What the fee is actually for

Coaching sells four things bundled together: material, teaching, a test series that tells you where you stand, and structure — a timetable and a room full of people doing the same thing. Most of the value for most students is in the last two, and those are also the two that are cheapest to reproduce elsewhere.

Separating the bundle is the first useful move. Somebody who already has structure and needs practice under timed conditions may need only a test series. Somebody drowning in an unfamiliar subject needs teaching. Buying the whole bundle when you need a quarter of it is how a very large amount of money leaves families every year.