VMPL

Kota (Rajasthan) [India], March 19: In a move reflecting a growing shift in how student performance is being understood across India's competitive exam ecosystem, Navneesh Bansal, former senior Chemistry faculty at ALLEN Career Institute, has stepped down to build Shunya Mind, a cognition-focused learning initiative, grounded in cognitive science and aimed at helping students understand and stabilise internal cognitive factors behind performance drops despite effort.

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The initiative's first public release is the Learning Friction Assessment, a 3-minute diagnostic designed to reveal internal friction patterns influencing learning clarity, consistency, and exam performance.

"Students don't struggle because they lack ability.

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They struggle because friction builds up inside their learning system."

-- Navneesh Bansal, Founder, Shunya Mind

Understanding Hidden Learning Friction

The Learning Friction Assessment identifies seven core domains that commonly disrupt learning performance:

The 7 Domains of Learning Friction

1.Cognitive Overload - Loss of clarity when processing too many ideas

2.Emotional Interference - Anxiety, hesitation, or internal noise affecting understanding

3.Belief-Level Resistance - Hidden assumptions limiting engagement

4.Role Performance - Focusing on appearing capable instead of understanding

5.Habitual Friction - Sleep, routine, and lifestyle misalignment affecting learning energy

6.Relational Friction - External pressure from expectations and comparison

7.Meaning Friction - Loss of purpose or emotional connection with learning

These frictions often operate silently, leading to blank-outs, unstable focus, and inconsistent performance even after sincere preparation.

This signals a shift from measuring outcomes to diagnosing the conditions that produce them.

Early Signals of Measurable Learning Patterns

Early observations suggest that students experiencing performance drops often show friction across 2-3 domains simultaneously, particularly cognitive overload and emotional interference.

Together, this points toward a broader shift in education -- from focusing only on curriculum delivery to understanding the cognitive conditions under which learning becomes usable during high-pressure exam situations.

Availability and Next Phase

The Learning Friction Assessment is now live and free for students preparing for competitive exams across India.

Each student receives:

- A personalised 7-domain friction map

- Clear visibility into where learning stability is breaking

- Insight into whether challenges are cognitive, emotional, or environmental

- Guidance on which domain may need stabilisation first

Shunya Mind will release its Student Dashboard and full Learning Friction Reduction System (LFRS) in the coming phase, offering structured support to help students progressively reduce internal friction.

Founder Background

Before founding Shunya Mind, Navneesh Bansal spent nearly two decades working with competitive exam aspirants across diverse performance bands -- from struggling learners to top-performing cohorts -- during his tenure as senior Chemistry faculty at ALLEN. His work focuses on how internal cognitive conditions influence learning clarity, performance consistency, and exam-time stability.

Availability

Learning Friction Assessment (Free):

https://shunyamind.com/learning-friction-assessment

Website:

www.shunyamind.com

About Shunya Mind

Shunya Mind is a cognition-focused learning initiative helping students build learning clarity, performance stability, and internal readiness by identifying and reducing hidden friction that blocks performance.

Media Contact

Shunya Mind - Communications Team

Email: support@shunyamind.com

Instagram: @shunya_mind

LinkedIn: Navneesh Bansal

As competitive exams intensify, the question may no longer be how much students study - but whether the system they study within is cognitively stable.

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