# Opinion NW: a distraction-free social-learning app for competitive exam aspirants

Case study · Mr. Kiran Ugalmugale · Education · Aug 2025 – Aug 2026 · 7 people

We built Opinion NW for Android and web, with voice-to-text opinion writing, a Live Debate Arena, a course marketplace for coaching institutes and curated exam news, in English, Hindi and Marathi, over two phases.

- 3: languages: English, Hindi and Marathi
- 2: phases delivered
- 7: person product team

## Project overview

Opinion NW is a social-learning and discourse platform built only for competitive exam aspirants and coaching institutes, available on Android and the web.

Unlike mainstream social media, it gives serious learners a focused, toxicity-free space to debate current affairs, practise structured answer writing and find verified coaching courses. Voice-to-text writing, a Live Debate Arena, an in-app course marketplace and curated exam news work natively in English, Hindi and Marathi.

## About the client

Opinion NW was built for Mr. Kiran Ugalmugale around one idea: "From Aspirants, For Aspirants." It serves aspirants preparing for UPSC, MPSC, banking, SSC and state PSC exams, coaching institutes that want to sell courses without building their own tech, and mentors and toppers who want an engaged following.

The client's vision was to combine a community and a marketplace in one focused product, so preparation, discussion and learning resources all live in one place.

### The challenge

- **Social media noise**: Twitter, Instagram and Telegram are full of unverified news, distractions and toxicity that pull aspirants away from preparation.
- **Too little answer-writing practice**: Mains candidates must write balanced opinions, but typing long essays is tedious, so many practise too little.
- **Weak debate and interview readiness**: Students struggle to see both sides of key policies, which hurts confidence in interviews and group discussions.
- **Apps cost institutes too much**: Small and regional coaching centres cannot afford ₹5–10 lakh to build and run their own learning app.
- **A language barrier**: Most quality resources are only in English, which leaves state-level aspirants behind.

### Our approach

We delivered Opinion NW in two phases, each running through requirement gathering, planning, development, testing and deployment, starting from the needs of aspirants, coaching institutes and mentors.

One technical architect also led the project and acted as business analyst, turning the client's vision of a focused, community-driven platform into clear requirements and a scalable design.

The designer created a clean, distraction-free experience for writing, debates, news and the marketplace. The Android and web apps were built from one Flutter codebase, with Node.js services and a MySQL data layer.

QA tested every phase for functionality, payment and checkout flows, multi-language behaviour and reliability. The app was published on the App Store and Play Store, and Phase 1 feedback shaped Phase 2.

### Technology

- **Flutter**: One codebase for the Android and web apps
- **Node.js**: Server-side operations and business logic
- **MySQL**: Users, opinions, debates and course data
- **AWS**: Hosting, deployment and scalability
- **App Store and Play Store**: Mobile app publishing
- **Figma**: Wireframes and interface design
- **GitLab**: Source control and collaboration
- **Postman**: API testing

### What we built

- **Opinion writing with voice-to-text** (Delivered): Real-time dictation with rich formatting: bold, lists, subheadings and images.
- **Live Debate Arena** (Delivered): Real-time debates with In Favor and Against perspectives.
- **Institute portal and course marketplace** (Delivered): Verified institute profiles, free and paid courses, UPI, card and net banking checkout and coupons.
- **Exam news and question bank** (Delivered): A filtered daily news feed with mock prelims and mains questions.
- **Multi-language support** (Delivered): English, Hindi and Marathi throughout the app.
- **UI/UX design and frontend** (Delivered): A distraction-free Flutter interface, published on the App Store and Play Store.

### Impact

- **Distraction-free learning**: A focused community with no memes keeps aspirants on exam-relevant content.
- **Better answer-writing practice**: Voice dictation makes long, structured answers quick to draft.
- **Stronger interview readiness**: Debates expose aspirants to both sides of national and international issues.
- **Reach without building an app**: Institutes list courses and take enrolments with built-in payments.
- **Regional inclusivity**: English, Hindi and Marathi open the platform to state-level aspirants.
- **Community and marketplace together**: Students learn, discuss and enrol in one place.

Source: https://baapcompany.com/case-studies/opinion-nw-social-learning-app/