Case study · EdTech
TopRank Nepal
A mobile-first learning platform for Nepal public service exam preparation — bilingual, structured, and built for daily study habits.
- Product
- Mobile-first PSC exam learning app
- Problem
- Short phone sessions; bilingual materials; weak progress feel
- My role
- UX shell, content structure, product delivery
- Outcome
- Daily study surface live at topranknepal.com
What to notice Bottom-nav learning shell tuned for short, repeatable study sessions.
Timeline
From exam anxiety to a daily study surface.
Challenge
Desktop-era content meeting phone-era students.
Much exam-prep material in Nepal still assumes long desktop sessions or physical coaching schedules. Aspirants need a product that respects fragmented time, works in Nepali and English, and makes the next study action obvious.
The UX had to feel like a learning tool, not a news portal — low chrome, clear hierarchy, and navigation that matches thumb-driven habits.
Solution
A daily study surface on the phone.
TopRank Nepal wraps PSC preparation in a mobile-first learning shell — home, search, study, notices, profile — with bilingual Nepali/English UI and content organized for progressive study rather than an undifferentiated article dump.
The public platform at topranknepal.com meets aspirants where they already prepare: short sessions on phones between work and coaching.
User Story
From PDF scavenging to daily study surface.
Before
PSC aspirants hunted prep material across Telegram groups and coaching handouts — PDFs with no search, no progress signal, and exam notices scattered across unofficial channels. Most content assumed long desktop sessions.
After
A mobile-first learning shell — home, search, study, notices, profile — with bilingual Nepali/English UI. Study paths replace scavenging; exam schedules stay in-product so learners do not leave mid-session.
Decision Log
Designed for fragmented time.
Mobile-first bottom navigation over desktop sidebar
Decision: Primary navigation as a thumb-driven bottom bar — home, search, study, notices, profile.
Reason: PSC prep happens in short phone sessions between work and coaching; desktop sidebars felt foreign on the device students actually use.
Tradeoff: Less horizontal space for chrome on small screens; familiar patterns that reduce orientation time.
Bilingual UI from day one
Decision: Ship Nepali and English labels across the learning shell, not English-only with translation deferred.
Reason: Language friction at the first tap kills daily habit formation for a large segment of aspirants.
Tradeoff: More copy and QA surface; lower drop-off at session start.
In-app notices over external channel dependency
Decision: Keep exam schedules and operational updates inside the product instead of pointing to Telegram groups.
Reason: Context-switching to unofficial notice channels broke study flow and eroded trust in schedule accuracy.
Tradeoff: Team must maintain notice content; learners stay in one learning context.
Failed Attempts
Desktop assumptions we corrected.
Desktop-first layout retrofitted to mobile. An early responsive pass kept sidebar navigation and dense two-column study views. On phones the hierarchy felt wrong — thumb reach and session length demanded a ground-up mobile shell instead.
Feature-rich dashboard homepage. We tried surfacing stats, recommendations, and multiple entry points on login. Short study sessions overwhelmed; simplifying to one obvious next action per tab improved return visits.
Architecture
A learning shell around structured content.
- Mobile shellPrimary navigation for home, search, study, notices, and profile — optimized for one-handed use.
- Bilingual UINepali / English surface so language is not a barrier to starting a session.
- Study pathsContent organized for progressive preparation rather than an undifferentiated article dump.
- NoticesOperational updates (exams, schedules) kept in-product so students do not leave the learning context.
Key features
Built for PSC prep habits.
- Mobile navigationBottom-nav shell — home, search, study, notices, profile — optimized for thumb-driven use.
- Bilingual interfaceNepali and English labels so language is not a barrier to starting a session.
- Study pathsProgressive content organization instead of scavenging PDFs across chat groups.
- In-app noticesExam schedules and operational updates kept inside the product.
- SearchQuick access to topics during fragmented study windows.
Technologies
Stack
Impact
What learners get.
Access
Preparation moves onto the phone students already live on.
Structure
Study and search paths replace scavenging PDFs across chat groups.
Locale
Bilingual interface meets learners where they are linguistically.
Lessons learned
Respect fragmented time.
PSC aspirants rarely sit at a desk for two-hour sessions. Designing for short, repeatable study actions on mobile — with bilingual labels and in-app notices — mattered more than feature-rich desktop layouts.
Keeping exam updates inside the product reduced context-switching to Telegram groups and unofficial notice channels.