Young students are bombarded with exams right from their childhood. But the real tests and race begin right after they complete their school board exams. It is time that they take their first steps towards building and securing their career options. This is when a new league of exams, preparations and anxiety take over their lives. Especially today, with more and more entrance and competitive exams treading the online computer-based test (CBT) model, students and aspirants must relook at the preparatory methods to ace the new norm. Not just prepping, even predicting scores and finding courses and colleges can now be done online, thanks to technology tools by career and college selection players.

Most of the exams too, especially the competitive exams have taken the digital route ditching pens and paper. While exams like CAT, MAT, UPSC and other job-based exams have been touring the digital route for a significant number of years, the National Testing Agency (NTA) is also bringing the other exams, especially the post-matriculation exams and tests on digital or online modes. Joint Entrance Examination, IGNOU OPENMAT and other exams are already happening in computer-based format.

The transition however happening over a period now, still needs students to go through the practice phase to get used to the new modes of exams. Various players in the industryhave taken initiatives to prep the students and aspirants to take to the new format of online computer-based exams and tests with ease.

NTA has launched online mock tests for IGNOU OPENMAT to help the aspirants get used to the new exam format which has transitioned to a CBT mode in 2019. The mock tests let the candidates get a real-time experience of the test structure and features of CBT mode exam. The mock tests can however be opted only by candidates who have registered for the test, who can login and take the practice tests.

Similarly, leading online college selection platform, Shiksha.com has also launched mock tests to help aspirants stay ahead in the race and be accustomed to the CBT mode. Shiksha has mock tests available on their platform for JEE Main (treading the CBT route from 2020), CAT, GATE, and more. The mock tests are designed exactly like an actual question paper, including login, section-wise MCQs, on-screen calculator, timer, etc. to ensure the best practice modes for higher education entrance examination aspirants and candidates.

Mr. Vivek Jain, Chief Business Officer of Shiksha.com says, “We have always been eager to help the Indian youth to achieve their educational and career goals. With our online practice test modules, we aim at helping students and aspirants to be fully prepared to crack the entrance exams and open the doors to the hallway of their dreams.”

Once the exams are done, it is time to wait for the results and then look for fitting colleges. The frozen period between exams and results often turns out to be highly anxiety driven for the candidates who have taken the exams, even leading to depression and other mental illness. To minimize the burden and anxiety of aspiring students, like JEE main aspirants or MBA aspirants, players like Shiksha have come up with technology tools which can predict the test scores, percentile and rank.

Also, players like Shiksha are always on the verge of using technology at its best to improvise or introduce tools that will make students life easier. Now with the help of technology like AI-based Shiksha Assistant platform, students can now interact to get answers of their higher education related queries from college details, exam details, career to course details. After providing the solution to the query, it will also provide a link to the student to navigate for more information available on the query.

To take a step further, Shiksha also has an Integrated Engineering College Predictor tool, whichlets engineering aspirants to find compatible engineering colleges by collating the predicted scores, ranks and percentile of the aspirants across multiple engineering entrance exams on one single platform. Apart from college prediction, Shiksha has over 1.5 lakhs reviews on colleges across streams, helps students and parents in narrowing down the search further. The reviews also add additionalcredibility to the college search process.

“Most engineering aspirants take multiple entrance exams and college predictions are different for different exams which leave the students confused to the core. Shiksha’s Integrated Engineering College Predictor Tool solves this problem, by analysing the performances in multiple entrance exams on a single platform. NTA’s newly introduced percentile grading system has left the aspirants confused further. The Percentile and Rank Predictor is improvised to alleviate the anxiety and confusion of students, following the NTA guidelines to ensure better precision,” added Mr. Jain.

Not only for engineering aspirants but for MBA aspirants, earlier this year Shiksha has introduced IIM and non-IIM call predictor tool featuring over 250 colleges across India. Shiksha’s IIM & non-IIM call predictor helps students to shortlist colleges (IIM & non-IIM) that they might get a seat in based on their CAT scores enabling them to focus on preparing for the qualitative round.

Therefore, we can conclude that technology is bringing revolution to the way students used to prepare for exams or shortlist colleges then and now. Undeniably, the youth of today are loaded with exams after exams to shape their careers, especially if they are looking at pursuing a career in the fields of engineering, management and other highly competitive fields.And with the race growing steeper for top positions and institutions, these exams become very crucial for both students and their parents.It is very welcoming to see online education players are coming forward to help students prepare better for the exams and allowing them to have a sneak peek at the expected results as well as find the best suiting colleges.