Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank launched a new mobile app called the ‘National Test Abhyas’. The App has been developed by NTA to enable candidates to take mock tests for upcoming exams such as JEE Main, NEET under the NTA’s purview. The app has been launched to facilitate candidates’ access to high quality mock tests in the safety and comfort of their homes since there was a demand for making up the loss to students due to closure of educational institutions and NTA’s Test-Practice Centers (TPCs) due to the continuing lockdown.

With this facility for the students, India has taken the lead in restoring a semblance of normalcy in one more crucial area –test preparations – even as we tackle these unprecedented times that have led to significant changes in life around the world.

Students across the country can use the App to access high quality tests, free of cost, in a bid to be fully prepared for the upcoming JEE, NEET, and other competitive exams. The tests can be easily downloaded; they can be completed off-line, thus economising on internet availability too.

Speaking at the occasion, the HRD Minister said, “This timely launch is designed to ensure that no student is left behind in getting exposure to practice testing, especially when Student’s loss due to closure of educational institutions is to be compensated and NTA’s Test-Practice Centers are shut due to the Covid-19 lockdown.”

 The app will make available practice tests on smartphones or computers for all students in India irrespective of their level of access to devices and the quality of the network. The app also has an offline mode where students, on downloading the mock tests, can attempt the test without the internet. The app works on Android-based smartphones and tablets and can be downloaded from Google Play Store. The app will be soon available on iOS.
Once students download the app, they will need to sign-up or register with some basic details, create a free account, and then start accessing mock tests free of cost for their selected examination(s).

NTA plans to release one new mock test on the app every day, which students can then download and attempt offline. Once the test is completed, students can go online again to submit the test and view their test report. “It’s evident that one of the app’s major benefits is that once student downloads the test,  it works perfectly even without internet connectivity, which will prove advantageous for students even in areas with low bandwidth and remove obstacles in the way of large-scale online test preparation. In addition to that  NTA has developed an extensive support system at http://nta.ac.in/abhyas/help.

“The NTA has also instituted live support from 10 AM to midnight for the first seven days of the release to ensure that any issues experienced by the student are proactively addressed”, said the HRD Minister.

Over the last year, edutech as a sector has witnessed a lot of innovation especially in leveraging advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, going beyond the simple digital distribution of content. Every student is unique and requires specific guidance to detect and overcome gaps in knowledge and test taking strategy. The test report on the NTA Mock Test App comes with a detailed breakdown of students’ performance through which they can understand their personalised path to achieving better scores in their entrance examination.