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School Ninja vs Save My Exams: which is better for past papers?
Short answer
Use Save My Exams if you want to learn a topic from detailed notes, have your answers marked by AI, and you are happy to pay for a subscription.
Use School Ninja if you want to practise real past-paper questions by topic, see which paper and year each question came from, and check the exam board's own mark scheme right under it. It is free to use today, with no account.
You can use both: learn the topic on one, then practise real exam questions on the other.
Last checked: 21 October 2026.
Side by side (checked 21 October 2026)
| Feature | School Ninja | Save My Exams |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free to use today | Subscription. Essential £36-£48/year or £9-£12/month (SME is testing prices); Premium £96/year or £25/month; 7-day free trial on Premium yearly only |
| Account needed | No | Questions, notes and past papers open without an account. Answers show for the first question on each page; the rest need a paid plan (a free account does not unlock more) |
| Ads | None | None |
| Where topic questions come from | Real exam board past papers | Written by SME's own team: "created from scratch... to mimic your real exams" |
| Source shown on each question | Yes, e.g. "Paper 2 · June 2025 · Question 7" | No (exam code only) |
| Mark scheme | The exam board's own mark scheme, under each question part | SME's own answers, "View answer" under each part |
| Foundation / Higher | Switch on tiered courses (19 courses) | Separate Foundation and Higher courses for maths; Easy / Medium / Hard for sciences |
| How often a topic comes up | Yes, e.g. "In 8 of 32 AQA papers" | Not shown |
| Full past papers | Yes, in the browser, with mark schemes and examiner reports | Yes, the board's PDFs in SME's viewer, no account needed |
| Revision notes | On some courses (AI-written, checked) | Almost every course, written by teachers and examiners |
| Flashcards | On courses with notes | Yes |
| Videos | No | Yes, on some courses |
| AI marking of your answers | No | Yes ("Smart Mark", on Premium) |
| Mock exams, progress tracking, teacher tools | No | Yes |
| Exam boards | AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR, WJEC, Eduqas, Cambridge, OxfordAQA. No CCEA papers yet | AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC, Eduqas, CCEA (papers only), Cambridge, IB, AP, SQA |
| Size | 56,183 past papers (52,474 with mark schemes), 49,281 single questions, 575 UK GCSE, AS and A Level courses | "150K+ examiner-written resources" |
Where Save My Exams is better
- Learning a topic from scratch. Its notes cover almost every course, written by teachers and examiners. Our notes only cover some courses so far.
- Getting your answer marked. Smart Mark gives AI feedback on what you wrote. We show the official mark scheme and you mark yourself.
- Videos, mocks and progress tracking. We don't have these.
- More boards and levels, including CCEA, IB, AP and SQA.
Where School Ninja is better
- Real exam questions. Every topic question is from a real past paper, with the paper, series and question number shown. Save My Exams writes its own questions to look like the real ones.
- The exam board's own mark scheme, word for word, right under each question part. That is the wording examiners actually use.
- No subscription and no account today. Open a question and the mark scheme is there.
- How often a topic comes up in real papers, so you know where the marks are.
- Topics under your exam board's own headings, with a Foundation / Higher switch.
Which one should you use?
| If you want to... | Use |
|---|---|
| Practise real exam questions by topic | School Ninja |
| Check the official mark scheme wording | School Ninja |
| Revise without paying or signing up | School Ninja |
| Learn a topic from detailed notes | Save My Exams |
| Get AI feedback on your written answers | Save My Exams |
| Watch videos or sit a mock | Save My Exams |
| Revise a CCEA, IB, AP or SQA course | Save My Exams |
FAQ
Is School Ninja free?
Yes. As of October 2026, School Ninja is free to use, with no account and no ads.
Are School Ninja's topic questions real past-paper questions?
Yes. Each one comes from a real exam board paper and shows the paper, series and question number, for example "Paper 2 · June 2025 · Question 7".
Are Save My Exams' topic questions real past-paper questions?
No. Save My Exams says its content is "created from scratch" by its own teachers and examiners "to mimic your real exams". It also links to the boards' full past papers.
Does School Ninja mark my answers?
No. It shows the exam board's mark scheme under each question so you can mark your own work. Save My Exams offers AI marking with Smart Mark.
Does School Ninja have revision notes?
Yes, on some courses, with flashcards on the same topics. Save My Exams has notes on almost every course.
Which exam boards does School Ninja cover?
AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR, WJEC, Eduqas, Cambridge International and OxfordAQA. There are no CCEA papers yet.
Is School Ninja the same as Exam Ninja?
No. School Ninja (school.ninja) is a past papers and topic questions website. Exam Ninja is a separate company.
Can I use both?
Yes. Learn a topic from notes, then practise real exam questions on it.
How we checked
We looked at both sites in a normal browser on 21 October 2026, logged out, and tried the same tasks on each, for example finding an AQA GCSE Biology cell biology question and its mark scheme. Prices and features change, so tell us if something here is out of date and we will fix it.
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