Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Cognito was entirely free until September 2022, at which point we switched to a freemium model. This means that most of our services are free, including all of our videos (which are also on YouTube), our lessons, the Exam Questions by Topic and Past Exam Papers sections. However, if students would like to access the Quiz and Flashcard sections then they will need to upgrade to Cognito Pro.


If you do choose to subscribe to Cognito Pro, please know we're sincerely grateful for your support - and that the money is directly funding the maintenance of the platform, and the creation of new Cognito content.

You can cancel your Cognito Pro subscription at any time. To cancel your subscription, log into your Cognito account, and access the 'Manage subscription' page from the drop down menu in the top right corner of the screen. When you cancel your subscription you retain your access to Pro features until the next bill is due.

Once you have cancelled your Pro subscription, you will retain access to all Cognito Pro features until the next bill is due.

Yes, we have over 100 courses to ensure that the content your shown is specific to your exam board, whether you are doing triple or combined, and whether you are doing foundation or higher tier.

Cognito currently covers GCSE & IGCSE Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Maths.

For GCSE we cover AQA, Edexcel, OCR Gateway, and OCR 21st Century. For IGCSE we cover Edexcel. We also cover SQA 5 for Scotland.

If you don't know your course, it would be best to ask your teacher and check. In the mean time, you can select 'don't know' in the course selection options and we will default you to AQA, triple, higher, which is the most common course in the UK. You can change your course at any time.

Once signed up, start by working through the lessons, which cover all the main learning points on the course. After watching the lesson's video, answer the follow-up questions to check you understood everything. By checking the progress bars on the lessons page you can easily get a sense of how well you're doing, and how far through the course you are. If you become a pro user, you can also use our Quiz and Flashcard sections to help you revise. Cognito's algorithms prioritise the material you know least well, helping you to directly address your weakest areas. Finally, use our 'Exam Questions by Topic' and 'Past Exam Papers' sections to answer real exam questions and perfect your exam technique.

The best way to support your child would be to encourage them to complete the lessons. The progress bars on the lessons page will help you and your child decide what they should prioritise, and will give you a clear signal if they're struggling with anything. If your child knows they will be covering a given subtopic in school, watching that video before the lesson will give them a real head start, as they'll already be familiar with the lesson's key concepts, and can make full use of the teacher to help clarify anything they find tricky. You may also wish to purchase a Pro subscription for your child's Cognito account. This will allow them to use the Flashcard and Quiz sections of the platform - which are particularly effective ways of practicing and revising the course content. Finally, using our 'Past Exam Papers' page is a great way to help your child get comfortable with the format and style of real exam papers. Towards the end of your child's preparation, you may wish to print the papers out and set a timer - that way the conditions of the real exam are likely to feel far less stressful.

Still have questions?

If we haven't covered what you're looking for, then please get in touch via hello@cognitoedu.org. We will get back to you as quickly as we can!