Frequently asked questions

The questions worth answering plainly, including the ones with an awkward answer.

Is it free?

Yes, all of it, and there is nothing to sign up for. No account, no trial, no adverts and no paid tier on this library. It is paid for by the other two Ink libraries and by the company behind them.

Which exam board does it cover?

None of them, yet, and the page that says otherwise does not exist. InkBiology teaches its own curriculum, written to hold more than any single specification asks for. Mapping a board means going through every one of its statements and finding where each is taught, and that work has not begun. The exam boards page lists the eleven routes the library is planned over and what is recorded about each.

In practice the overlap is large, since A-level biology is A-level biology, and every lesson names the specification statements it is written against. But use your board’s own specification for what is examinable, not this site.

Are the questions past papers?

No. All 416 are original, written for this library, with mark schemes written point by point in the way examiners write them. Nothing here reproduces a board’s question text or its mark scheme, which are the awarding bodies’ copyright.

Do I need an account for my progress to be saved?

There is no account. Your checklist ratings, your card schedule and your question history are kept in this browser, on this device, and are sent nowhere. That means they survive closing the tab and do not survive clearing your browser data, and it means they do not follow you to another device unless you move them yourself. Both the checklist and the flashcards have a copy-and-paste route for that.

Can I use it offline?

Yes. Add the library to your home screen and it installs as an app: the shell and the tools are stored on the device, and any lesson you have opened stays readable without a connection. The cards and the questions work offline once the app has them.

How many cards and questions are there?

562 flashcards and 416 questions across 70 lessons, plus 403 defined terms and every lesson’s own objectives on the checklist.

Who writes it, and how do I know it is right?

It is written by Ink Learning Ltd, and it is checked by a battery of gates that run on every build. Every lesson has to carry objectives, a misconception to argue with, its own figures, a self-check and the specification statements it answers to, and no page may claim coverage that has not been checked. What the gates cannot check is the biology itself. A subject review by someone who teaches the subject is one of the release gates and is still outstanding, which is recorded rather than glossed over.

If something is wrong we would rather know: the corrections page says how to tell us, and every page carries a link to report a mistake on it.

Why do the diagrams look hand-drawn?

Because each one is drawn in code for the point it is making rather than chosen from a library of stock artwork. A diagram here exists to carry one idea; if it is decorating a paragraph it is not in the lesson.

What about physics and maths?

Same publisher, same address, same shape: InkPhysics and InkMaths. Both are further along than this library, carrying board maps and an optional account for syncing progress between devices, neither of which is here yet.