31 March,2013 06:24 AM IST | | Dhiman Chattopadhyay
How much does it cost to enroll in a good year-long coaching class to prepare for the IIT-JEE or medical entrance test exams? Not less than Rs 1,00,000 even if you were to get an early bird discount. What if you had to pay an annual fee of just Rs 899 instead, and in return, download hundreds of videos where professors and subject experts across India solved specific problems on camera and explained the method to you one-to-one?
Sounds too good to be true? Wait, it gets better. Students can actually choose whether they want to download just one subject (say math) or several (physics, math, chemistry etc) and also the duration for which they want to subscribe to this virtual coaching class.
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Welcome to the world of Mpower Learning Solutions -- an idea that can potentially revolutionise the way Indians prepare for competitive exams. The virtual video-coaching module is the brainchild of Madhumati Narayanan, an alumnus of IIM-B and a serial entrepreneur. Narayanan says this is a cross-platform product, the first in the Indian market to target the student fraternity at large. The flagship Videos2learn is a five-minute learning video series designed for various programmes, which are goal-centric such as clearing tests or getting a job. The idea to launch MPower came during her extensive travels across India. "I heard Dr Abdul Kalam once say that rural India has a thousand Kalams. Our aspiration is to offer a product that is affordable for every Indian, can be downloaded on any platform and is easily available. We can give rise to many more Kalams," she says.
How it works
But why videos and why so many? Would it not have been easier to offer a single download of say 100 hours of problem-solving? "No. Today younger people have short attention spans. And it's best that we solve only one problem at a time," she says. One can even use the balance on one's pre-paid mobile card and pay in batches of Rs 25 each in case of financial difficulties, since MPower has a tie up with Vodafone, Airtel and Tata teleservices in this regard.
At present Videos2Learn is available for CBSE Class 12 students and for those appearing for their IIT-JEE or medical entrance exams. "Next on the agenda are modules for banking, core engineering and IT students," says Narayanan.
On offer, are JEE mains of about 750 videos Campus2 Corporate (a finishing school product) with 60 videos, Word Power with 500 words and 150 videos ( this application is free).