Comparison
Quanta vs ZNotes
ZNotes is for reading. Quanta is for finding out whether you can get the marks. ZNotes’ practice is chapter quizzes written by other students. On Quanta you sit real Cambridge past papers, marked against the official mark scheme, with every lost mark traced to the skill that cost it — free.
Notes make a topic feel understood. Cambridge does not award marks for feeling understood; it awards them for writing a specific thing on the page. Real papers, properly marked, are how you close that gap.
Updated 1 October 2026
At a glance
| Quanta | ZNotes | |
|---|---|---|
| What you practise on | 196 real Cambridge past papers, sat online. | Chapter quizzes written by students. |
| Marking | Against the paper's official mark scheme — method marks, reasons, evaluation. | Quiz answers checked; written answers are not marked. |
| Tracking | Every lost mark tied to a syllabus skill, across every paper. | Quiz results by chapter. |
| AI help | A tutor that knows the exact question and mark scheme you are on. Free. | Ask Zee, an AI assistant; more usage with the paid Boost plan. |
| Price | Free. No paid tier, no ads. | Free notes; Boost (paid) for unlimited PDFs and more AI. |
Knowing a topic is not the same as scoring on it
You can understand exactly why the angle at the centre is twice the angle at the circumference and still drop the mark for not writing the reason. You can know every Business theory and still score 3 out of 12 because the evaluation could have been about any company. Those marks are lost on the page, not in the notes — and only a marked paper shows you where.
On Quanta every paper is mapped to its mark scheme, so you see the specific criterion you missed and the skill it belongs to. Do that across a few papers and the topics you thought you knew sort themselves from the ones you actually score on. Start with the topics that carry the most marks.
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. For other Cambridge subjects, or a first read-through of content you have never met, you will need notes from somewhere — then come back here to sit the papers.
Common questions
Is Quanta better than ZNotes?
For practising, yes. ZNotes gives you notes and student-written quizzes; Quanta gives you real Cambridge papers marked against the official scheme, with per-skill tracking, free.
What is the best free site to practise IGCSE 0580?
Quanta. Every 0580 past paper on it is mapped to its official mark scheme, marked part by part, and tracked skill by skill — free.
Can I use ZNotes and Quanta together?
Yes: read a topic in your notes, then sit a real paper on Quanta and see whether the marks follow.
Details about other sites were checked on 1 October 2026 (sources: znotes.org). 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