An independent archive, built for revision.
Quimbo is a study site made by people who sat these exams, not by the body that sets them. Below is exactly what we are, what we are not, and how we handle material that belongs to the SQA rather than to us.
By using this website you agree to the terms of service and privacy policy, including the collection and use of cookies. Read the detail.
Support
Questions, corrections, a broken paper link or anything else about the site — email us and we'll get back to you.
In short: we are not the SQA. We hold no rights in the papers we link to, we host none of them, and the SQA has not endorsed, approved or reviewed anything on this site. The papers remain the copyright of the Scottish Qualifications Authority and are read on sqa.org.uk.
An independent revision hub for Scottish qualifications
Quimbo gathers the courses that Scottish pupils actually sit — National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher — into one place. For each course you get direct links to the official question papers and marking instructions, a plain-English guide to what that exam asks of you, and AI-written practice tests to revise with.
We write the guides, we make the practice tests, and we link to the papers. Nothing is hosted here, nothing is charged for, and nothing is claimed to be official.
By using Quimbo you agree to our terms and privacy policy
Browsing the site, signing in, pinning a subject or generating a practice test all mean you accept our terms of service and our privacy policy — including the cookies and local storage described below.
In short: the cookies we set keep you signed in, remember your theme and store your cookie choice. Optional analytics only run once you accept them, and you can change that choice at any time. The full detail is further down this page.
We are not the SQA, and not part of any other organisation
Quimbo is an independent study site. It is not the Scottish Qualifications Authority, not Qualifications Scotland, and it is not connected to, endorsed by, sponsored by or acting on behalf of either of them — nor of any school, college, local authority, awarding body or education agency.
References to SQA, National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher are purely descriptive: they tell you which qualification or exam a page is about. They are not a claim of approval, partnership or official status.
If anything on this site reads as though we are official, tell us and we will change the wording straight away.
The past papers and marking instructions belong to the SQA
Question papers, marking instructions, course specifications and every other document published by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (now Qualifications Scotland) are protected by copyright under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and the rights in them rest with that organisation.
This site does not copy, store, re-host, mirror or alter those files. Every paper link opens the PDF hosted on sqa.org.uk, in a new tab, exactly as that organisation publishes it — so you are always reading the original, under the rights holder's own terms of use.
Linking to public material is not copying it
All we do is link: we point at documents that are already publicly available on sqa.org.uk. We do not bypass any login, paywall or access control, and we never present those documents as our own work.
If you want to reuse a paper yourself — in a handout, on another website, in a textbook — the permission you need comes from the rights holder, not from us. A link from this site grants you no licence over the file behind it.
The guides, questions and site itself are ours
The course summaries on this site are written by us, in our own words, as study guides. The design, the code, the practice questions and the written text of Quimbo are the copyright of Quimbo, 2026, apart from any material that belongs to someone else.
You are welcome to read them and use them for your own revision or teaching. Please do not republish them wholesale, feed them into another product, or sell them. Short quotations with a link back to the page are fine.
Exam-style questions, written by AI, not by the SQA
Practice tests are generated by an AI model in the style of the course's papers — the same command words, mark tariffs and difficulty. They are not real exam questions, no one has ever sat or marked them, and they are not approved by any awarding body.
The model is asked to write original questions rather than reuse paper wording, and each answer is checked for correctness before it is shown. AI can still be wrong or out of date, so treat a practice question as extra revision — never as a prediction of what will come up.
Names are used to describe courses, never to imply approval
SQA, National 5, Higher, Advanced Higher and the associated logos and names belong to their respective owners. This site uses the qualification names only to say which course it is linking to.
No logo, crest or badge of the SQA or Qualifications Scotland is used here as a mark of endorsement, and none should be read as one.
Always check the official source
Course guides summarise published course information, but specifications change and summaries can slip. For the definitive course content and assessment arrangements, check sqa.org.uk and ask your teacher or lecturer.
Everything on this site is general study information. It is not legal, academic or professional advice, and the notes on this page explain how we handle other people's material — they are not a substitute for legal advice about your own situation.
Rights holders and corrections
If you hold rights in anything linked from or written on this site and you object to how it is used, tell us and we will remove or amend it promptly — no argument needed.
The same goes for a broken paper link, a wrong answer in a practice test or a typo in a course guide. Corrections make the site better for everyone sitting these exams.
Terms of service & privacy policy
Last updated 12 November 2026
By using this website you agree to the terms of service and privacy policy below, including the collection and use of cookies and local storage described in them. If you don't agree, please don't use the site.
Using Quimbo means accepting these terms
Quimbo is a free study aid, provided as it is. We work hard to keep paper links and practice answers correct, but we can't promise the site will always be available, complete or free of mistakes, and it is no substitute for the official course information on sqa.org.uk or for guidance from your teacher or lecturer.
You need an account to pin subjects and keep practice tests. Keep your sign-in details private, don't share your account, and don't use the site to break the law, to overload it, or to copy its content into another product. We may suspend an account that does any of those.
We may change the site, these terms or this policy from time to time. Whatever is published here is the version in force, and the date above shows when it last changed.
What data we collect, and what we use it for
We collect as little as we can get away with, and only for the reasons listed against each one:
Account details
Email address, username, password
To create your account, verify your email and sign you in. Passwords are hashed by the platform that runs the site and are never visible to us.
Saved study data
The subjects you pin, the practice tests you generate
So they are waiting for you the next time you sign in, and so a course's test isn't rewritten every visit.
Sign-in session
A session cookie set when you log in
So the site knows it is you from one page to the next. Removed when you log out.
Preferences
Light or dark mode, your cookie choice
So the site looks and behaves the way you asked, without asking again.
Usage counters
How often a costly feature has been used recently, tied to your account
To stop one person (or one script) running up the cost of generating practice tests.
Analytics
Anonymous counts of pages and courses opened
To see which subjects people actually need. Nothing is collected until you press “Accept all”.
Service emails
Address used for verification and password-reset messages
To keep your account secure. We don't send marketing email.
We do not ask for your real name, school, address or exam results, and we don't buy information about you from anyone.
Who we share it with, and why
- Our hosting and platform provider stores your account and the records above on our behalf, under our instructions. It may keep that data in data centres outside the UK, relying on its standard contractual safeguards.
- Our email provider delivers verification and password-reset messages for us.
- The AI model that writes practice tests receives the course and level being requested — never your name, email or account details.
- An analytics provider, only if you accept optional cookies. Decline, and it receives nothing.
- The Scottish Qualifications Authority (Qualifications Scotland) receives your request at the moment you click through to a past paper — that is a normal web visit, governed by its own privacy policy once you leave Quimbo.
- A court or regulator, if the law requires us to hand something over.
- We do not sell your data, rent it, or trade it, and we build no advertising profiles of you.
How long we keep it
Account details
Until you delete your account or ask us to.
Pinned subjects and practice tests
Until you remove them, or delete your account.
Sign-in session
Until you log out or the session expires.
Theme and cookie choice
In your own browser until you clear its data or change the choice.
Usage counters
Hours — they expire on their own and no history is kept.
What cookies are and what we use them for
A cookie is a small text file a website asks your browser to keep. Local storage is the same idea without sending anything back with every request. Neither can run code, read other sites' files or look around your device — they only hold the values the site put there, and you can clear them at any time from your browser settings.
We keep them to a minimum: the ones needed to sign you in and remember this choice, one for your theme, and optional analytics that only start once you accept.
Sign-in session
Necessary
Set when you log in so the site knows it is you on each page. Removed when you log out.
qm-consent
Necessary
Remembers the cookie choice you make in the banner, so we don't ask you again.
pt-theme
Preference
Remembers whether you chose light or dark mode.
Analytics
Optional
Anonymous counts of which pages and courses get used. Nothing is set until you press “Accept all”, and pressing “Necessary only” switches them off.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can ask for a copy of the data we hold about you, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete it, and object to how it is used. Signed-in features let you delete what you have saved yourself, and you can ask for account deletion at any time.
If you think we have handled your data badly you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk. We would rather hear from you first so we can put it right.
This page explains how Quimbo is run and is written in plain English rather than legal drafting. It is general information, not legal advice for your own situation.
Quimbo is an independent study site and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or associated with the Scottish Qualifications Authority or Qualifications Scotland. Question papers and marking instructions are published by the SQA at sqa.org.uk and remain that organisation's copyright; this site links to them and does not host them.