How to choose

Six things to check when choosing a revision platform

Revision platforms tend to describe themselves the same way: a huge question bank, star tutors, uncanny predictions of what came up. None of that can be checked, and none of it helps you decide. The six questions below are different, because you can settle each one yourself in about ten minutes without taking anyone's word for anything. We name no competitors, because we hold no verifiable facts about them, and inventing a rival's prices or results is not comparison, it is fabrication. So we give the criteria, answer them for ourselves, and leave you to hold the same ruler up to anyone else.
Who we areRead the study guides
The six at a glance
1. Checkable sources
Do official facts carry links, and is there a source list at the foot of the page.
2. Original data
Is there first-hand data you cannot get elsewhere, or is it all restated from elsewhere.
3. Depth of solutions
Does a solution explain how you would reach the step, or just recite the answer backwards.
4. Keeping up with changes
How quickly it follows an exam change, and whether the update terms are stated at all.
5. The free tier
Can you sit a whole paper and read a full solution before paying.
6. Plain billing
What exactly you bought, and whether it still works once the term ends.

All six are things you can verify yourself. You do not have to take anyone's self-description on trust, ours included.

In short
  • Open any content page and scroll to the foot: is there a list of outbound sources? Without one, you have no way to check a single number on it.
  • Pick a test whose board has never released a past paper and see how the site describes it. Anywhere claiming to have past papers can be ruled out.
  • Check whether the free tier is enough to judge the solutions. If you cannot see a single worked solution before paying, you are buying blind.
  • Read the billing terms as far as the sentence about what happens when it expires. Whatever is vague there becomes a dispute later.
The checklist

Six questions, and how we answer them

  1. Can you check the sources yourself

    Open any page about a test's format, scoring or registration and scroll to the foot. Is there a list of outbound sources that you can click, pointing at the exam board or a university? If not, every number on that page is something you can only choose to believe. Each of our content pages carries that list, and where an official page changes often we add an archived snapshot so the citation does not vanish when the other side redesigns.

  2. Is there data you cannot get elsewhere

    Most revision sites are the same public information laid out differently. The quick test is to pick a specific question you could not answer elsewhere and see whether the site answers it. We obtained ESAT figures for 29 Cambridge colleges through the official freedom-of-information route and built a page per college, each stating plainly that these are averages rather than entry requirements, that sample sizes are unknown, and that the ranks we computed are ours and not the University's.

  3. How deep the solutions go

    Take a question you genuinely cannot do and read its solution. A good one explains why you would reach for that step; a weak one restates the official answer in different words and leaves you no better placed next time. This single criterion accounts for most of the value of practice, and it is the hardest to fake in marketing copy, because reading one solution settles it.

  4. How fast it follows an exam change

    UK admissions tests have changed a lot recently: some have been replaced by new ones, some changed hands, some altered their modules or scoring. The test is how a site handles the most recent change, whether it glosses over it or sets out plainly what replaced what. Also look for whether an update term is stated at all: if content keeps being updated, the site should say how long that lasts.

  5. Whether the free tier lets you judge

    The question is not whether there is a free tier but whether it supports a decision: can you sit a complete paper against the clock, and can you read a complete worked solution. A handful of sample questions with the solutions behind a paywall means buying blind. Every subject here has a free paper you can sit end to end, with the solutions and translations included, so you can judge before you pay.

  6. Whether the billing terms are plain

    Read as far as the sentence about what happens when it ends. Are you buying access or a subscription? If you stop paying, does what you already bought keep working? Is new material included, and for how long? Ours is a one-off payment per subject: access itself does not expire, updates are included for one year from the date of purchase, and anything we publish in that subject during the year is included. When the year ends, everything already unlocked keeps working, and the update window can be renewed annually. We avoid the phrase "lifetime access", because it implies new content is included for ever, which it is not.

Part 1

Why this page names no competitors

The usual way to write a comparison page is a table with yourself on the left, a rival on the right, and crosses all down the rival's column. The problem is that almost every cell in the rival's column is unsourced: their question counts, their tutors' backgrounds, their success rates, what people actually pay. None of that is published, and nobody checks it.
Our rule is that we do not state a fact without a checkable source. That rule applies to claims about ourselves, and it applies just as much to claims about anyone else. So this page gives the criteria and our own answers, and you can hold the same ruler up to any provider, including us.
What is wrong with itWhat this page does instead
Listing a rival's price and marking it "more expensive"What people actually pay is rarely public, and a list price is not necessarily what a student paysWe state our own terms plainly and leave the comparison to you
Comparing the size of question banksThe two sides count differently, and duplicated questions inflate the totalReplaced with something you can act on: read one solution and judge the depth
Claiming a rival's predictions were wrongNobody holds authoritative data to check afterwards, so neither side can prove anythingWe simply say we do not predict questions and do not advertise having done so

This table compares ways of writing, not any particular provider. Its purpose is to explain why a page that could have been a comparison is a checklist instead.

Part 2

Our answers, on the record

Here are the six held up against ourselves. They are written down so you can reconcile them against the site, and if any of them does not hold, the email at the foot of this page is there for exactly that.

Checkable sources

A source list at the foot of every page

Official facts carry outbound links, with archived snapshots where the official page changes often.

Original data

ESAT figures for 29 Cambridge colleges

From official freedom-of-information responses, with anything we derived labelled as ours.

Depth of solutions

A worked solution and a translation per question

Solutions explain where the approach comes from; the translation sits alongside an English stem that never goes away.

Keeping up with changes

A dedicated page on what replaced what

The update term is written into the billing terms: one year from purchase, renewable.

The free tier

A complete free paper in every subject

Free papers carry the same solutions and translations, so quality can be judged before paying.

Plain billing

Access does not expire, updates for one year, renewable

We avoid phrases such as "lifetime access", which mislead about what is included.

What we do not do is on the record too: we do not predict questions, do not advertise having predicted them, do not call our own papers past papers, do not publish unsourced cut-off scores, and claim no relationship with any official test owner.
Part 3

One concrete way to test any provider

If you only do one thing, do this: find a test whose board has never released a past paper, and see how the platform describes it.
This really happens among the UK admissions tests. The board publishes a content specification, a question guide and official practice tests, but has never released a paper that was actually sat. A platform then has three options: say plainly that no past papers exist, label its own papers as original papers, or blur the two and call an original paper a "past paper" to catch the search traffic.
The cost of the third option is not really about honesty, it is that students prepare against the wrong thing. However closely an original paper is modelled, its difficulty profile and question preferences are not those of a real paper, so reading exam trends off it reads them wrong. That is why this one check separates so much at once.
Where we stand on this: if a board has released no past papers, the page says so in its first line, sets out what official material does exist, and labels the papers we write to the published specification as original papers.
Billing terms

What you are actually buying

One-off, per subject
£58.80 for one subject, £108.80 for any two. Not a subscription.
Access does not expire
Everything unlocked stays unlocked, including after the update window ends.
Updates for one year
New material in that subject is included for one year from purchase, renewable at £18 per subject per year.

We avoid the phrase "lifetime access": access itself does not expire, but new material is included for the update window, and describing that as lifetime would misstate what you get.

Go deeper

Related pages

Sources

Official sources

Spotted something wrong on this page? Write to contact@frontierace.ai with the page address and the sentence in question.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Why not just tell me which one is best?
Because we are one of them, so our ranking is worth very little to you. A ruler is more useful: spend ten minutes on the six questions above and the conclusion will be sounder than anyone's self-recommendation, ours included. If you measure and decide we are not the right fit, that means the ruler works.
Is a bigger question bank better?
Not necessarily, and question counts are the easiest figure to inflate. The same question counted under several topics, or drills split finely and counted as new items, will lift a total. The better questions are whether each item has a worked solution, how deep that solution goes, and whether the system can tell you which kind of mistake you keep making. A hundred questions with real feedback beats a thousand marked only right or wrong.
Are the free papers the same quality as the paid ones?
Yes, and they behave the same way: the same timer, the same on-screen interface, the same worked solutions and Chinese translations. The point of a free paper is to let you judge quality before paying, and that judgement is worthless if the free tier has been deliberately thinned out.
Do you predict what will come up?
No, and we do not advertise having done so. Admissions-test papers are written under confidentiality by the board each year, so any claim to have predicted them is either a coincidence narrated after the fact or something considerably worse. What we do is cover the syllabus against the published specification so that nothing you meet on the day is unfamiliar in form, which is a different thing entirely.

FrontierVUE is an independent practice platform. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by UAT-UK, Pearson, OCR, the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, or any official admissions-test owner.

FrontierVUE 是独立的备考练习平台，与 UAT-UK、Pearson、OCR、剑桥大学、 帝国理工学院或任何官方入学考试主办方均无隶属或背书关系。

Judge it for yourself

Every subject has a free paper you can sit end to end, with the same worked solutions and translations as the paid ones.

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