS
Siebzehn,For upsc prelims success follow divyank gupta ias , he is gem 💎 Hope this help
Clarification :You can always follow Divyank. He has been a consistent student with us in all his attempts and he has been quite a leaner. He hope he spreads whatever he has learned at forumias academy, and built over and above it , bringing his unique flavour and personality to preparation. We enjoy his civils daily guidance videos too and encourage you to follow them.
Here is his relationship with the academy ( he has cleared the exam 2 times, and has been with us in both attempts )
Please note that he is a paid student of the academy, taken professional aid from forumias in his preparation, not just a free user or follower of blog posts.
And we are very proud of him!
I am no knight. Do not call me Sir|Philosophy behind ForumIAS
Siebzehn,Now take this example, I am not saying everyone should clear the exam and become IAS. But look at this candidate.
Any teacher will get mad at such a student.
Why he has not cleared prelims in 4 attempts is not because he has no brains, or he cant study. He must have done series of stupid mistakes, and complete negligence in all attempts.
It is true that prelims is tricky, but 4 years? For prelims? That too for someone who knows how to shut up and study in 10th class and 12 th class and get a 9CGPA. he know how to top - not survive - top in maths at DU and IIT and then when it comes to prelims, you are prostrate - fallen as if you were an imposter all thorughout? It makes me angry. The math does not add up. either the past rescords are wrong or the upsc story is wrong. i mean every year you have a new reason why you didnt clear.
for FRC I was looking for more like people who have studied at least once in their life, then not studied in college or had a bad beginning to their upsc preparation by doing andacademy, LowIQ this and that, but not doing what needs to be done for the exam, and we rehab them get them to success.
I am no knight. Do not call me Sir|Philosophy behind ForumIAS
Siebzehn,PaulAtreidesu urself can read it here
https://www.reddit.com/r/UPSC/s/pV5xxvoCvs
i hope this comment u dont delete sir, because it goes against forum interest
You can post anything, as long as it is civil, not abusive, does not reduce the quality of ( non-existant ) discussion here. Also, no yellow journalism, and catchy titles that brings the wrong crowd. Please.
I am no knight. Do not call me Sir|Philosophy behind ForumIAS
Siebzehn,PaulAtreides
Answering your query
"Only 2 were able to qualify the upsc exam in 2025 Air 38 sharma ji ka baita and other girl Looking at the success ratio of this initiative, which is obviously very low"
We are currently very satisfied with the results we are getting, and we believe that this can be further improved, as long as are able to get candidates who follow the plan.
We have 10+ selections in the final list from the odd people who joined us. 40+ cleared the prelims. You get hardly get under 100-200 ranks from coachings with 10,000 - 12,000 students and we are able to get that from a small crowd. This is very much in line with the kind of work we want to do.
Note that the biggest problem in working with most people with multiple attempts is that they have massive negativity and trust deficit - and they trust neither them nor the institute nor you, and it takes time to build that trust. Also most people these days have done some edtech course, half here and half there and are nowhere, so they are a lot acerbic and acrimonious, and they feel nothing is going to happen to them.
Anyway, There were several people who cleared IFoS cut off for the first time in 3,4,5 years. Even now, some students are reaching out. This is from last week probably
looking at the cost of the initiative which is very high I would suggest not to join this
clarification : it may be possible that accommodation may be expensive for some people . we tried our best to try to accomodate the total cost of living to within 15k at first and then to 18k. But the issue is that 14k-15k which was affordable for many people ( which we wanted ) came with plenty of expectations - such as 24X7 plumber , electrician support , and then espcecially on the food front where people want fruits, proteins and what not - and no mess person was able to do it at that cost, so we have to move the cost upwards. we moved it to 18k per month without AC, and people could get their own ac OR rent one 10k for the season. The FM had declared that student hostels with less than 20k hostel fee will be exempt from GST, but this year the department has refused this exemption saying hostels by coachings are not student hostels and GST @18% will be applicable
Wheather the cost is justified or not depends on how much value you extract from it, and clear the stage at least which you came from
However, students can choose to follow the courses online or offline at delhi center.
better join forum ias mains test series and start preparing for mains till December and from January join sfg prelims test series and clear this exam
Clarification :That is perfectly good strategy. This is what most people have done till now. The idea for FRC came because we were meeting people who were academically also good since school and were flunking prelims like 4-5 times. when students like natasha goyal ( https://forumias.com/blog/natasha/ ) were not able to clear pre- we thought we need to monitor them better because results can come with better monitoring ( she was asked to go for frc during her interview, but she cleared the exam that year itself , and the program was designed for candidates like her ). We don;t want everyone to come for FRC , and frankly it wont work. Karol Bagh and online students remain our main centers.
These are my score for this prelims I have cleared it in my second attempt Scoring in abhyass , doesn't assure good marks in upsc prelims On that day everything abhayas or simulator score doesn't matter
Clarification :It is very true, and it is how the world works. Your tests are practice sessions. There are no guarantees. Think of it. Nikhil Chopra may throw javelin several times breaking world record at 4AM in practice ( and it wont count ), but that does not mean he will 100% do well there. That day in Olympic s will matter. But he has a good practice, chances are that he will do well. However, if you consistently not doing well on tests, it won't be possible to clear the exam there, just like continuously doing poor at 4am practice clearly means that nikhil chopra may not even be selected to represent india in Olympics.
Its Neeraj Chopra ;p
Answering your query
"Only 2 were able to qualify the upsc exam in 2025 Air 38 sharma ji ka baita and other girl Looking at the success ratio of this initiative, which is obviously very low"
We are currently very satisfied with the results we are getting, and we believe that this can be further improved, as long as are able to get candidates who follow the plan.
We have 10+ selections in the final list from the odd people who joined us. 40+ cleared the prelims. You get hardly get under 100-200 ranks from coachings with 10,000 - 12,000 students and we are able to get that from a small crowd. This is very much in line with the kind of work we want to do.
Note that the biggest problem in working with most people with multiple attempts is that they have massive negativity and trust deficit - and they trust neither them nor the institute nor you, and it takes time to build that trust. Also most people these days have done some edtech course, half here and half there and are nowhere, so they are a lot acerbic and acrimonious, and they feel nothing is going to happen to them.
Anyway, There were several people who cleared IFoS cut off for the first time in 3,4,5 years. Even now, some students are reaching out. This is from last week probably
looking at the cost of the initiative which is very high I would suggest not to join this
clarification : it may be possible that accommodation may be expensive for some people . we tried our best to try to accomodate the total cost of living to within 15k at first and then to 18k. But the issue is that 14k-15k which was affordable for many people ( which we wanted ) came with plenty of expectations - such as 24X7 plumber , electrician support , and then espcecially on the food front where people want fruits, proteins and what not - and no mess person was able to do it at that cost, so we have to move the cost upwards. we moved it to 18k per month without AC, and people could get their own ac OR rent one 10k for the season. The FM had declared that student hostels with less than 20k hostel fee will be exempt from GST, but this year the department has refused this exemption saying hostels by coachings are not student hostels and GST @18% will be applicable
Wheather the cost is justified or not depends on how much value you extract from it, and clear the stage at least which you came from
However, students can choose to follow the courses online or offline at delhi center.
better join forum ias mains test series and start preparing for mains till December and from January join sfg prelims test series and clear this exam
Clarification :That is perfectly good strategy. This is what most people have done till now. The idea for FRC came because we were meeting people who were academically also good since school and were flunking prelims like 4-5 times. when students like natasha goyal ( https://forumias.com/blog/natasha/ ) were not able to clear pre- we thought we need to monitor them better because results can come with better monitoring ( she was asked to go for frc during her interview, but she cleared the exam that year itself , and the program was designed for candidates like her ). We don;t want everyone to come for FRC , and frankly it wont work. Karol Bagh and online students remain our main centers.
These are my score for this prelims I have cleared it in my second attempt Scoring in abhyass , doesn't assure good marks in upsc prelims On that day everything abhayas or simulator score doesn't matter
Clarification :It is very true, and it is how the world works. Your tests are practice sessions. There are no guarantees. Think of it. Nikhil Chopra may throw javelin several times breaking world record at 4AM in practice ( and it wont count ), but that does not mean he will 100% do well there. That day in Olympic s will matter. But he has a good practice, chances are that he will do well. However, if you consistently not doing well on tests, it won't be possible to clear the exam there, just like continuously doing poor at 4am practice clearly means that nikhil chopra may not even be selected to represent india in Olympics.
Its Neeraj Chopra ;p
Ah, so I am talking like one of those old people who can't remember names :P
I am no knight. Do not call me Sir|Philosophy behind ForumIAS
Answering your query
"Only 2 were able to qualify the upsc exam in 2025 Air 38 sharma ji ka baita and other girl Looking at the success ratio of this initiative, which is obviously very low"
We are currently very satisfied with the results we are getting, and we believe that this can be further improved, as long as are able to get candidates who follow the plan.
We have 10+ selections in the final list from the odd people who joined us. 40+ cleared the prelims. You get hardly get under 100-200 ranks from coachings with 10,000 - 12,000 students and we are able to get that from a small crowd. This is very much in line with the kind of work we want to do.
Note that the biggest problem in working with most people with multiple attempts is that they have massive negativity and trust deficit - and they trust neither them nor the institute nor you, and it takes time to build that trust. Also most people these days have done some edtech course, half here and half there and are nowhere, so they are a lot acerbic and acrimonious, and they feel nothing is going to happen to them.
Anyway, There were several people who cleared IFoS cut off for the first time in 3,4,5 years. Even now, some students are reaching out. This is from last week probably
looking at the cost of the initiative which is very high I would suggest not to join this
clarification : it may be possible that accommodation may be expensive for some people . we tried our best to try to accomodate the total cost of living to within 15k at first and then to 18k. But the issue is that 14k-15k which was affordable for many people ( which we wanted ) came with plenty of expectations - such as 24X7 plumber , electrician support , and then espcecially on the food front where people want fruits, proteins and what not - and no mess person was able to do it at that cost, so we have to move the cost upwards. we moved it to 18k per month without AC, and people could get their own ac OR rent one 10k for the season. The FM had declared that student hostels with less than 20k hostel fee will be exempt from GST, but this year the department has refused this exemption saying hostels by coachings are not student hostels and GST @18% will be applicable
Wheather the cost is justified or not depends on how much value you extract from it, and clear the stage at least which you came from
However, students can choose to follow the courses online or offline at delhi center.
better join forum ias mains test series and start preparing for mains till December and from January join sfg prelims test series and clear this exam
Clarification :That is perfectly good strategy. This is what most people have done till now. The idea for FRC came because we were meeting people who were academically also good since school and were flunking prelims like 4-5 times. when students like natasha goyal ( https://forumias.com/blog/natasha/ ) were not able to clear pre- we thought we need to monitor them better because results can come with better monitoring ( she was asked to go for frc during her interview, but she cleared the exam that year itself , and the program was designed for candidates like her ). We don;t want everyone to come for FRC , and frankly it wont work. Karol Bagh and online students remain our main centers.
These are my score for this prelims I have cleared it in my second attempt Scoring in abhyass , doesn't assure good marks in upsc prelims On that day everything abhayas or simulator score doesn't matter
Clarification :It is very true, and it is how the world works. Your tests are practice sessions. There are no guarantees. Think of it. Nikhil Chopra may throw javelin several times breaking world record at 4AM in practice ( and it wont count ), but that does not mean he will 100% do well there. That day in Olympic s will matter. But he has a good practice, chances are that he will do well. However, if you consistently not doing well on tests, it won't be possible to clear the exam there, just like continuously doing poor at 4am practice clearly means that nikhil chopra may not even be selected to represent india in Olympics.
Its Neeraj Chopra ;p
Ah, so I am talking like one of those old people who can't remember names :P
Working out regularly improves memory, just saying :)
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