Playing gimmicks, gambling on probability, fraudulent marketing... Said it is public examination training, but it is like a casino pit

　　This year, in order to alleviate employment pressure, many provinces have increased the number of recruits for civil servant recruitment, and the public examination has been hot for a while. The Banyuetan reporter conducted an in-depth investigation of public examination training institutions and found that there are many hidden pits behind the current popular public examination training.

1

Playing gimmicks, gambling on probability, "but refunds" make sure you won't lose

　　In recent years, civil service examinations represented by "national examination" and "provincial examination" have maintained a high recruitment ratio. Working hard to prepare for the public exams, there is still a high probability of failing the list, which makes many candidates seek the certainty of "going ashore". Aiming at this demand, some public examination training institutions have introduced so-called guarantee agreements such as "agreement guarantee" and "no refund" in due course.

　　"If you fail to pass the exam, you can still recover your study expenses, which is equivalent to buying an insurance." A public exam candidate said that the public exam training classes are mainly divided into two types: agreement classes and non-contract classes. "The agreement class. If the candidate fails the exam, the public examination training institution will refund the full amount according to the terms of the agreement, or deduct part of the tuition and miscellaneous fees, to make up for the loss of the candidate.

　　In the eyes of many candidates, even if the tuition fees of the agreement classes are much higher than that of the non-contract classes, they think that the agreement classes are "more cost-effective". The 2019 graduate Liu Hao took the public institution examination in a certain eastern city last year and did not hesitate to apply for a "closed interview class" with a price of more than 30,000, and was finally hired. "Just spend money to buy peace of mind." Liu Hao said.

　　Grasping the examinee’s mentality of “want to win and fear to lose”, some civil servant training institutions took the opportunity to throw out the argument that “the high price is justified”, and the tuition fees of the agreed classes were ridiculously high. The price list of Huagong Education on Jinggangshan Avenue in Nanchang shows: "Spark closed written examination class" is 18,800 yuan, "Xinghuo pen surface agreement class" is 49,800 yuan, and "Xinghuo pen surface high-end agreement class" is 99,800 yuan.

　　Relevant staff told Banyuetan reporters that the class of 49,800 yuan and 99,800 yuan would sign a "no refund" agreement. Candidates of the 49,800 yuan class can get a refund of 30,000 yuan after they fail the ranking, and the 99,800 yuan class candidates enjoy a full refund.

　　Is the "high-priced training" like "gambling" "justified"? Industry insiders pointed out that these high-price agreement classes seem to be "finding the bottom" for candidates, but in fact they are a "probability game" that makes a profit without losing money. Training institutions rely on setting the refund ratio to guarantee the cost; rely on the gambling rate to obtain the full high tuition; rely on the use of pre-collected student funds to increase profitability-every trick can make money, but it is the difference between earning more and less.

　　During the interview, some trainees told Banyue Tan reporters that refunding fees for agreement classes is actually not an easy task, and that they have to go through layers of "checkpoints"-submitting the refund application is complicated, the review is delayed after the application is accepted, and the staff makes things difficult. The refund is like " Faded skin".

　　In mid-July this year, Zhong Gong Education was caught in a "refund storm" due to frequent complaints from students about the difficulty of refunding fees, and was named by the market supervision and management department.

2

Fraudulent marketing pit you did not discuss

　　The half-monthly talk reporter's survey found that the public examination training market is an attractive cake. The monthly income of full-time trainers is generally 10,000 to 30,000 yuan, and part-time trainers are thousands of yuan a day. Driven by high profits, many public examination training institutions "have nothing to discuss."

　　-Propaganda pit. On the WeChat public account "Jiangxi Public Test Online", a training organization claimed to "lead the local public test with a passing rate of 85%." Industry insiders pointed out that the natural pass rate of the public examination written test is less than 10%, and the interview natural pass rate is more than 30%. Under the superposition of the two, only 3% of the candidates can "go ashore". The so-called 85% pass rate is simply impossible. .

　　A public examination institution has a super high pass rate of 83.4% to attract trainees Photo by Li Meijuan

　　In order to occupy the market, some public examination training institutions are targeting the university market, using “borrowing chickens to incubate eggs” and “pull heads” as the tactics, working together online and offline to enlist students. A student cadre of a university said that the training organization will directly contact the school league cadres, and in the name of "activity funds", the benefit will be paid in order to obtain the opportunity to preach at class meetings or class activities.

　　"Pull 10 friends into the group, and you will get a copy of teaching materials if you don't leave the group within two days; send the promotional copy to the circle of friends or QQ space, and collect 30 likes to get a gift..." In order to grab more resources , Many training institutions will also use students to "pull heads" online to increase market visibility.

　　-Agreement pit. Qian Si, who is preparing to participate in this year's "provincial exam", applied for an agreement class of 48,000 yuan at a training institution two months ago. She thought that the training courses were "expensive for a reason", but she didn't expect to be fooled.

　　"It was said that it was a small class, and as a result, more than 300 people were sitting in a large classroom." Qian Si said, "I learned after class that no matter how high or low the price is, they are actually in class together." Persevered 10 Many days later, Qian Si decided to withdraw from the class, but there was no withdrawal clause in the contract agreement. After several attempts, Qian Si asked for a refund of 40,000 yuan, and the remaining 8,000 yuan was deducted by the organization on the grounds of "loss of class time fees."

　　The Banyuetan reporter provided the agreement of a public examination institution to the lawyer. The lawyer said that the terms of the agreement talk more about the rights of training institutions, and there are more restrictions on refunds, because it is a standard contract, and candidates have no room for negotiation.

　　-Teacher pit. "I applied for the civil service examination in Jiangxi Province in 2019. I passed the written test but failed the interview. Soon I received a call from a training institution and asked me to be a lecturer." said Tang Fen, who graduated from university last year.

　　Zhao Jie has just quit her job as a lecturer in a training institution. She said that in her training institution, nearly half of the members were immediately transferred to train teachers after failing the public examination.

　　The Banyue Talk reporter's survey found that some training institutions have certain requirements for teachers, but many small training institutions directly select trainers from candidates who have failed in the civil service examination.

　　"In some training institutions, you can work as long as you are fluent and able to speak to the answers." An on-the-job training lecturer said.

　　In order to reduce costs, many training institutions rarely hire full-time trainers, and only hire part-time teachers to make up the number during the exam preparation period. These part-time teachers are of mixed quality and often lack a sense of responsibility.

3

It is difficult to defend rights and has little effect, and public examination training needs to be reduced.

　　In response to the market chaos in public examination training, the reporter from Banyuetan interviewed multiple departments and the answers were all "succinct."

　　Regarding the issue of teachers, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security stated that civil servant training is not skill training. Currently, there are no rigid requirements for the teachers of training institutions, let alone the title of civil servant trainer. Regarding the price issue, the market supervision and management department stated that the fees of training institutions are subject to market regulation. Price, "price level cannot be controlled", only "unclear mark price" "non-fulfillment of promises" and other behaviors will be controlled.

　　In fact, due to the lack of industry standards, no industry associations and relevant regulations, and no restrictions on entry barriers for practitioners, although the public examination training industry is chaotic, it is difficult for candidates to defend their rights.

　　“The reason why training institutions dare to ask for high prices is precisely because they have caught the examinee’s psychology of seeking fast and stable.” said Wang Yujie, director of the Career Development Promotion Center of Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics. It is difficult for candidates with weak knowledge base and insufficient learning ability to pass. Assault training achieved "turnover".

　　A cadre who has served as a civil servant interviewer in the Organization Department of Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee believes that it is difficult for candidates to quickly improve their ability to grasp questions and express themselves in a short period of time. Some training courses will teach candidates some so-called "routines" and "know-how", "and this is not beneficial to the candidates."

　　Many people believe that relevant departments should promptly check and regulate the public examination training market, crack down on false propaganda, strengthen price behavior supervision, and return public examination training to rationality. (The students in the text are all pseudonyms)

　　Source: "Ban Yue Tan" Issue 15, 2020

　　Half a month to talk about reporters: Li Meijuan, Yao Ziyun, Li Jiaying