Privacy policy

The short version

You can use most of TestUstad without telling us anything. Browsing MCQs and practising do not require an account. If you do create one, we keep the minimum needed to save your progress and to know what you have paid for. We do not sell your data, and we do not share it with anyone except the service providers listed below.

What we collect

If you never sign up

Nothing that identifies you personally. Our servers and our hosting provider keep ordinary request logs: IP address, browser and device type, the pages requested, and the time. This is standard for any website and is used to keep the site running, to diagnose errors and to detect abuse such as automated scraping.

If you create an account

• Your name and email address. Required, so we can identify your account and contact you about it.
• A password, stored only as a one-way hash. We cannot read it, and neither can anyone who obtains our database.
• Your phone number and target exams, if you choose to give them. Both are optional.
• If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address and profile picture from Google. We never receive your Google password.

What using the site records

• Your attempts: which questions you were shown, what you answered, whether it was correct, and how long the attempt took. This is what makes your history, your score and your weak topics work. Without it the product does not function.
• Your orders, if you buy an exam pack.

If you buy something

Payment is made by bank transfer, JazzCash or Easypaisa directly to our account, and is then confirmed manually. To do that we ask for a transaction ID and a screenshot of the payment receipt, which you upload. That screenshot is stored with our media host and is seen only by staff approving the order. We never ask for, receive or store your card number, your CVV, your bank login or your wallet PIN. If a screenshot you upload shows more than the transaction, crop it first.

How we use it

• To run your account, save your progress and show your results.
• To decide what you have access to, if you have bought a pack.
• To confirm and support payments, and to keep records of them.
• To fix bugs, measure which pages are useful, and improve the question bank.
• To detect and stop abuse, including bulk automated copying of our content.
• To send you email about your account or your order. We do not send marketing email you did not ask for.

We do not sell your personal data to anyone, and we do not share it with advertisers.

Cookies and similar technology

A cookie is a small file a site stores in your browser. TestUstad uses them for three things.

• Strictly necessary cookies. These keep you signed in and protect forms against cross-site request forgery. If you block them, you cannot log in.
• Preference cookies. Small settings that make the site behave the way you left it.
• Advertising and measurement cookies, set by third parties. These are covered in the next section.

Every browser lets you see, block and delete cookies from its settings. Blocking the first two categories will break signing in; blocking the third will not stop you seeing ads, it will only make them less relevant.

Advertising and third parties

We show ads to keep the free half of TestUstad free. Ads are served by third-party ad networks, and this section is what those networks require us to tell you.

• Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or 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. You can opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalised advertising at aboutads.info/choices or optout.networkadvertising.org.
• More detail on how Google handles data from sites that use its services is in Google's partner sites policy.

Ad networks receive your IP address and cookie data directly, through your browser. They do not receive your name, your email address, your answers or your results from us.

Who else touches your data

We use a small number of providers, each for one job:

• Our hosting provider, which serves the site and keeps request logs.
• Our database provider, which stores accounts, attempts and orders.
• Our media host, which stores uploaded payment screenshots.
• Google, if you choose to sign in with Google, and for advertising.

Some of these providers operate servers outside Pakistan, so your data may be stored or processed abroad.

How long we keep it

• Account details and attempt history: until you ask us to delete the account.
• Orders and payment records: kept after deletion where we are required to retain financial records, or to defend a dispute.
• Server logs: a short rolling window, then discarded.

Your choices

Write to support@testustad.com from the email address on the account and you can ask us to:

• tell you what we hold about you;
• correct anything that is wrong;
• delete your account and its history;
• stop sending you a particular kind of email.

You can also edit your name, phone number and target exams yourself from your account page at any time.

Security

Traffic is encrypted in transit. Passwords are stored hashed, never in readable form. Access to the admin area, where orders and accounts are visible, is limited to staff who need it. No system is perfectly secure, so if we ever discover a breach affecting your data we will tell you.

Children

TestUstad is built for students preparing for entry tests and job tests, so a large part of our audience is at school or college. We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, write to us and we will delete it. Where advertising is shown to users we know to be under the age of consent in their country, it is not personalised.

Changes to this policy

If we change how we handle your data we will update this page and the date at the top. If the change is significant we will say so on the site rather than expecting you to notice.

Contact

For anything on this page, including a request to see or delete your data, write to support@testustad.com. Other ways to reach us are on the contact page.