Learning Gaps – Addressing Them Before It’s Too Late

Do you know what happened to me yesterday? I was reading this book a month back and stopped in the middle because I couldn’t take out much time for it. I picked up that book again yesterday and started reading from where I left off. To my surprise, I didn’t remember anything clearly from what I read a month back. This may have happened because I was not paying much attention to it when I read it earlier. Or maybe as I had so much on my mind lately, this book just slipped through. There’s also a chance of me not being able to understand it earlier while reading it. Yet, I just kept on reading for the sake of it, which didn’t allow it to get registered in my memory. Now, no matter how I took it, there was a gap. And if I were to ignore this gap and continue reading from where I left off, I’ll either not understand half of the story or may not get it at all. In either case, it will not serve the purpose of reading that book. This is exactly what happens with school students every year. Knowingly or even sometimes unknowingly, they develop learning gaps that become a barrier between them and effective learning. Maybe they didn’t understand what they were being taught due to it being tough or lacking focus or interest. Or perhaps they forgot something they were taught with time and can’t recall now. In either case, a learning gap is created, also called a historical learning gap, once they pass on to the next class. Let’s understand it this way- A student named Akash attempts an exam and scores 65%. Now, Akash must have received learning for the entire syllabus that came in the exam. So, ideally, he should have scored a 100/100, but maybe he couldn’t for some of the reasons mentioned earlier. The 35% he couldn’t achieve here reflects Akash’s learning gaps. It can be even more considering the possibility of the exam papers by chance coming in favor of what Akash knew or remembered. But even after knowing there is a learning gap, there won’t be anyone considering fixing it or clearing it. He’ll still be promoted to the next class. Now, as it is clear that these learning gaps won’t let you score well in exams, let’s go deeper into what all these gaps can bring to the table, which can keep you away from learning effectively.

The Unfavourable Outcomes of Learning Gaps

There may be unfavorable causes of learning gaps for school students, which makes it highly important to address them as soon as possible. The major ones of them include-

> Gaps create more gaps 

When learning gaps are developed by a student, those will go on and create more gaps in the future. You might wonder how. Let’s make it simple for you- Suppose a learner named Rohini cannot properly understand Addition in first grade. In that case, she won’t be able to properly understand multiplication when she goes to second grade. Neither will she understand division properly when she goes to 3rd grade. If she does not address these learning gaps, she’ll always remain weak in maths.

> They adversely affect confidence

When students have learning gaps, those adversely affect their confidence. It creates self-doubts and significant fear of missing out and also deteriorates self-esteem. Don’t worry; we’ll make this one simple too for you to get the right idea- Let’s take Rohini’s example again. So, when Rohini moves to 2nd grade, what do you think will happen? There is a huge possibility that she’ll see herself lagging as others will be able to easily understand multiplication, but she won’t. No one’s going to like being in that situation, right? She may even not ask for help from her teachers due to the fear of judgment. There is a possibility of her being labeled as the weak one. Isn’t this too relatable? We doubt anyone ever went through school without witnessing this happening to themselves or around them. These situations thrash an individual’s confidence, which gradually increases their distance from effective learning. If they do nothing about it, they won’t be able to build back this confidence. That’s exactly what we referred to when we said getting too late in the title of this article.

> A huge drop in motivation 

Learning gaps, when piled up, increase the chances of students losing interest and motivation for learning. Let’s take Rohini’s example again. After going through grades 1st and 2nd, she struggled to understand addition, subtraction, and multiplication but got below-average marks. She’ll now be introduced to division in grade 3. In this case, she might think, “I am not going to understand this anyway, then what’s the point?”. This can happen with any student, no matter their grade, the stream they are in, or the subject they are learning. Knowing that you do not understand the basics of a topic or subject gives you an obvious idea that you will struggle at the advanced level of it. What will Rohini do in this case? What if asking for help is out of context for her? She may end up avoiding classes, assignments, or sometimes even exams. Building back this motivation and interest will be too hard for her if she does not take any steps in the initial stage. That makes it another example of getting too late.

> An obvious academic struggle

Now a student like Rohini, whose learning gaps are growing with time and who is slowly losing self-confidence together with interest and motivation for studies, will struggle academically. Her scores in exams will be less. Her participation and engagement in class will be less. Further, her involvement in classroom discussions will be less, and her enrollment in learning-related co-curricular activities like Olympiads, quizzes, etc., will be less. Any student who faces this struggle throughout school is bound to struggle in life. That is because academic struggle goes on to restrict career possibilities or options for a child, leaving them unable to grow in life. You might think that what if a student struggles academically but is extremely good in sports? Have our word that the adverse effects of these learning gaps and overall academic struggle will harm almost every aspect of their life. It also includes sports or another field they are proficient in other than studies. Finding yourself incompetent in the middle of a crowd (classroom) where almost everyone else is competent enough to understand everything being taught can leave a huge scar on your inner self. That scar may stay longer and can reflect on whatever you do in life. DON’T allow that scar on yourself or heal it ASAP if you already have it. How? Address your learning gaps instead of running from them. You might wonder, “What if we get judged if we ask for help?”. Relax, the solution we will give won’t judge you ever. It will take away all the possibilities of you needing someone’s help. Excited to know about it? We are excited to tell you too. We are talking about none other than the iPrep learning app that covers every learning requirement from classes 1st to 12th. Please pay attention as we explain how iPrep can help you clear all your Historical Learning Gaps, that too without any sort of judgment.

How can iPrep help you clear all your Historical Learning Gaps

We have added two very specific features in our iPrep app to facilitate the power to clear all the learning gaps for all learners. Those include-

Class change feature

Now, what’s the obvious solution to not being able to understand an advanced level of a topic or subject? Start from the basics, right? But who will help you with that? Will the teacher from your school or tuition leave what they are teaching currently to your class to help you with what they or some other teacher taught you in previous grades? Very less likely for that to happen. Don’t worry, iPrep will help. In one blanket subscription, the iPrep app provides learning content for all classes from 1st to 12th. We do that with a quick class change feature. A learner like you can easily and quickly change their class and learn from the content of a junior class.

How will that help? Let’s bring back Rohini’s reference here. So, when Rohini struggled in 2nd grade while trying to understand multiplication because she didn’t understand addition and subtraction in grade 1, there wasn’t anyone to help. But now iPrep is there to help. With iPrep, Rohini can easily change her class, go back to grade 1 and use the highly enjoyable content present on the platform to build her proficiency in addition and subtraction. She can then come back and try to understand multiplication which will now be possible and a lot easier for her. The possibility of not understanding division in grade 3 will also drop. It can ultimately help her clear her entire learning gap and effectively learn what is being taught to her. Like her, every learner out there can use the class change feature of the iPrep app to clear all historical learning gaps and prepare themselves for what’s in the course currently. There is no limit to the number of times you want to switch classes and how many classes you wanna explore, So make the best use of it.

Language change feature  

Is not understanding any of the topics in your class’s curriculum the only thing that can create a learning gap? Not true. Language gaps can also make a huge addition to one’s learning gap. How? Let’s see it this way- what if something you are trying to read or you hear in English is beyond your understanding of the language, and you cannot read or understand it? Asking for your help may get you judgment, criticism, or worse, people may make fun of you. But that won’t happen when learning with iPrep.

iPrep very effectively runs in two different languages: English and Hindi with end-to-end transliteration. And the language change feature here enables the learners to change the language between the learning journey and learning in the other language. How will that help? Let’s understand with an example. For example, Rohini cannot understand what an animated video lesson says in English due to vocabulary and grammar gaps. She can switch her language preference to Hindi and start learning from it. It will not just help her understand but will also make her English strong. By understanding it in Hindi, she now has an idea of vocabulary and grammar she could not understand earlier.

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All that together makes iPrep, the perfect solution for clearing all your learning gaps and empowering you with the ability to learn unlimited. To your surprise, we provide these features with our diverse categories of effective and unlimited learning and growth content in just one blanket subscription. Want to know its price? Don’t be shocked as the price of a yearly subscription to the iPrep learning app is only Rs 4000.  That price is even less than one year’s course books you purchase. But why are we giving it out for such a low price when our platform is highly content-rich and effective for learning? That is because we aim to ensure that learning is affordable for all, and our price should never be a factor in stopping someone from learning through our app. Wait no more and start the ultimate learning and growth journey with iPrep- the learning app.