Privacy Policy | TOEFL Ready

The short version

We collect only what we need to run your account and your practice tests. We never sell your information, and we never see your card details. You can ask to see, correct or delete what we hold about you at any time.

At TOEFL Ready, your privacy matters to us. This Privacy Policy explains what we collect when you use toeflready.com (the “Service”), why we collect it, how we protect it, and the choices you have.

1. Who we are

This site is run by TOEFL Ready. We decide what personal information this site collects and why, which makes us the data controller for it.

If you have a question about anything on this page, or you want to ask us to do something with your information, write to hello@toeflready.com.

2. Information we collect

2.1 When you create an account

Your name and email address.
Your password, stored only as an encrypted, one-way scrambled value by our sign-in provider. Nobody here can read it, including us.
If you sign in with Google, the email address and basic profile details Google confirms for you. We never see your Google password.
A profile picture, if you upload one.
The date you accepted our terms.
A security record of sign-in activity, such as when you logged in or reset your password and the internet address it came from, kept by our sign-in provider to protect your account.

2.2 When you take a practice test

Your answers to each question.
Your written responses to the Writing tasks, and audio recordings of your spoken responses to the Speaking tasks. We record only when you choose to answer a Speaking task, and only after your browser has asked for and been given microphone permission. You can take that permission back in your browser settings at any time.
Your scores, the written feedback on your responses, and a text version of what you said in the Speaking tasks.
When you started, paused and finished, so a test you leave part-way can be picked back up.

Please do not put sensitive personal details, such as your ID numbers, health information or other people’s private information, in your written or spoken answers. Practice answers do not need them.

If you take a free test without an account, this is tied to a short-lived identifier stored in your browser, not to you. It is how the site can offer to resume a test you have already started. Clear your cookies, switch device or open a private window and it is gone. If you later create an account or log in using the same browser, we attach those attempts to your account so your work is not lost.

2.3 When you unlock your full report

If you took a free test without an account, you can unlock your full report by entering your email address and a 6-digit code we send to it. Typing the code back creates a free account for that address (or logs you in to the one you already have) and saves your results to it. We keep the address you entered, the code only as a scrambled value for 15 minutes, and how often a code was asked for, so the form can’t be misused.

We also send occasional emails about new practice tests and study tips to that address. Every one has an unsubscribe link, and one click stops them.

2.4 When you pay for a subscription

Which plan you chose, when it started, when it renews, and whether it is active or cancelled.
A record of each payment: the amount, the currency, whether it succeeded, and a reference number from the company that processed it.
We never see or store your card number, expiry date or security code. Those go straight to the payment company and never reach our systems.

2.5 When you simply visit

Like most websites, our hosting provider automatically records standard technical details of each request, such as your internet address, browser type, the page requested, the page that sent you here, and the date and time. We use this to keep the site running and secure.
If something breaks, we may receive a technical error report so we can fix it. We keep personal details out of these reports.
We use Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages get used.
We also keep a simple count of page visits that uses no cookies and stores nothing on your device. It sees the page you opened, the page that sent you here, and your browser, device type and country, and it cannot recognise you on a later day.
We also remember how you first found us: the page you first opened, the website that sent you, and any campaign tag in the link (never the rest of the address). If you then start a test or create an account, we save that with it, so we can see which places send students who actually practice. We never use it for advertising.

Our Cookie Policy explains what is stored in your browser and why, in more detail.

3. Why we use it

To run the site: sign you in, show your tests, save your progress, and give you your results.
To mark your responses and give you feedback on them.
To take payment and keep your subscription accurate.
To email you about your account and your results: verifying your address, resetting your password, sending the code that unlocks your report, and telling you when results are ready. These are not marketing emails.
To tell you about new practice tests and study tips, if you unlocked a report with your email address. Every one of these emails has an unsubscribe link, and one click stops them. Results and account emails still reach you.
To improve the site, using analytics and a cookie-free visit count.
To keep the site safe and to deal with misuse.

In legal terms: most of the above is necessary to provide the service you asked for. Emails about new tests and study tips rely on our legitimate interest in telling you about the service you used, and you can stop them at any time with the unsubscribe link. Analytics and the cookie-free visit count rely on our legitimate interest in knowing which pages are used, so we can improve them. Keeping the site secure relies on our legitimate interest in running it safely.

4. Who else handles it

We do not sell your information, and we do not share it for anyone else’s advertising. We do use other companies to run parts of the service, and they handle your information on our instructions only. By category, those are:

Website hosting and content delivery.
Database hosting, sign-in and account security.
File storage, for audio recordings and uploads.
Payment processing.
Sending the emails described above.
Error monitoring, to find and fix faults.
Specialist providers who help us evaluate your practice responses.
Website analytics: Google Analytics and the cookie-free visit count.

If you would like to know which specific companies these are, email hello@toeflready.com and we will tell you.

We may also share information if the law requires it, to protect someone’s safety or our legal rights, or if the business is transferred to a new owner, in which case this policy continues to apply to your information.

5. How long we keep it

Your account and your test history: for as long as your account is open. Your past attempts stay so you can see how your scores change over time.
Your recordings and written responses: kept with the attempt they belong to, so you can listen back and re-read them alongside your feedback. You can ask us to delete them sooner.
If you delete your account: we keep it for 30 days first, and you can undo the deletion at any point in that window using a link we email you. After 30 days we permanently delete it or irreversibly anonymise it.
Payment records: kept for as long as tax and accounting law requires, even after an account is closed.
Guest test attempts: tied to your browser, and lost when you clear your cookies.
Technical logs: kept only for as long as we need them to run and secure the site.

6. Keeping your information safe

The site is served over HTTPS, so what travels between your device and us is encrypted. Passwords are stored only in scrambled form, and card details never reach us. No system is perfectly secure, though, so please choose a strong password and keep it to yourself. If a breach ever puts your information at risk, we will tell you and the authorities where the law requires it.

7. Your rights and choices

You can ask us to:

show you the information we hold about you;
correct anything that is wrong;
delete your account and your data;
give you a copy of your data in a portable format;
stop using your information for a particular purpose.

You can see your test history on your Score History page, update your details in your account settings, and delete your account from there too. For anything else, email hello@toeflready.com and we will reply within a month.

Depending on where you live, some of these are legal rights rather than courtesies. That is the case across the UK and the EU, among others. Either way, we will do them.

If you live in a US state with its own privacy law, such as California, you can also ask us what personal information we have collected about you and ask us to delete it, and we will not treat you any differently for asking. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-site advertising.

You can turn analytics cookies off at any time by blocking or clearing cookies in your browser; our Cookie Policy explains how.

If you think we have handled your information badly, you can complain to the data protection regulator where you live. We would rather you told us first, so we can put it right.

8. Children

This site is meant for people preparing to sit the TOEFL iBT, and is not designed for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account or given us information, tell us and we will remove it.

9. Where your information is handled

Our service runs on computers in more than one country, and the companies described above may handle your information outside the country you live in. Where the law requires safeguards for that, as the UK and the EU do, we rely on the standard legal protections those rules provide.

10. Links to other sites

Our pages may link to other websites, such as the payment company’s checkout or Google’s sign-in. We do not control them and are not responsible for their privacy practices, so please read their policies too.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the new version here and change the “last updated” date at the top, and if a change affects you directly, we will tell you. Carrying on using the site afterwards means you accept the new version.

12. Contact us

If you have any questions about this policy, contact TOEFL Ready at hello@toeflready.com.