BENGALURU: With the online education market expected to grow from 1.6 million users in 2016 to 9.6 million in 2021 (according to KPMG), the online test preparation platform is seeing the biggest boom ever. With the upcoming quarter going to be the busiest season for government and banking exams, conducted by the UPSC, SSC, CGL and IBPS till February 2018, students are preparing using such aids which include latest changes in patterns as well mock tests, helping them familiarise concepts and question patterns better.
"This growth will be an outcome of high adoption of online channel among students and an increase in the number of aspirants for competitive exams," records a study, "Online Education in India: 2021". Mr Abhishek Patil, CEO and co-founder of Oliveboard, an online test preparation platform, believes that catering to more aspirants from tier-II and tier-III cities, where availability of coaching centres is lesser, is another reason for the growth. "With most competitive exams going online, preparations are also taking the online route, which is preferred by many now. The practice aspect along with the learning aspect such platforms offer at one's fingertips turns out to be a win-win situation for all," he said.
Online platforms use different strategies to stay updated to keep up with the changes in question patterns and expectations of their users. "Content experts from our company appear for almost all online exams which help us identify latest changes and trends of questioning patterns across the competitive exam sector. This equips us better to assist the aspirants to be prepared for changing scenarios," said Ankush Setia, Founder-CEO, Practicemock, an online testing company.
"The frequent upgradation of content on such platforms has helped me reduce the level of anxiety I used to face during attending such tests," said Chaitra Ramesh, who has been appearing for various tests since 2014. "Unlike coaching centres, online mock tests provide instant results along with personalised advice towards preparations based on the performance recorded," she said. But for Rajorshi Lahiri, who works during the day and prepares for tests after working hours, online platforms need to get better in terms of helping test-takers understand concepts better. "Though the content is available 24x7 which helps me to learn anytime, anywhere, an instant doubt-solving mechanism is absent, for which attending classes at a coaching institute is essential," he said.
While Mr Setia adds that such platforms help aspirants get familiarised to reading online where the tests are taken as well, Mr Patil says the chances of them updating content which caters to lakhs of users in five to ten minutes unlike offline modes would keep them ahead in time to come.
