Guide for candidates
Create your account, choose a plan, practise past papers by topic, by year or against the clock, and follow your progress.
Who this guide is for
You are a candidate preparing for an exam with a practice provider. This guide shows you how to create your account, choose a plan, practise past papers and follow your progress.
Before you start
Your account is your Akadesk account, the same one used across the suite. Creating it takes two steps: the account, then telling your provider what you are preparing for.
Open your provider's page and select Start free trial, or go straight to Create Account.
Select the single button on the page. It reads Continue with, followed by the suite's name, and opens the suite's sign-in page. Sign in there, or create your account.
You come back to Create Account, now headed Tell us what you are sitting. Choose your Exam Target, type your Current Level, and add an Email address if you want receipts.
Select Create Account. Your Dashboard opens.
Next time, select Sign in on your provider's page and use the same button.
If you arrive in the app without having told your provider what you are preparing for, you see Set up your practice profile instead. Choose your exam, the year you are Sitting in and your Current level, add an email address or phone number for receipts if you like, and select Start practising.
Find your way around
The app works in a web browser on a computer, a tablet or a phone. The pages are the same; only where the menu sits changes.
On a computer or tablet, the menu is down the left side: Dashboard, Practice, Revision, Analytics, Subscription and Contact. The language switcher (English or French) and the light and dark theme switch are at the top right. To sign out, select Sign out, the icon beside your name at the bottom of the menu.
The app starts in the same light or dark setting as your device, and in the language your account or browser uses.
Use it on your phone
Open your provider's address in your phone's browser, the same address you use on a computer, and sign in.
The browser may offer, once, to put the app on your home screen. Select Install app (on an iPhone, the message tells you to use the Share button, then Add to Home Screen). The app then opens from your home screen like any other. Select Not now to skip it.
The top bar shows your provider's name and your picture. A bar along the bottom holds four tabs:
| Tab | Opens |
|---|---|
| Today | Your Dashboard |
| Practice | Start a session, and the paper you are sitting |
| Revision | Your flagged questions |
| Progress | Your Analytics, and the review of a paper you have submitted |
The fifth tab, More, opens the whole menu, including Subscription and Contact. It also holds Appearance (System, Light or Dark), Language (English or French) and Sign out. System follows your phone's own light or dark setting.
While you are sitting a paper on a phone, the question and its options fill the screen, and the help button is hidden so it does not cover your answers.
If a message says A new version is available, select Reload.
Your dashboard
Open Dashboard (on a phone, the Today tab) to see your Overall Accuracy, Total Sessions and Questions Answered.
Weak Areas lists the topics where you score lowest. Select one to open Practice with that topic filled in.
Recent Sessions lists your last sessions with their scores. Select Get Started to begin a new one.
Choose a plan
You need an active subscription or a free trial to start a paper. Your provider sets the plans and their prices.
Open Subscription to see your provider's plans, each with its price, billing cycle, any free trial and its features.
Select Subscribe on the plan you want.
A free plan or a free trial starts at once and shows Subscription activated! You get one free trial. After that, a plan with a trial is paid for like any other paid plan.
Where a paid plan is paid by bank transfer, you are shown an account number, the bank and the exact amount to send from your bank app. Send exactly that amount, then select I have sent the money to check it has arrived.
Where a paid plan is paid by mobile money, enter your mobile money number (your own is filled in) and select Pay by mobile money. Approve the prompt on your phone with your PIN, then select I have approved it.
Select Back to plans when you are done.
Your plan then appears at the top of the page with the date it is paid until, and its card reads Your plan.
Cancel your subscription
On Subscription, select Cancel Subscription under your plan.
The page says until when you keep access. Select Yes, cancel, or Keep my subscription to change your mind.
You keep practising until the end of the period you paid for. After cancelling you get no renewal reminder, and the subscription ends on that date. To come back later, subscribe again.
Your plan's limits
Some plans limit how many mock exams you can take, or how many subjects you can practise, in each period of your subscription. The period is your subscription's own: it starts on the day your plan started or renewed and ends on the date shown under your plan. It is not the calendar month.
Mock exams started counts each timed or full mock you start, whether or not you finish it.
Subjects practised counts each different subject you start a session in, in any mode. Practising a subject you have already used this period is always allowed.
Your plan this period, on your Dashboard and on Subscription, shows how many of each you have used and when the period renews. A plan with no limit shows unlimited.
When you reach a limit, starting another paper shows a message such as You've used 5 of 5 mock exams this period with the renewal date, or Your plan covers 3 subjects with the subjects you have used. You can keep practising within those limits, wait for the period to renew, or choose a plan with more.
Practise a past paper
Open Practice. The page is headed Start a session.
Choose how you want to practise:
Topic practice: one topic from one paper, untimed.
Year practice: a whole past paper, untimed, marked as you go.
Timed mock: a paper against the clock, marked at the end.
Full mock: a paper under exam conditions, with a longer clock.
Revision: the questions you flagged.
Under Choose a paper, pick the Exam Body, Subject and Year. Each year shows how many questions it has. For topic practice, also choose a Topic, or keep All topics.
Select Start Session.
Answer questions
Choose an option, or type your answer to a written question. In topic practice, select Save answer after typing a written answer. Where your provider has turned on AI marking for a written question, your answer is Marked by AI: a score out of 100 and a few sentences on what earned marks and what was missing. In topic, year and revision practice the mark appears under your answer shortly after it is saved; in a mock, it appears in the review once you submit. If it says Not marked by AI, the reason is given, for example that your provider's AI Units have run out.
Use Previous and Next to move between questions. In a mock, select a number in the question grid to jump to it. The grid shows which questions are answered, unanswered and flagged.
Select the flag on a question (Flag for review) to come back to it under Revision.
In topic, year and revision practice, each answer is marked straight away: your choice turns green or red, the correct option is shown in green, and Show explanation opens the worked explanation for that question (Hide explanation closes it). If no explanation has been written for a question, the card says so. Once an answer is marked, the options are locked.
In a timed or full mock, the timer counts down and the paper is submitted for you when time runs out. Every mock has a time limit: the one recorded for its exam body, or an hour for a timed mock and three hours for a full mock when none is set. Answers given after the time is up are not accepted. A mock does not say whether each answer is right until you submit.
When you have finished, select Submit on the last question. In a mock, confirm when asked Are you sure you want to submit? In topic practice you can stop at any time with End Session.
Review your answers
After you submit, the View Review page opens. Each question shows your answer, the correct answer where yours was wrong, and the explanation when there is one. Flagged questions are marked. A written answer marked by AI shows its score and the AI's feedback; one still being marked says so, and appears once you open the review again.
Select Practise followed by a topic name to go straight to the topic you missed most.
Select New session to start another paper.
Revise flagged questions
Open Revision to go through the questions you flagged in the paper you are working on. Use Previous and Next, and select Unflag this question when you are happy with it. Start fresh clears every flag, after you confirm with Clear all.
Flags belong to the paper you are working on now. Starting a new paper, or reloading the page, clears the list.
Follow your progress
Open Analytics (on a phone, the Progress tab) to see your Exam Readiness, your Avg Time per Question, Accuracy by Subject, your Score Trend over time and your Weak Topics. Your readiness is one of Not Ready, Getting There, Nearly Ready or Exam Ready, from your overall accuracy.
Keep your contact details up to date
Open Contact to set the Email address and Phone number for your payment receipts and a reminder before your subscription ends. Include the country code on the phone number. Select Save contact details.
Tips and common questions
I cannot start a paper. You need an active subscription or a free trial. Open Subscription. If you have one, check Your plan this period: you may have used all the mock exams or subjects your plan includes for now.
A paper has no topics to choose. Its questions carry no topic tags, so practise it whole with Year practice.
No exam bodies appear. Your provider has not set them up yet. Contact your provider.
My flagged questions have gone. Flags last only for the paper you are working on.
Getting help
Select the help button at the bottom right of the page. It shows the support email address, and a phone number where there is one: select Email us to write a message, answered by email, or Call us. On a phone, the help button is hidden while you are sitting a paper.
To see how practice works before you sign up, try the demo.
Try it yourself in the live demo.