Mumbai: There are nearly 3,400 seats available for all 20 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) where more than two lakh candidates will compete through Common Admission Test (CAT) 2016 to grab the seats. So, 17.1 seats are available for 1,000 candidates. On this backdrop, the coaching institutes are mushrooming for providing CAT preparation materials and learning tools. Each CAT aspirants who has enrolled in the coaching institutes has to spend nearly Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh. Hence, many poor students and candidates from lower middle class are deprived of accessing advanced CAT preparation materials and subsequently scores poor marks at the most coveted national entrance for admission into India’s premier B-Schools.
Now, QS-LEAP (Learn & Prepare with Friends), a free social and online preparation platform for global standardised admissions tests including the GMAT and GRE, is now introducing free preparation for India’s benchmark for an MBA admission – the Common Admissions Test (CAT). The CAT resources provided by QS LEAP can be accessed free of charge at www.qsleap.com, which will be officially launched tomorrow (16 August 2016). The platform has been developed by Quacquarelli Symonds, publishers of the QS World University Rankings and organizers of the QS World Grad School and MBA Tours; a series of events that connect students with top universities around the world.
QS-LEAP said in a statement that test prep support should be easily accessible free of cost, and that learning is best conducted within a social framework. The resulting platform therefore provides a community of interacting students and tutors. QS-LEAP also claimed that it is India’s first free social CAT Prep Platform, which will be launched tomorrow.
Since its launch, the platform has had 169,000 visitors, of whom 35,000+ registered users have undertaken their test prep journeys with QS-LEAP. The typical time spent by this large user-base has been, on an average, 6 minutes per visit; a metric largely unsurpassed by well-known websites such as prep4gmat, BeatTheGmat.com, and grockit. (SimilarWeb, July 2016).
Mr Ganguly, Product Head of QS LEAP, said: “We have adopted an extremely effective learning framework to deliver free end-to-end test preparation for all candidates on QS LEAP. Alongside its excellent guided learning system that delivers customised learning maps and study schedules, the platform also functions as a social network wherein candidates can connect with each other and create or join study groups.”
QS LEAP said that as per comprehensive test preparation plans it will offer 75+ free practice tests, guided test prep and learning modules linked to a customised study schedule, real-time access to the progress of other aspirational candidates across the country, access to an online community of CAT prep experts, designed to grow organically, feedback and advice from fellow candidates to identify and emphasize critical areas for further improvement.
“I designed QS LEAP to provide a level playing field for candidates who aspire to study at the best universities and business schools, but are typically disadvantaged by bottlenecks created by premium test preparatory courses. Thanks to QS LEAP, CAT prep will be free forever” said Mr. Ganguly.
The CAT resources provided by QS LEAP will be available tomorrow at free of charge at www.qsleap.com once it is officially launched in India.
