Comparison
Quanta vs Exam-Mate
Exam-Mate is a past-paper question bank: find questions by topic, print a worksheet, check the mark scheme yourself. Quanta is where you sit the real paper and get marked. Exam-Mate’s free plan stops its topical papers at 2019; Quanta’s topical index runs to 2026 and costs nothing, and every paper in it can be answered online and marked against the official mark scheme.
Sorting questions by topic tells you where to practise. Marking tells you what to change. For the Cambridge subjects Quanta covers, you get both in one place.
Updated 5 October 2026
At a glance
| Quanta | Exam-Mate | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is for | Sitting 196 real Cambridge past papers online and having them marked. | Finding past-paper questions by topic and building worksheets. |
| Questions by topic | Free topical index to 2026, every question filed under its syllabus topic. | Free up to 2019; later years need a paid plan. |
| Marking | Typed answers marked against the official scheme, part by part, method marks included. | MCQ tests scored automatically; written questions show the scheme to self-check; an AI marker grades answer sheets you upload. |
| Price | Free. No paid tier, no ads. | Topical papers to the latest year: USD 12 a month or USD 120 a year. Worksheet builder from USD 20 a month. |
Topical past papers, free and up to date
What most students pay Exam-Mate for is recent questions sorted by topic. Quanta publishes that index free for every subject it covers — each question listed under the syllabus topic it tests, with its paper and marks, newest papers first:
- IGCSE Maths 0580 topical past papers
- A Level Maths 9709 topical past papers
- A Level Economics 9708 topical past papers
- A Level Business 9609 topical past papers
- AS Chemistry 9701 topical past papers
The difference is what happens next. On Exam-Mate a topic gives you a list of questions to print. On Quanta each one opens a paper you can sit, and the marks you drop are counted against the skill that cost them.
What practising on Quanta gets you
- The real Cambridge paper, not a lookalike. 196 past papers across IGCSE Maths 0580, A Level Maths 9709, A Level Economics 9708, A Level Business 9609 and AS Chemistry 9701, sat in the browser — the actual questions, command words and mark allocations you will meet in the exam.
- Marked against that paper’s official mark scheme. Maths part by part, method marks included; Business objective by objective, the way Cambridge grids it; Economics and Chemistry multiple choice with every answer explained.
- Every lost mark tied to a skill, across every paper. Not “68%” but which skill keeps costing you — and Quark points you at it next.
- What the paper needed for each grade. Paper pages show that paper’s own grade boundaries for every series Cambridge has published, and a calculator works out what you need on the papers you have left.
- Free, with nothing behind a paywall. Marking, tracking and the AI tutor are included. No ads.
- Your teacher can join you. Classes, set papers and a per-skill view of the whole class — and a student can invite their teacher in.
When you would need something else
Quanta covers IGCSE Maths 0580, A Level Maths 9709, A Level Economics 9708, A Level Business 9609 and AS Chemistry 9701 for Cambridge International. Exam-Mate also covers other Cambridge subjects and other boards — Edexcel, OCR, AQA and IB among them — and teachers use its builder to make printed worksheets. For those, it is the broader tool.
Common questions
Is Exam-Mate free?
Partly. Its yearly past papers are free, and the free plan includes topical past papers and online multiple-choice tests up to 2019. Topical papers up to the latest year are in its Individual plan: USD 12 for a month, USD 65 for six months or USD 120 for a year, on its pricing page.
Is there a free alternative to Exam-Mate?
For IGCSE Maths 0580, A Level Maths 9709, A Level Economics 9708, A Level Business 9609 and AS Chemistry 9701, Quanta: a topical index of every question on 196 papers up to 2026, free, and each paper can be sat online and marked against its official mark scheme.
Does Exam-Mate mark your answers?
Its online multiple-choice tests are scored automatically, and its AI Exam Marker marks answer sheets you upload with the paper and mark scheme. For written topical questions it shows the official mark scheme for you to check against. Quanta marks answers you type into the real paper, part by part, and keeps a record of which skills keep losing marks. How Quanta marks.
Is Quanta better than Exam-Mate?
For practising the Cambridge subjects it covers, yes: the topical index is free and current, and the papers are marked rather than handed to you with the scheme. For printing worksheets, or for subjects and boards Quanta doesn’t cover, Exam-Mate does more.
Details about other sites were checked on 5 October 2026 (sources: exam-mate.com, topical pricing, builder pricing, MCQ practice, AI Exam Marker). Features and prices change — check their site before relying on them.
Practise real Cambridge past papers against real mark schemes
Quanta has real Cambridge A Level Maths 9709 past-paper questions, broken into skill checkpoints, marked criterion by criterion the way examiners mark — and it tracks which skills you’re missing. Free for individual students.
Start practising free