Last updated: [DATE]
This website is run by [TRADING NAME], based in [CITY, PROVINCE], Canada ("we", "us"). We are responsible for your personal information under Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and, for users in the European Union and the United Kingdom, we act as the "controller" under the GDPR and UK GDPR.
Our privacy contact, who is accountable for how we handle personal information, can be reached at [email protected].
| What | Why we need it | Legal basis (EU/UK) |
|---|---|---|
| Email address, password (stored only as a secure hash), name if you give one | To create and secure your account, sign you in, and send service emails (e.g. email verification, receipts, pass expiry reminders) | Contract |
| Your chosen stream (Academic or General Training) and country | To show the right tests, apply your free test and pass, and for tax records | Contract; legal obligation |
| Test answers, Writing essays, scores, feedback and progress | To mark your tests, give feedback and show your results and progress | Contract |
| Voice recordings of your Speaking answers and their transcripts | To transcribe and mark your Speaking test and give feedback. We do not use your voice to identify you. | Contract |
| Photos of handwritten essays (paper-based Writing) and their transcription | To read your handwriting and mark your essay | Contract |
| Purchase records (date, product, price, country, order number) | To give you access to your pass, handle refunds and keep tax records | Contract; legal obligation |
| Technical data: IP address, browser and device type, sign-up and sign-in times, error logs | To keep the service secure, prevent fake accounts and abuse of the free test, and fix problems | Legitimate interests (security and fraud prevention) |
Camera: the Speaking test can show you a self-view from your camera so it feels like a video call. The picture stays in your browser and is never recorded or uploaded. Microphone: your browser asks your permission before we can record. If you don't allow it, you can type your answers instead.
We do not collect payment card details. Payments are handled by our payment provider (see section 3).
We share personal information only with the service providers below, only as far as they need it to provide their service to us, and under contracts that require them to protect it.
| Provider | What they receive | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic (Claude), USA | Your essays, Speaking transcripts, photos of handwritten essays, and the related test questions | AI marking, feedback and handwriting reading |
| OpenAI, USA | Your Speaking recordings; the text of your feedback summary | Speech-to-text transcription; turning your feedback summary into speech |
| Paddle | Your email, country, purchase details and payment information (which you give to them directly) | Processing payments, sales tax and refunds. As our reseller ("merchant of record") they also act as an independent controller of your payment data under their own privacy policy. |
| Render (USA: servers and database), Cloudflare (website, file storage) | All data stored by the service (database and uploaded files) | Running the website and storing data |
| Resend (USA) | Your email address and the content of service emails | Sending verification, receipt and reminder emails |
Under their API terms, Anthropic and OpenAI do not use our customers' data to train their models and keep it only for a limited period (currently up to 30 days) for safety and abuse monitoring before deleting it.
We may also disclose information if the law requires it (for example a valid court order), or to protect the rights and safety of our users or the service. If the business is sold, your information would pass to the new owner under this policy, and we would tell you first.
We are in Canada and our providers mainly store and process data in the United States and other countries. This means your information may be accessed by courts and authorities of those countries. For users in the EU and UK, we rely on the European Commission's and UK's adequacy decision for Canada and, for transfers to the US and elsewhere, on the providers' Standard Contractual Clauses (and the UK addendum) or the EU-US / UK-US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified.
| Data | How long |
|---|---|
| Speaking recordings, essays, photos, test attempts, results and feedback | While your 1 year pass lasts. When it ends we email you reminders, then allow a 30-day grace period (to buy a new pass or download your results), then delete them. If you never buy a pass, the same applies 12 months after your last sign-in. |
| Minimal account record: email, country, stream, purchases, and whether the free test was used | Kept after the above deletion so the free test is not given twice and so we can answer questions about past purchases, until you delete your account |
| Sales and tax records | 6 years after the end of the tax year they relate to, as required by the Canada Revenue Agency - even if you delete your account |
| Accounts never verified by email | Deleted after 30 days |
| Security and server logs (IP address, device) | Up to 90 days, unless needed to investigate abuse |
| Backups | Deleted data disappears from our backups within 30 days |
You can delete your account at any time from your account page or by emailing [email protected]. We then delete your account and all your test data within 30 days, except the sales records we must keep for tax purposes. A minimal note that your email has used the free test may be kept, in a protected form, to prevent abuse of the free test. Deleting your account does not refund an active pass, except as set out in the Refund Policy.
Depending on where you live, you have the right to:
To use these rights, email [email protected] from the address on your account. We reply within 30 days. We may need to confirm your identity first. There is no charge.
Regulators: in Canada, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (priv.gc.ca); in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk); in the EU, the data protection authority of your country. We'd appreciate the chance to fix any problem first.
Your Writing and Speaking tests are marked by AI, and Listening and Reading are marked automatically against answer keys. These scores are practice estimates only. They have no legal or similar effect on you and are not official IELTS results. If you think a mark is wrong, contact us and a person will look at it.
This service is only for adults aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone younger; if you think someone under 18 has given us information, contact us and we will close the account and delete it.
We protect your information with encrypted connections (HTTPS), hashed passwords, access limited to what is needed, and file names for recordings and photos that cannot be guessed. Apart from you, only the site owner can see your results, answers and recordings (through a protected owner page), to run the service, answer support requests and improve the tests. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach puts you at real risk of significant harm, we will tell you and the regulators as the law requires.
We use only what is needed to run the site. See the Cookie Notice.
We send service emails you need (verification, receipts, pass reminders, important changes). We send news or offers only if you agree, and every such email has an unsubscribe link.
If we make important changes, we will tell you by email or on the site before they take effect. The date at the top shows the latest version.