When Shreyans Gupta shifted from ICSE Board to the IGCSE Board in Class 8, he found that the change in curriculum was very difficult to adapt to immediately, especially in science subjects. It was not until Class 10 was he able to finally get an understanding of the grading and evaluation methodology.
Shreyans Gupta
Chennai:
“The ICSE Board is focused on rote learning, while the IGCSE Board is focused on practical knowledge and student’s understanding of the subject. I struggled a lot, particularly with Chemistry,” said Gupta.
Keeping this in mind, in April this year, Gupta launched Sciency, a website that details concepts, study materials, studying strategies, and guides curated by himself for students across different boards.
“All the concepts are written manually by me. I sourced videos, images, worksheets and questionnaires that I had used in my exams for other students. Since this is student-made, it is easier for students to follow, as I know what is needed to stay and what is unnecessary in our texts,” said Gupta.
During the shutdown, Gupta said that these notes help cover the gaps in online education, as many students are unable to receive the one-on-one or personal touch of classroom learning. Over the last four months, the website has around 3,000 student users across four countries - India, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.
“I’ve also included studying strategies and tips for learning. These are techniques that I learned over the course of writing Class 10 exams. Additionally, we have online classes and webinars held by former student toppers from the IGCSE Board sharing tips to IGCSE students,” he said. Dubbed as the HearTheStudent programme, these online classes and seminars have 150 regular participants from across the globe.
Although the website caters to only Chemistry at this time, Gupta hopes to add Mathematics soon. The Class 12 student says that he can only work on this addition after he finishes his schooling, but is looking forward to also opening up the forum to a more global school-going audience.