This IIT Madras alumnus' AI-based test series helps UPSC aspirants to identify their weak spots. Here's how

The uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic has surely taken a toll on many, including future civil servants – UPSC aspirants appearing for the preliminary exam this year. Understanding this, ExcelOn Academy, an online platform started by IIT Madras alumnus T Uday Kumar and his friend Muthu Kumar Raju, has launched an AI-based test series to keep aspirants focused during this lockdown. Uday, who pursued his M Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras, has been a full-time teacher since 2017 with several years of experience in coaching civil services aspirants. After 15 years of corporate experience, Uday left his comfortable job in 2017 to invest his time in helping UPSC aspirants. "I was a civil service aspirant myself and I had cleared the engineering services exam back in 2000. One thing I felt then was the lack of a good mentor. This is the reason I started ExcelOn and developed this test series specifically focusing on feedback to help aspirants understand the areas/subjects they need to work on," explains Uday. 

The test series, available at www.excelonacademy.com, provides personalised results and feedback to each and every user and helps aspirants identify their blind spots and weak areas in each major subject of general studies. It incorporates the best features of both paper-based and online tests like the feature to strike-off options when arriving at the right option, the ability to mark questions for review to revisit later, a reverse timer for overall test and a timer for each question, and it also has three levels of personalised feedback, analysing the performance through multiple dimensions. However, there's a lot more that the AI-based test series can do. "Whenever an institute offers a test series, it typically has two limitations - either you take the full series or you don't. It could be priced at around `8000 for 20-30 tests, 7 different components, but maybe the student doesn't feel the need to take the test in select areas. Ours is a pay-as-you-use model - you want two subjects, you take just that and you don't have to pay for the entire series," explains Uday.

Muthu, his friend, is a US-based tech entrepreneur specialising in building the cutting-edge technology platform for start-ups and aspiring businesses.

Other features of the test and personalised feedback:
- Points out the potential fundamental conceptual error of the aspirant
- Points out the potential areas of misplaced confidence in certain topics/concepts
- Peer group comparison (ranking among test takers)

The AI software used for their test series helps identify not only the correct and incorrect answers but also point out the areas where the student appears to be weak. It will guide them to look at specific chapters in referred books that can help them brush up their knowledge on the subject. "This is the level of detailed feedback the AI-based tests provide and thus, it makes it crystal clear for the aspirant what exactly he needs to brush up on, which books to refer to and even which chapter," adds Uday. By this process, it helps aspirants prioritise their focus and time. "The student might take two hours to solve the test and then another two hours to analyse the test. Here, those two hours are saved as the detailed analysis is provided. The feedback alone is of more than 100 pages," he adds.

ExcelOn Academy, formally launched in May, is also providing aspirants with one sample test, completely free. If they want further tests, then they can pay for it. The tests are priced at `90 per test. "We are also coming up with weak area tests which will allow aspirants to take tests only in the identified areas that they are weak in," concludes Uday.