When GRE takes a quantum leap and is revamped, we should also take positive steps towards that direction,” begins Venkatram Reddy Sureddy, founder of Akademy who believes learning should be fun and interactive. Akademy based in Hyderabad started in February and offers online and classroom coaching for GRE. Sureddy graduated from IIM-Kozhikode in 2008. He is aided by his friends whom he has known from his school days — co-founders Karthik Kumbham and Purushotham Reddy Punnam.
Flagship product
“GRE coaching is our flagship product. Classroom training includes visual presentations for building vocabulary — an essential requirement to tackle the verbal reasoning component of GRE. There are six sessions per week and they run for six weeks. Each session comprises two hours. We also offer our students online tools to practice and they can be accessed at www.greogeek.com,” explains Sureddy.
Visual presentations
Greogeek.com lets you access visual vocabulary presentations, which allows you to integrate these words into your daily life and not merely memorise them. “This way you will be learning at least 1,500 words from GRE point of view,” beams Sureddy. The classroom programme comes at a fee of Rs 8,000 while the online component ranges from Rs 3-5,000.
Akademy has majorly relied on word-of-mouth publicity and that explains the current two batches of 20 that are on schedule. While Sureddy drives a majority of the classroom engagements, tutors from reputed institutes like the IITs and IIMs are also on staff.
Kumbham, an MBA grad from Osmania University, Hyderabad and Punnam, an engineer from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Hyderabad, take care of operations and marketing respectively.
High on fun
Akademy is high on the fun factor and successfully floated their GRE-O-GEEK contest in February, which they promise will be an annual feature from now on. “Since it was the first time we were attempting a quiz based on GRE and its components, we were a bit apprehensive about the kind of response we would get. But to our surprise, approximately 100 teams in and around Hyderabad participated,” shares Sureddy.
The first two rounds were online and comprised crossword and mental math questions. The final round which went live tested the participants’ verbal and maths acumen. The second edition of the event is slated to go live in February, 2012. The winners get to take home a cash prize worth Rs 10,000.
Photo contest
Also running is a Desi English Photo Contest where you need to upload pictures that reflect the use of desi words in English on Facebook. Follow www.facebook.com/greogeek to grab a cool cash prize worth Rs 1,000.
Akademy is collaborating with a few management colleges in Hyderabad to enable them to conduct campus training programmes at respective colleges. “In the future, we also hope to use our contacts and tie-up with a few corporates to conduct direct placements,” ends Sureddy on an optimistic note.
Akademy is indeed taking small but measured steps as its admirer and student Rajender Naik puts it: “I heard about Akademy through a friend of mine. Before you are ready to enrol they give you a demo class and that alone was enough to convince me that this was something different from what others have to offer. I particularly love the way Sureddy sir teaches us vocab through visuals and ensures it stays with us for long. Also small batches help in getting individual attention,” says the BTech mechanical engineering student from JNTU. For details, visit http://www.akademy.in or call (0) 7702244993.
— shilpa.vasudevan@newindianexpress.com
