On May 19, 2020 Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank launched an Artificial Intelligence(AI)-powered mobile app called the ‘National Test Abhyas’. The app is developed by National Testing Agency(NTA) to enable candidates to take mock tests for upcoming exams such as Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) main, National Eligibility cum Entrance Test exam(NEET) under the NTA’s purview.
Aim of the app
To facilitate candidates’ access to high quality mock tests in the safety and comfort of their homes since there is a demand to make up the loss to students due to closure of educational institutions and NTA’s Test-Practice Centers (TPCs) as there is continuing lockdown because of COVID-19
Major Highlights of the app
i.The app will give access to high quality tests with free of cost on smartphones or computers to students across the country irrespective of their level of access to devices and quality of network.
Benefits
- Once a student downloads the test it works perfectly even without internet connectivity(offline) which proves to be useful even for students who are in low bandwidth areas &Â remove obstacles in the way of large-scale online test preparation.
- The candidates will get a personalised report card immediately on completion of the test, which will not only reflect the scores, but also incorrect inputs with an explainer why the answer is wrong
- After a student completes 4 to 5 tests the personalised report will pinpoint the weaknesses like whether one has taken more than necessary time on a particular question as compared to the average time taken by other candidates.
- The test report comes with a detailed breakdown of students’ performance through which they can understand their personalised path to achieving better scores in their entrance examination. The difficulty level will be the same as that of an actual paper.
ii.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.
iii.Once students download the app, they need to sign-up or register with some basic details, create a free account, and then start accessing the mock test
iv.By this app, India has taken the lead to restore normalcy in one more crucial area- test preparations
NTA’s plans & developments
i.NTA plans to release one new mock test on the app everyday, 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
ii.It has developed an extensive support system at http://nta.ac.in/abhyas/help & also has instituted live support from 10 AM to midnight for the first seven days of the release to ensure that any issues experienced by students are proactively addressed.
Key Point
Over the past year, Education Technology(EduTech) as a sector has experienced many innovations particularly in the development of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, which is far beyond simple digital delivery of content.
About NTA:
Headquarters- Noida, Uttar Pradesh
Chairperson– Prof. M.S. Ananth, Former Director, IIT Madras
Constituency of Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank– Hardwar/Haridwar, Uttarakhand.
