Cookies
Cookies and local storage
This site sets no cookies. Here is what it stores on your own device instead, and why.
This site sets no cookies unless you agree to them. Nothing is loaded, and nothing is stored, until you press Accept on the banner — not the tags, not the scripts that set them, and no request to Google or Meta at all. Declining is one press and costs you nothing: every part of the site works the same either way.
What is set if you accept
| Cookie | Who sets it | What it is for | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
_ga, _ga_… | Google Analytics | Counts visits and tells one visit from another, so we can see which pages are read and which are abandoned | Up to 2 years |
_fbp | Meta | Lets Meta recognise that somebody who arrived from one of our adverts went on to sit the free mock, so we can tell a useful advert from a wasted one | Up to 3 months |
_fbc | Meta | Set only if you arrived by clicking one of our adverts. It holds the click's own reference so that visit can be matched to that advert | Up to 3 months |
If you decline, none of the above is set and neither Google nor Meta is contacted by your browser on any page of this site.
What we send from our own server
When you submit the free mock exam or ask for the three-hour trial, and only if you accepted, our server also tells Meta that it happened. It sends the fact, the time, the page, and your email address hashed — turned into a one-way string of characters that Meta can compare against an account it already holds, but cannot read back as an address. It never sends your name, your score, your subject breakdown or your answers. If you declined, it sends nothing at all.
Changing your mind
You can change your answer at any time, and it takes effect immediately.
Declining after accepting stops anything further being set or sent. To clear what is already there, clear this site's data in your browser settings.
What is stored either way
Signing in and keeping your place need somewhere to keep a little information on your own device. That is done with browser local storage, which stays in your browser and is never sent anywhere except to your own account. None of it depends on the choice above.
| What is stored | What it is for | Cleared when |
|---|---|---|
| Your sign-in token | So you are not asked to sign in on every page | You sign out, or it expires |
| Your progress: answers, scores, flags, bookmarks and notes | So the app can show you where you are up to instantly, before it has finished talking to the server | You sign out or clear your browser data |
| A copy of the question and revision chunks you have opened | So the material loads quickly and works on a poor connection | You sign out, or the material is updated |
| Your theme and text-size preference | So the app looks the way you left it | You clear your browser data |
| Your answer to the cookie banner | So you are asked once rather than on every page | You clear your browser data, or change your choice above |
Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, storage that is strictly necessary for a service the user has asked for does not need consent. Everything in this table is in that category: none of it is used to profile you, and none of it follows you to another site.
Clearing it
Signing out removes the sign-in token and the cached material. Clearing site data in your browser settings removes the lot. Your progress is safe either way, because it is also held against your account and comes back when you sign in.
Other people's pages
Links out to the GDC, the Royal Colleges and the dental press take you to sites we do not run, and the payment page belongs to the payment provider. Their cookie practices are their own.