Overwhelmed and frustrated as they prepared for exams, Mirren Bell and Lewis Stevenson saw a gap in the market.
Now just over a year after leaving Waid Academy, in Fife, the 19-year-old friends have launched a study support app.
They developed Educan Live while still at school and as first year students in Glasgow.
They say the platform provides concise and easy-to-understand revision notes, cutting through superfluous information to the core of what pupils need to excel in exams.
It improves, they say, on existing revision sites they describe as static, outdated and lacking advice on effective and efficient study.
And it provides direct contact with tutors without the need to pay for private lessons.
Exam revision app started at school
Lewis, from Anstruther, explains: “We both took a big interest in entrepreneurship while we were at school and as we became increasingly frustrated with the revision resources available to us, we decided to start a platform ourselves.”
He and Mirren came up with the idea towards the end of S4, as they sat National 5 exams, and began working on it as they studied for Highers.
They and fellow Waid Academy pupils complained of being overwhelmed by information and struggling to whittle it down to what they needed.
Mirren, from Crail, says: “Lewis and I got chatting one time in chemistry in fourth year with a couple of other people about how much we would love to go into business.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about it as a concept.”
Lewis says: “We started working on it midway through fifth year and really got into it from sixth year onwards.”
Working on app as fresher students
The work continued as they moved to Glasgow to start university in autumn last year.
Mirren is studying product design engineering at Strathclyde University with an ambition to go into business.
Lewis, studying medicine at Glasgow University, wants to combine part-time work as a doctor with other ventures.
With the app launched just a few weeks ago, the pair reckon they have clocked up over 1,000 hours of work on it.
Development and marketing continues.
Mirren says: “In the couple of weeks leading up to uni we were doing eight to 10 hours a day getting the website finished.”
Taco Bell late nights working on Educan Live
Lewis says: “Our base is sometimes a Taco Bell late at night! It’s one of the only places open later than the library.”
The experience has equipped them with significantly more business nous than the average 19-year-old.
Lewis says: “There have been a lot of challenges along the way
“We’ve had to look at contract law, in terms of what to provide in terms and conditions, and we’ve had to learn about coding to build the website.
“We’ve learned a huge amount, working with Business Gateway and learning about the formation of a limited company.”
Exam revision app means ‘no need for tutors’
Reflecting on the hours invested, he says: “We could have earned money in part-time jobs but I think we have gained a lot more from this.
“It has been an invaluable experience.”
Revision notes for Nat 5 English, maths, biology, chemistry and physics were developed by Mirren and Lewis with the help of teachers.
They are based on SQA course specification guidelines.
The pair plan intend to add Higher level notes to the app.
‘Students are looking for an A or B’
The say the notes help students focus on what they need to gain an A grade without working all hours.
Lewis explains: “Within SQA exams there are certain points you have to make to hit the marks.
“Teachers will teach superfluous information, which is not needed.
“The reality is most students are looking to get an A or a B grade and also have a social life outside that.
“Give us what we need to know for exams.”
It will also mean those struggling with their studies won’t need to pay upwards of £20 an hour for tutors.
And it will help them plan revision and deal with exam nerves.
Mirren says: “So many people at our school couldn’t afford to have a tutor and often they were kids that needed it the most.
Delight as exam revision app goes live
“Also it’s about how you manage your time and the techniques to go in with. I got really nervous for exams and that’s the main thing that would hold me back – not not knowing the information but the technique in the room to hold it together and do my best.”
After so much work it felt “fantastic” to see their app go live, says Lewis. “It was that culmination of effort.
“From that small idea a few years ago to saying ‘let’s work on this together’.
“Even if it becomes a flop, which we hope it won’t, the work we’ve put in shows we can do that again in future with other things which will succeed.”
Conversation