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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 1 May 2026

1. Who We Are

Exam Ladder ("we", "us") operates the GCSE Maths revision platform at examladder.co.uk. We are the data controller for personal data processed through this service. This policy explains what data we collect, how we use it, and your rights under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Contact our data team: privacy@examladder.co.uk

2. Data We Collect

Account data:

Email address, date of birth, display name (optional), exam board, and tier selection provided when you register. We collect date of birth solely to confirm you are old enough to use Exam Ladder.

Usage and learning data:

Practice session results, topic mastery scores, mock exam grades, time-on-task, streak data, and XP. This data powers your personalised revision recommendations.

Technical data:

IP address (used for rate limiting and fraud prevention), browser type, and device type (collected via standard web server logs). We do not use third-party advertising or tracking cookies; first-party product analytics are recorded only if you choose "Accept all" in the cookie banner (see Cookies below).

Payment data:

Subscription status and billing history. Raw card details are processed exclusively by Stripe Inc. and are never stored on our servers.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

We process your data under the following lawful bases (UK GDPR Article 6):

  • Contract — account management, subscription billing, and delivering the core revision service.
  • Legitimate interests — fraud prevention, platform security, and aggregated analytics to improve the service.
  • Consent — marketing emails (you can withdraw consent at any time via the unsubscribe link).
  • Legal obligation — retaining billing records as required by HMRC.

Exam Ladder is intended for users aged 13 and over. UK GDPR Article 8 sets the age of consent for online services at 13; we ask for date of birth at sign-up and do not knowingly create accounts for under-13s.

4. How We Use Your Data

  • To provide personalised spaced-repetition practice and predicted grade tracking.
  • To send transactional emails (account confirmation, password reset, trial-ending reminders).
  • To send marketing emails about new features or offers (consent-based; opt out any time).
  • To detect abuse, fraud, and ensure platform security.
  • To comply with legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We do not use your data to train third-party AI models.

5. Third-Party Processors

We share data only with processors who contractually agree to handle it securely and only for stated purposes:

  • Supabase Inc. — database and authentication (hosted in London, UK — AWS eu-west-2).
  • Stripe Inc. — payment processing (PCI DSS Level 1 compliant).
  • OpenAI Inc. — AI study coach and question generation (data is not used to train OpenAI models per our API agreement).
  • Resend Inc. — transactional email delivery.
  • Sentry Inc. — error monitoring (no personal data in error payloads; PII scrubbing enabled).
  • Google LLC — AI marking of handwritten and uploaded work (Gemini). Where you upload a photo or PDF of your working, that file is sent to Google to be marked.
  • Upstash Inc. — rate limiting and caching (stores IP addresses).
  • Railway Inc. — application hosting (EU region).

6. Data Retention

We retain your account and learning data for as long as your account is active. Billing records are retained for 7 years as required by UK tax law. Anonymised, aggregated analytics may be retained indefinitely.

If you delete your account via Settings > Delete Account, your account and learning data are removed immediately and cannot be recovered. Deleting your account also cancels any active subscription.

7. Your Rights Under UK GDPR

You have the following rights, exercisable by emailing privacy@examladder.co.uk:

  • Access — request a copy of all personal data we hold about you (also available via Settings > Export Data).
  • Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate data.
  • Erasure — request deletion of your data ("right to be forgotten").
  • Restriction — ask us to pause processing of your data while a complaint is resolved.
  • Portability — receive your data in a machine-readable format (JSON export).
  • Objection — object to processing based on legitimate interests.
  • Withdraw consent — for any consent-based processing (e.g. marketing emails) at any time.

We will respond to all requests within 30 days. If you are unsatisfied, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

8. Children's Privacy

We take the privacy of users under 18 seriously and design the service in line with the UK Children's Code. Exam Ladder is intended for students aged 13 and over; we ask for date of birth at sign-up and do not knowingly create accounts for under-13s. To deliver the revision service we carry out educational personalisation — adaptive question difficulty, per-topic mastery and predicted-grade tracking, spaced-repetition scheduling, and an AI Study Coach that retains brief notes about a student's learning so it can help more effectively over time. This personalisation (profiling) is used only to deliver and improve the learning service — never for advertising or ad targeting, and we never sell children's data or share it with advertisers. A student or parent can request deletion of this data, including the AI Study Coach notes, at any time by contacting privacy@examladder.co.uk.

9. Cookies

We use strictly necessary storage for authentication (Supabase session) and to remember your cookie choice. We do not use advertising cookies and never share data with advertisers. Only if you choose "Accept all" do we record first-party, privacy-respecting product analytics (e.g. which features are used) to improve the service; choosing "Necessary only" disables these. You can change your choice at any time via the cookie banner.

10. Changes to This Policy

We will notify you of material changes to this policy by email or prominent in-app notice at least 14 days before they take effect.

11. Contact

Data protection enquiries: privacy@examladder.co.uk
Exam Ladder