How Exam Beacon prepares your child

Behind every personalised plan is a learning algorithm, four kinds of practice, and a dashboard that keeps you informed. Here’s how it all works.

How the learning algorithm builds your plan

Every plan is built around your child in three steps. You choose the schools you’re aiming for, your child takes a short diagnostic, and from there the learning algorithm builds a plan that keeps adapting with every answer, all the way to exam day.

Target, reach and safety schools

You pick one target school, the one your plan is built around, plus any reach and safety schools you'd like to track. The learning algorithm calibrates everything to your target's exact requirements, while keeping an eye on the rest, so you always see where your child stands against each.

What the diagnostic measures

The diagnostic looks beyond right or wrong. Every answer, correct or not, is a clue. The learning algorithm reads the pattern across them, a process we call inference, to work out which subjects and question types your child has truly grasped and which they're quietly misunderstanding. A wrong answer often reveals more than a right one, and that's what shapes the plan from session one.

How the plan keeps adapting

Every answer feeds back in. Master a question type and the plan moves on; struggle with one and it returns, in smaller steps, until it sticks. It rebuilds around your child after every session and mock, always matched to your target school and the time left before exam day.

How your child practises

Built up from daily practice to the real thing

A mixed daily practice session in Exam Beacon

Mixed practice: the daily session

A 20 to 30 minute session of mixed question types, with difficulty that adjusts to your child's pace. Our Beacon, study partner is there if your child needs help, guiding them through problems with questions, not answers, so they learn how to solve them, not just what the answer is.

Mini-mocks: short and frequent

Short mini-mocks designed to build exam technique. They run alongside the mixed sessions and are created automatically by the learning algorithm, training your child in question pacing and exam stamina. By the time they sit a full mock, exam conditions will already feel familiar.

Full mock exam: the real experience

Full mock exams replicate your child's target school: same timing, structure and style. The learning algorithm releases them when your child is ready, not before. They can sit each mock on screen, or on paper, snap a photo, and it's marked instantly.

Inside a session

What a session looks like

The six jobs running inside one Exam Beacon session

One session, six layers

A typical Exam Beacon session is 20 to 30 minutes long. To your child, it looks like one continuous flow of practice. Underneath, the learning algorithm is running six different jobs at once:

Practice covers the subjects and question types linked to your child's target school.
Spotlight focuses on the specific weak areas we've identified.
Exploration introduces new content your child hasn't seen yet.
Recall revisits older question types to make sure they've stuck.
Maintenance keeps every subject and question type sharp.
Check-in benchmarks progress with exam-standard questions.

Beacon guiding a child through a question step by step

Beacon, study partner: questions, not answers

When your child gets stuck, our Beacon, study partner never just gives the answer. It asks a question that nudges their thinking, like 'What's the first step?', and guides them one step at a time. If they're still struggling, it breaks the problem down and explains it more simply. The moment they work it out themselves, it steps back, building the confidence they'll need on exam day.

One session, six layers

A typical Exam Beacon session is 20 to 30 minutes long. To your child, it looks like one continuous flow of practice. Underneath, the learning algorithm is running six different jobs at once:

Practice covers the subjects and question types linked to your child's target school.
Spotlight focuses on the specific weak areas we've identified.
Exploration introduces new content your child hasn't seen yet.
Recall revisits older question types to make sure they've stuck.
Maintenance keeps every subject and question type sharp.
Check-in benchmarks progress with exam-standard questions.

Beacon, study partner: questions, not answers

Exam Beacon's safeguarding response in a session

Built for safety

If your child ever seems worried or distressed, our Beacon, study partner responds calmly, practice pauses, and our Safeguarding Lead is alerted. You get an email so you can check in, and the account stays paused until you have.

Everything follows UK statutory guidance and the Online Safety Act 2023, with trusted support like the NSPCC and Childline always signposted.

Clarity for parents

Tracking progress

The hardest part of the 11-plus is not knowing whether your child is truly on track. Your parent dashboard answers that. Every session, every mock and every answer feeds into one clear picture, so you always know where your child stands and what to do next.

Know exactly where your child stands
Every skill your child is working on, mapped across four clear stages, from Weak → Developing → Strong → In the Zone against your target school's actual requirements. Drill into any skill to see which question types are secure and which still need work, with reach and safety schools tracked alongside. No guesswork, just a clear read on readiness.
See whether mocks are improving
Every full mock, side by side, so you can see at a glance what's improving, what's plateauing and what's slipping back, with the platform's read on why. Pace and stamina sit next to accuracy, measured against your target school's real exam timing, so you know they're ready for the day, not just the questions.
Sit down and go through it together
When you want to work through things as a family, open any session and step through your child's answers with the full solution explanations beside them. Drill into a single question type, or review a whole session, so every conversation about their work is grounded in exactly what they did.
Stay on top without lifting a finger
Every week, a clear summary lands in your inbox: score progress, sessions completed, mocks taken and anything worth your attention, pulled straight from the dashboard. So even in a busy week, you'll always know how your child is doing without logging in.