India has a very intricate relationship with competitive exams. Students spend a better part of their lives trying to crack the CATs of the world. GMAT and GRE are already adaptive and there have always been rumours about CAT adopting the same route. With the highly evolvng model exams, the training needs to be at par and one-size-fits-all aprroach wouldn't work. One52 realized that and launched Adaptive Training.Old school friends, Rohit Gulati and Deepak Nanwani, after teaming up for competitions in school have now teamed up to help students prepare for competitive exams with One52. A Morpheus incubated startup, One52 has developed a learning platform to helps with the preparation for GMAT and CAT exams focused on individual ability, pace of learning and focus areas to then customise the study material accordingly.

The name One52 comes from the target score – 152 set as the basic benchmark to achieve and strive beyond. Their modules include adaptive practice drills and easy tutorials with real time overview of the student’s progress, targets and analytics. With the adaptive engine of One52 based on Item Response Theory, or IRT, the platform works on the principle that the items (questions) tested must provide the maximum information about the ability of the student taking the test. They have a question bank calibrated with difficulty, discrimination and other question parameters. The students have their ability parameters. In every test, both ability and question parameters are matched to fetch questions that provide the best fit and maximum information. The student response is collected and used to estimate new ability and then fetch the next question. So the difficulty level of the question is based on the student’s performance until a fairly accurate fit is achieved between the two.

With their USP as the smart platform that personalizes study according to each user, One52 is confident about dealing with the multi-level competition that exists in this space. “Our competition exists at many levels and that only validates the size and scope of the market for us. In the Indian context, this space of online learning is still very nascent and there is no clear market leader here,” says Rohit Gulati, Founder, One52.

The platform is in its open beta phase and freely available for students to try it out with a plan to launch the fully monetized service soon in two phases for both, B2B (tier II/III institutes as complimentary to classroom learning) and B2C markets (students for monthly/quarterly subscription). With their primary marketing strategy focused on social media, blogs, forums and workshops on CAT and GMAT preparation, One52 believes in building their community from ground up and investing in mass media later. “We will also be conducting workshops regarding CAT and GMAT preparation, best practices in learning and avenues after the exam in undergrad colleges. This will help us reach out and interact with our users on a one-on-one basis,” Rohit Gulati explains.

One52 works with affiliate tie-ups to generate its content which also turns out to be a huge obstacle due to the loss of control. While content generation may seem like a serious obstacle, cracking the B2B segment is posing to be the greater of the demons with institutes demanding to see direct benefits from the platform. With the presence of multiple products in this market space, it is but necessary for institutions to clearly understand their personal advantage from one product over another to make informed decisions. As institutions mull over the best product to adapt, the products in the education market are starting to emerge. These are definitely exciting times for the education sector.

To know more about One52, check their website

For more on education startups, you can take a look at Edustars