Top student wants to share secrets of study success

SREEYA Das graduated from Narrabundah College in 2021 with a 99.85 ATAR.

Since then she has made it her mission to help other students find success.

“I didn’t mean to start Excel Academics, it just started almost impulsively,” says Sreeya, 19.

“I had a lot of resources that I created during my time in college and I just wanted to share that with students, free, but then I realised that students are looking for more than just resources, they’re looking for support, too.

“So, I didn’t initially plan on Excel Academics, but it was just a natural path to take after I created and shared those resources.”

Excel Academics was officially founded in March 2022, offering personalised online tutoring for students from year 5 to year 12.

Free resources that Excel Academics offers include thousands of revision questions, ATAR study guides and a study guide put together to help students ace their exams.

But, for students looking for a more guided approach, Excel Academics is home to more than 90 online tutors, who can help students in subjects including maths, physics, biology, chemistry and English.

“We develop customised homework and lesson plans for our students in order to nurture their strengths, improve their weaknesses – as we strongly believe that every child can succeed with the right support, skill development, and the right kind of attention from a skilled and experienced tutor,” says Sreeya.

“Honestly, because I didn’t have many expectations for Excel Academics I didn’t find it that difficult to officially set up; it was really just experimenting and just throwing things at it to see what worked.

“I guess it was fun, too, which made it less difficult.”

Sreeya says she has been living in Canberra since she was four.

“I’ve spent most of my life here now, but I was actually born in India,” she says.

“I love Canberra though. I grew up on the southside, now I’m in Weston Creek.

“I loved Narrabundah College. It was a really nice school. It was definitely very challenging and pushed me to my limits, but it was good in the end.

“The other students were quite competitive which pushed me too, and encouraged me to do my best. I’m quite proud, my ATAR was more than I was expecting, I was only aiming for a 99.”

Throughout college Sreeya’s favourite subject was chemistry, and she continues to do well in further study.

“I have since finished a CS50 coding course, and I started university last year,” she says.

“I am now continuing my university studies online. I’m studying a bachelor of computer science.

“I think I work well under pressure, but it has been interesting to balance Excel Academics with my studies now. All of my hard work is definitely worth it, especially in terms of my personal development through challenges.”

Sreeya says the success of Excel Academics still seems a bit unreal.

“I am very proud of how much it has grown, and it’s actually still growing rapidly,” she says.

“I didn’t really expect much when I first started it, and so I’m very surprised and proud.

“We are now focusing on improving the quality of our resources and content as much as we can. In October, we expanded to the whole of Australia, so we are not so much worried about further expansion.

“There definitely have been some challenges though this year in terms of operations, but we’ve managed to work through them so far.”

The initial tutors in Excel Academics were Sreeya’s college friends.

“Unfortunately, some of them got a bit busy with university and life, but a lot of them have rejoined again this year which is really exciting,” says Sreeya.

“My title usually tends to be founder, but I’m a learning adviser more so now because I’m very heavily involved in actually communicating with students.

“It’s an awesome feeling knowing I can help so many people through their studies. My goal was to create something that my friends and I would have benefitted from during our time in college.

“Our team of tutors has walked the exact same path as our students, graduating from the same curriculums and dealing with the same obstacles. With our experience and knowledge, we are motivated to help students achieve their academic goals as we have a strong sense of relatability and empathy for their journey.

“Especially also helping with the mental side of things and education into the real world, because we now have courses that educate students on productivity and mental health, which are completely free, and financial literacy as well, so we’re definitely just creating things that we would have liked to have.”

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