A training ground for IIT JEE

 
 
An online portal, toppr.com, trains and prepares students for prominent entrance exams.

In India, almost two million students write the IIT JEE and pre-medical exams every year. With the best brains from around the country in the fray, students have a tough time preparing for the entrance exams that would shape their careers. In an effort to make the preparation process easier and more efficient, two alumni of IIT Bombay have started an online portal — toppr.com.
Inception

toppr.com was started in April 2013 by Zishaan Hayath and Hemanth Goteti, when they identified the necessity to build a technology in the field of education. “We don’t have effective solutions in the education space,” says Zishaan, co-founder, toppr.com. “Education is the second highest expense in a house, and we felt that technology could change the way it is being offered to students. With toppr.com, we have ensured that it is qualitative, effective and affordable.” After experimenting with a number of examinations, the team at toppr.com zeroed in on IIT JEE and pre-medical exams. Other exams like the civil service and bank exam followed suit.
Comprehensive training

Going beyond classroom teaching and also complementing it, toppr.com offers a comprehensive training platform. Classroom teaching, as Zishaan puts it, comprises four steps - conceptual learning, application, practising in a timed manner and comparison. “toppr.com supplements the third and fourth steps,” he explains. “While classroom coaching gives a holistic picture of the preparation process, there are issues such as high fees, little attention to slow learners and access difficulties in the rural areas. toppr.com breaks these barriers and comes out as a product that is adaptable and easy to use. Slow learners are provided help and fast learners can proceed to the advanced tests.” Students can ask doubts and the backend team clarifies them,” adds Zishaan. This reduces the dependence on classroom teaching.

What’s unique

With many Web platforms in the arena offering the best of training to students, what makes toppr.com stand apart? “The USP of toppr.com is that it is adaptive and can be customised to suit every student’s needs,” points out Zishaan. “Students are able to chart their own progress and proceed with tests based on that. With 50,000 questions in our bank, the software suggests tests and questions each student should take.”

Maintaining one of the biggest online question banks is no mean task and the team of 30 at toppr.com have ensured that the web platform absorbs all the complexities and provides only a simple user interface to the students. “More than half the team members are from IIT Bombay, and the rest are also well-equipped to run the Web platform smoothly. The software, programming, algorithm and content/questions are all developed by us, making it one of a kind.”

Offering the training and practice tests at an affordable fee of Rs.3,900 for one year and Rs.4,900 for two years, toppr.com has 18,000 subscribers. Aiming to turn the online portal into a world class product, Zishaan says, “It is a great product, but this is just the beginning. We plan to evolve toppr.com into a strong technology platform where we help students with more accuracy. We want at least one million students to make use of our platform.”
 
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