Founder, GRADSKOOL

Abhishek
Leela
Pandey.

Mathematician. Author. Filmmaker. Actor. Teacher. Speaker. Systems architect. ALP Sir is many things, but above all a mentor who believes that genuine learning is a deeply personal act, and that no amount of scale can substitute for it.

Mathematician Author Filmmaker Actor Teacher Speaker Systems Architect Polymath
99.93
CAT Percentile
770
GMAT Score
12
Years Teaching
100K+
Students Mentored
Abhishek Leela Pandey, Founder of GRADSKOOL
The Story

Where it all
began.

"Teaching, thinking, writing, math, logic, literature — these are not skills I developed. They are things I was born into."

Abhishek Leela Pandey grew up across Chandigarh, Jammu, Bhutan and Darjeeling, cities shaped by the postings of his father, an officer in the Indian Air Force. A childhood of movement meant a childhood of observation, adaptation and an unusually wide exposure to the world. It built in him a fluency with difference, a comfort with complexity, and an instinct for systems.

His mother holds a doctorate in Hindi literature and was awarded the President's Award for her thesis on Matiram Ki Sandarya Chetna. His sister holds a doctorate in law. ALP Sir belongs to the clan of Rajpurohits — a lineage in which scholarship, teaching and intellectual rigour are not professional choices but inherited ways of being.

The combination — a family of thinkers, a childhood of movement, an ancestral connection to learning — produced a polymath. Someone for whom mathematics, literature, film, logic and teaching are not separate disciplines but different expressions of the same underlying curiosity.

Why GRADSKOOL

The decision
to build differently.

After 12 years teaching at TIME, Career Launcher, IMS and a leading MBA coaching institution — where he served as Chief Academic Officer — ALP Sir had seen the industry from every angle. He had won Excellent Faculty awards four times at TIME. He had been recognised as the Best Candidate in Career Launcher's Inner Circle Training. He had taught thousands of students across hundreds of batches.

And he had watched the industry degrade.

"Aptitude training had become a volume business. Batches of hundreds, sometimes thousands. The student was a number. The session was a broadcast. That is not teaching. That is not even close to teaching."

GRADSKOOL was his answer. Not a startup. Not a scale play. A deliberate, principled rejection of the prevailing model. Every cohort capped at 27 students — because genuine mentorship requires knowing every student by their thinking patterns, not just their name. Two-way live teaching because preparation is not just academic but psychological. A system designed around the student, not around throughput.

The belief that drives it: excellence cannot be mass-produced, and the students who trust you with their futures deserve better than a recording and a test link.

Career

12 years.
Every major institution.

Before GRADSKOOL, ALP Sir taught at every leading aptitude training institution in India. His record across all of them was the same: the best student outcomes, the most awarded faculty, the most sought-after mentor.

a leading MBA coaching institution
Chief Academic Officer
Led academic strategy and quality across the platform. Designed curriculum, training frameworks and assessment systems.
TIME
Senior Faculty
Awarded Excellent Faculty four times. Taught CAT, GMAT and MBA entrance preparation across multiple centres.
Career Launcher
Faculty
Awarded Best Candidate in Inner Circle Training — CL's internal programme for identifying and developing exceptional faculty.
IMS
Faculty
CAT and MBA entrance preparation. Consistently among the highest-rated faculty across student feedback.
GRADSKOOL
Founder and Lead Mentor
Founded 2026. 100,000+ students mentored. 5,000+ IIM and top B-school converts. Every cohort capped at 27 students.
Recognition

Awards and recognition

TradeFlock 40 Under 40 — 2024 Insights Success The Most Transformative Face in EdTech
TIME Excellent Faculty Award — Four times
Career Launcher Best Candidate — Inner Circle Training
Amazon Published Author
YouTube

Learn from ALP Sir.
Free. Every week.

In-depth lessons on CAT, GMAT, XAT and MBA preparation. Two-way thinking, structured reasoning, and the same rigour as the live cohort — available free on YouTube.

Watch on YouTube →
The Team

The people behind
every cohort.

GRADSKOOL is a small, intentional team. Every person here was chosen because they share the same belief about what teaching should be.

Abhishek Leela Pandey
Founder and Lead Mentor

99.93 percentile CAT, 770 GMAT. Teaches every live session personally across CAT, GMAT, XAT, NMAT, SNAP, MH CET and PI WAT GD. The only trainer in India with equal expertise across all exam components.

Deepshikha Uppal
VARC Trainer

Specialist in Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension. Brings a structured, analytical approach to VARC preparation that complements ALP Sir's live sessions.

Kavya K
QA and LRDI Trainer, Acting COO

Leads Quantitative Ability and LRDI training and manages day-to-day operations as Acting COO. Ensures every cohort runs with the precision and structure the GRADSKOOL method demands.

Nehil C
VARC Trainer

VARC specialist focused on Reading Comprehension strategy and verbal reasoning. Works closely with ALP Sir to ensure consistent quality across all VARC sessions.

Anand S
VARC Trainer

Verbal Ability specialist with a deep understanding of the analytical and reasoning demands of CAT VARC. Contributes to both content and live session support.

Learn from the best.
In a cohort of 27.

Every seat in every CATalysis cohort is one of 27. ALP Sir teaches every session personally. The method does not change. The standard does not change.