Meet Angad Bhargav (‘24), the innovative mind behind StudyKit, the explosively popular new study app revolutionizing the way students approach their studies. Combining deep knowledge of students’ needs with coding expertise, Bhargav has created an app that stands out from industry giants.
“StudyKit is an app that simplifies learning by transforming notes, textbooks, and lectures into bite-sized, daily lessons. It helps students stay organized, motivated, and on track throughout the school year,” said Bhargav.
Despite its professional appearance, Studykit is actually managed by just three dedicated students. Bhargav partnered with current college students Lehuy Hoang and Raghav Misra to develop and manage the entire app.
“We’re not some big company. We’re just a small team of three passionate students who want to improve the way we study,” says the Studykit website.
How it started
“We realized that nearly every existing studying game boiled down to some sort of timed multiple choice. Our idea was to gamify studying in more open-ended ways that encourage learners to think out of the box,” said Bhargav.
Bhargav mentions apps like Kahoot!, Quizziz, GimKit, and Blooket, and anyone who has used these knows exactly what he means. The base model is almost always exactly the same – students answer a multiple-choice question for points.
“The plan we had in mind was to create a tool that could leverage AI to gamify the studying experience in more unique, more engaging, ways,” says Bhargav.
Studykit comes at a time where AI like ChatGPT is becoming increasingly prevalent in students’ lives. Bhargav and his team chose to embrace AI, using it to enhance the learning experience.
Using generative AI, Studykit can create a variety of test questions from a single study set. For example, Studykit allows self-graded short-answer questions and fill-in-the-blank sentences.
“We’d like to use generative AI in a way that makes learning less tedious and more fun so that students can get the most from their learning once again,” said Bhargav.
At the same time, Studykit keeps the vast majority of its features free. In a time where study apps are being increasingly paywalled, Studykit is a breath of fresh air for frustrated students.
“Quizlet chose to put a paywall behind their primary useful features, causing a massive influx of StudyKit users who had been in search of a Quizlet alternative,” said Bhargav.
-
StudyKit allows for far more customization than other study apps due to its AI-based software.
'
Experience as a developer
Besides the technical side of coding, Bhargav and his team also had to manage user feedback to ensure the app remained accessible and intuitive. They regularly reviewed user comments, identified areas for improvement, and implemented updates to enhance students’ experience.
“One way we’ve worked through this issue is by keeping current with our user base: we personally solicit feedback from every new user via email, and we’ve amassed pretty large communities on Discord and Reddit,” said Bhargav.
Bhargav’s team also connected with their artistic side to design the user interface and icons for StudyKit. A creative approach ensured that StudyKit was not only functional but also enjoyable to use.
“My favorite experience building the app would probably be designing our mascot, Kit. An orange fox that users keep as a pet and dress up with clothing items earned through studying. Creating Kit was really fun because it allowed me to be a little more artistic and I’ve really enjoyed designing its clothing,” said Bhargav.
As Bhargav looks to the future, he hopes to expand StudyKit to partner officially with schools and school districts. With many schools hesitant to purchase expensive memberships to other study apps, StudyKit presents an appealing alternative.
“We’ve received many emails from school districts around the country looking to sign a contract with us. One future plan is to spend some of our revenue on getting our COPPA certification so we can start signing deals with districts,” said Bhargav.
StudyKit has garnered an impressive user base, boasting more than 28,000 users across 124 countries. The app’s Reddit community has also already reached the top 35% of communities. With a growing user base and ambitious future plans, StudyKit is working to revolutionize how students study around the world.
