Privacy policy

Last updated: 3 October 2026.

PTE Core Free Practice ("we", "us", "our") operates the website at ptecorefree.com and its practice platform (together, the "Service"). This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, who else receives it, and the choices you have. By using the Service you agree to the collection and use of information as described here.

1. Information we collect

Account information

You can create an account with Google Sign-In or with an email address and password.

• With Google Sign-In, Google sends us your name, your email address and your Google account identifier. We store these so that we can recognise you when you sign in again and show your name on your dashboard.
• With an email address and password, we store your name, your email address and a securely hashed version of your password. We never store the password itself.

For accounts created on the site, your email address is also your username. We use account details to run your account and to answer you when you write to us. We do not use them for marketing and we do not sell them.

Practice and performance data

As you practise, we store what you submit and how it scored: typed answers, your selections in reading and listening tasks, the text of each spoken answer, the automated score and trait estimates, the time taken and the date of each attempt. We also store your Practice All progress, and your Email Tool attempts (scores and the words you missed or misspelled) with their review schedule. This data powers your scores, your analytics and your progress history.

Speaking recordings

When you answer a speaking task, the recording is uploaded to private file storage on our servers, together with a small file holding its transcript, its scores and the question it answers. Recordings are filed under your username, which for most accounts is your email address. We keep them so that we can check how the scorer handled an answer and help you with questions about a score. Only our administrator can open them. They are not shared with other users and are not used to train any model.

Sign-in history and devices

Every sign-in attempt is logged with its date and time, the IP address it came from, and whether it succeeded. For each device you sign in from, we also keep a device fingerprint: a one-way hash that your browser computes from technical details such as its user-agent string, language, screen size, time zone and processor count. We store the hash, not the details it was made from, together with the IP address the device last used and when it was first and last seen. We use this to keep accounts secure and personal, for example to spot an account shared by several people.

Automatically collected data

Like most websites, our servers and Cloudflare (section 4) log technical information about each request, such as IP address, browser type, the page requested and the time. Google Analytics collects similar usage information (section 3).

Communications and support notes

If you contact us, we keep that correspondence so that we can respond to you. Our administrator may also keep a short note on your account, for example about a support request.

2. How we use information

• To provide, operate and maintain the practice platform, including automated scoring and progress tracking.
• To show your progress and the skills and tasks that need more work.
• To respond to support requests and tell you about changes to the Service.
• To keep accounts secure and personal, and to prevent abuse and scraping, using sign-in history, device fingerprints and rate limits.
• To give our administrator a daily summary of platform activity (section 4).
• To understand aggregate site traffic and improve the Service.
• To show advertising on public pages, as described in sections 3 and 4.

3. Cookies and similar technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:

• Essential cookies and browser storage, to keep you signed in and remember your settings on this device. Cloudflare may also set a strictly necessary security cookie.
• Analytics cookies. We use Google Analytics, on the public pages and inside the practice platform, to understand how visitors use the site: pages viewed, time on site, general location and device type. We do not send your name or email address to Google Analytics.
• Advertising cookies. We use Google AdSense to display ads on public pages. Google and its advertising partners may use cookies, including the DoubleClick/DART cookie, to serve ads based on your visits to this and other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to our site and other sites on the internet.

You can opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings, or opt out of third-party vendor cookies for personalised advertising at www.aboutads.info. Most browsers also let you block or delete cookies through their settings. Blocking essential cookies will stop you from staying signed in.

4. Service providers and other recipients

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only with the providers below, and only as far as each one needs it to run the Service:

• Contabo (hosting). Our servers, including the database and the recording storage, are rented from Contabo and located in the United States.
• Cloudflare. All traffic to the site passes through Cloudflare, which provides DNS, security and faster delivery, and processes IP addresses and request data to do so.
• Google. Google Sign-In, if you choose it, to authenticate you; Google Analytics, for usage statistics; and Google AdSense and its advertising partners, for advertising on public pages only. Ads are not shown on sign-in pages or inside the practice platform.
• Telegram (internal admin notification). Once a day our administrator receives a private activity report through Telegram, a messaging service. It lists student accounts by username, which for most accounts is the email address, with that day's practice time, number of questions attempted, average score, task types practised and practice streak, plus the number of new sign-ups. The report goes only to our administrator; Telegram carries the message and so processes its contents.
• Your browser's speech recognition. Spoken answers are turned into text by the speech recognition built into your browser, not by us. In Google Chrome, and in most other browsers that offer it, the browser sends the audio to its maker's speech service (Google, for Chrome) under the browser's own privacy terms. We receive only the resulting text, alongside the recording you upload to us.

Scoring runs on our own servers and in your browser. We do not send your answers or recordings to any AI or language-model service. We may also disclose information where the law requires it. The Service is free and we do not take payments on the website, so we do not collect or store payment card details.

5. Data storage and security

We use reasonable administrative and technical safeguards, including password hashing, private recording storage, access controls, two-step sign-in for administrators and rate limiting, to protect your information against unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

6. Data retention

We keep your account and practice data for as long as your account exists. When an account is deleted (section 8), the account and its practice history are deleted. Speaking recordings and sign-in history are kept after an account is deleted unless you ask us to delete them as well; if you ask, we delete them within 30 days. Copies of deleted data may remain in our server backups until those backups are replaced.

7. Children's privacy

The Service is intended for adults preparing for PTE Core for immigration purposes and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will remove it.

8. Your rights and choices

You may ask to access, correct, export or delete the personal information we hold about you, or object to certain processing. If you are in Canada, Canada's federal privacy law (PIPEDA) and the laws of your province may give you further rights. To exercise any of these, email ptecorefreepractice@gmail.com from the address you sign in with.

Deleting your account

There is no delete button in the platform. To delete your account, email ptecorefreepractice@gmail.com from the address you sign in with. When we receive your request:

• We delete your account and your practice history: attempts and scores, Practice All progress, Email Tool attempts and progress, device records and any notes we keep about your account.
• Your speaking recordings and sign-in history are not removed automatically when an account is deleted. Ask for them in the same email, or at any later time, and we will delete them too.
• We complete every deletion request within 30 days and confirm by reply.

You can also ask us to clear your attempts and scores and keep your account.

9. International users

PTE Core Free Practice is operated from India and primarily serves people preparing for Canadian immigration. Our servers are in the United States, and Cloudflare, Google and Telegram may process information in other countries where they operate. Your information will therefore be processed and stored outside your own country, including in the United States.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Changes are posted on this page with a new "Last updated" date. Continued use of the Service after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

11. Contact

Questions about this policy or how your data is handled:

• Email: ptecorefreepractice@gmail.com