Ilmino vs Save My Exams

Both platforms help you practise for exams, and both mark your answers with AI, so the real question is how deep that marking and personalisation go. Save My Exams is a large, respected library of exam-board revision resources: expert-written notes, topic questions, model answers, mark schemes and past papers, now paired with Smart Mark AI marking. Ilmino is a current, working AI learning and assessment platform built around an adaptive marked-practice loop. You attempt exam-board-aligned questions on an interactive canvas, Ilmino marks your working against mark-scheme expectations, identifies the misconception, recommends what to practise next using Bayesian personalisation, and tracks your progress with parents and teachers connected. One gives you a broad library to revise from. The other turns static revision into an adaptive, marked practice cycle.

Ilmino is developed by ILM AI. This comparison is based on publicly available information and is intended to help learners, families and institutions understand the differences between the platforms.

Ilmino vs Save My Exams: quick answer

Choose Save My Exams if you want a large library of trusted, exam-board-specific revision notes, topic questions, past papers and model answers, with Smart Mark to mark your answers. Choose Ilmino if you want an adaptive marked-practice loop where AI reads your working step by step, explains where marks were lost, recommends your next topic and next question with Bayesian personalisation, and adds interactive simulations and a customisable dashboard. Save My Exams has the larger content library and stronger search presence; Ilmino goes deeper on marked practice, personalisation and analysis of how you worked.

Quick comparison

Prices change often; confirm on the provider's official pricing page.

What Ilmino offers

Ilmino is a current, working AI learning, exam-practice, assessment and feedback platform. Ilmino combines Bayesian personalisation, exam-board-aligned AI practice, mark-scheme feedback, working-step analysis and interactive simulations within a customisable learning environment.

The centre of Ilmino is an adaptive loop. You pick a subject, topic and difficulty, then attempt exam-board-aligned questions on an interactive practice canvas. You can type your answer or write it out by hand, which matters in maths and the sciences where method carries marks. Ilmino's AI marking reads your working step by step, mapped to exam-board question styles and mark schemes, so it distinguishes a slip in arithmetic from a genuine misconception and awards method credit the way an examiner would. When something is wrong, you get a diagnosis and a visual explanation, not just a red cross, then you retry.

Ilmino does more than generate questions. It marks against exam expectations, explains where marks were lost, analyses how the learner worked and recommends what to practise next. Around the loop sit the tools that keep you moving: strengths and weaknesses analysis, Bayesian next-topic and next-question recommendations, a revision planner, personalised learning journeys, goals and sub-goals, streaks and progress tracking, plus a customisable, widget-based dashboard. For families and schools, Ilmino is a connected experience: parents get progress visibility and notifications, teachers get marking and dashboards, and Ilmino for Institution gives schools a school-controlled learning and management platform. Ilmino also offers interactive STEM simulations. Its focus is UK GCSE and A-Level.

Ilmino also has a separate advanced product, Raphael, discussed in the pricing section below.

What Save My Exams offers

Save My Exams is a large, well-established exam-board revision and resource platform covering GCSE, IGCSE, A-Level and additional qualifications. It has earned a strong reputation among students, parents and teachers, and its strengths are real and considerable.

Its core is a large library of revision notes written by subject experts, organised tightly around specific exam boards and specifications. According to Save My Exams' website, alongside the notes sit topic questions with model answers and mark schemes, past papers and mock exams, and progress and strengths tools. Save My Exams also offers Smart Mark, a genuine AI marking feature aligned to mark schemes that supports both typed and handwritten answers within its scope, so it is fair to say Ilmino is not the only platform applying AI to marking. Save My Exams reports broad exam-board and qualification coverage, and in practice its content library is larger than Ilmino's.

Two things stand out. First, breadth and search presence: Save My Exams has published a large, well-structured resource base and supports it with strong parent, teacher and student content and an extensive search footprint, so material matched to a given specification is easy to find. Second, exam-board specificity: if you study a particular board, locating notes, topic questions and past papers matched to it is straightforward. Save My Exams offers a free plan plus a paid Premium tier. If your priority is trustworthy, board-specific material to revise from, with AI marking to check your answers, Save My Exams is an excellent choice.

Key differences

A revision library versus an adaptive marked-practice loop

Save My Exams is built around a library you consume: you read a note, work through topic questions, and use Smart Mark or a mark scheme to check them. That is efficient and works well for disciplined revisers. Ilmino is built around an adaptive loop the platform drives: attempt, AI marking of your working, misconception diagnosis, a visual explanation, a Bayesian recommendation for your next question or topic, retry, and tracked progress. Both mark answers; the difference is what surrounds the marking. Save My Exams places marking beside a large static library, while Ilmino makes marking the engine of a personalised practice cycle.

Marking the final answer versus analysing the working

Both platforms mark answers with AI, so the honest distinction is depth. Save My Exams' Smart Mark aligns to mark schemes. Ilmino's AI marking analyses the intermediate steps, including handwritten working, identifies where method marks were earned or lost, and names the specific misconception behind an error rather than only judging the final result. For a subject where method carries marks, that step-level analysis is the sharper feedback.

Content breadth versus adaptive personalisation

We will be direct: Save My Exams has the larger library and the stronger search footprint, and Ilmino is not trying to out-publish it. Ilmino's distinctive strength is adaptivity. Its Bayesian recommendations decide what you should practise next from how you have actually performed, and its customisable dashboard and interactive simulations wrap that around a workspace you shape yourself. If you want the widest set of notes and papers, that is Save My Exams. If you want a system that reacts to how you answered and steers your next step, that is Ilmino.

Connected families and schools

Save My Exams is primarily a resource platform used by individuals, with strong parent and teacher content around it; whether it offers connected parent and teacher dashboards is not publicly stated. Ilmino is a connected experience by design, with parent progress visibility and notifications, teacher tools and dashboards, and Ilmino for Institution, a school-controlled learning and management platform for schools.

Practice, assessment and feedback

Both platforms take practice seriously, and both apply AI to marking, so this is where the depth difference matters most.

Save My Exams offers topic questions with model answers and mark schemes, past papers and mock exams, and Smart Mark AI marking aligned to mark schemes for typed and handwritten answers within its scope. That is a strong, exam-focused package, and its past-paper and mock breadth is a genuine advantage.

Ilmino offers exam-board-aligned practice by subject, topic and difficulty, with quick practice, standard tests and full timed exam modes for realistic conditions. Its AI marking maps to exam-board question styles and mark schemes and analyses intermediate working from both typed and handwritten answers on the interactive canvas. Crucially, it goes to method-mark level: it identifies which steps earned credit, flags where marks were lost, and names the misconception behind the error. For high-stakes school use, teachers can review AI marking through Ilmino's institutional tools, because AI marking should never be treated as infallible. The practical distinction: Save My Exams gives you more papers to work through, while Ilmino gives deeper, step-level analysis of each attempt, including your handwritten method.

Personalisation and Bayesian recommendations

Save My Exams provides progress and strengths tools that help you see what to revise next, which supports independent study well. Whether it applies adaptive or Bayesian recommendations is not publicly stated.

Ilmino personalises continuously. Its Bayesian recommendations model your strengths and weaknesses from your actual attempts and use that to recommend your next topic and next question, so practice keeps targeting what will move your marks most. That adaptive engine feeds personalised learning journeys, a revision planner, goals and sub-goals, and progress tracking, turning a set of results into a clear plan for what to do next.

Dashboard and user experience

Whether Save My Exams offers a customisable dashboard is not publicly stated; it provides progress and strengths tools that suit independent revision.

Ilmino's dashboard is customisable and widget-based. Learners and families can arrange widgets around what matters to them: upcoming exams, progress, recommended topics, goals, recent practice, strengths and weaknesses, quizzes, streaks and simulations. The value is a space shaped around the learner's priorities instead of one fixed layout everyone is forced to use. A student revising for a near exam can foreground upcoming papers and recommended topics, while another chasing consistency can foreground streaks and goals. For families, that personal view extends to parents through progress visibility and notifications via Ilmino's connected experiences.

Interactive simulations

Save My Exams centres on written notes, questions and papers; interactive simulations are not publicly stated as part of its offering.

Ilmino includes interactive STEM simulations as a current capability. Instead of only reading about a concept, a learner can manipulate it, see cause and effect, and build the intuition that makes exam questions easier to reason through. Placed inside the same marked-practice loop, simulations connect understanding a concept to practising it under exam conditions, which is particularly valuable in maths and science revision.

Pricing and free access

Ilmino Pro is £12.99 per month, and the majority of Practice Mode is free, so you can attempt exam-board-aligned questions and receive AI marking of your working, with misconception feedback and next-step recommendations, without paying. That free tier already delivers the adaptive marked-practice loop, not just sample content, and Pro unlocks the full experience. See the full details on the pricing page. (Checked 10 July 2026.)

Save My Exams offers a free plan plus a paid Premium tier; according to its website, the Premium price is shown at checkout and should be rechecked before you subscribe (checked 10 July 2026).

Because the two are structured differently, a flat "cheaper" claim would be misleading: compare the specific plan you would actually buy. Prices change often; confirm on the provider's official pricing page.

Raphael is ILM AI's advanced visual and interactive teaching agent and is offered separately from the £12.99 Ilmino Pro plan, with pricing and usage announced independently. The £12.99 proposition stands on Ilmino's own AI practice, mark-scheme marking, working-step analysis, Bayesian recommendations, simulations and customisable dashboard, without relying on Raphael.

Last checked: 10 July 2026.

Where Ilmino has the advantage

Ilmino's edge is depth and adaptivity around marking that both platforms share. It analyses your working to method-mark level and names misconceptions, rather than assessing the final answer alone. It uses Bayesian recommendations to choose your next topic and next question from how you have performed. It offers quick, standard and full timed exam modes, interactive STEM simulations, and a customisable widget dashboard shaped around each learner. It connects students, parents and teachers, and adds a school-controlled institutional platform. With the majority of Practice Mode free and Pro at £12.99 per month, that adaptive marked-practice loop is affordable to reach.

Where Save My Exams has the advantage

Save My Exams has the larger content library and the stronger search presence. Its expert-written notes are tightly matched to specific exam boards, and its breadth of past papers and mock exams across many qualifications is considerable. For a student who revises well independently and mainly needs trusted, board-specific material to study from, with Smart Mark to mark answers against mark schemes, that breadth is a real and practical strength.

Who should choose Ilmino?

Choose Ilmino if you want practice that adapts to you. It suits students who learn best by doing and want AI marking of their actual working, including handwritten method, with feedback on where marks were lost. It fits learners who value the loop of attempt, diagnosis, visual explanation, Bayesian recommendation and retry, who benefit from interactive simulations and a customisable dashboard, families who want parents connected to progress, and schools using Ilmino's institutional tools with teacher review. It is a strong fit for UK GCSE and A-Level students who want adaptive, marked, feedback-rich revision.

Who should choose Save My Exams?

Choose Save My Exams if your priority is the broadest library of trusted, exam-board-specific revision material. It is excellent for disciplined, independent revisers who want expert-written notes, past papers, mocks and model answers matched tightly to their specification, plus Smart Mark to mark their answers. If you already revise well on your own and mainly need high-quality, board-specific resources to study from, Save My Exams is a genuinely strong choice and, today, the larger content library.

The verdict

Save My Exams is a genuinely strong platform with a large, expertly written content base, real exam-board specificity, a trusted resource format, a formidable search footprint and Smart Mark AI marking. Students mainly seeking the widest library of board-specific revision resources may prefer Save My Exams. Learners who want exam-board-aligned AI practice, mark-scheme feedback, Bayesian recommendations, analysis of their working, interactive simulations and a customisable dashboard will find Ilmino the more complete and affordable learning environment. Both mark your answers; Ilmino turns that marking into an adaptive practice loop that also explains your working and steers what you do next. Many students will benefit from both.

Frequently asked questions

Is Ilmino free?

The majority of Ilmino's Practice Mode is free, so you can attempt exam-board-aligned questions and receive AI marking of your working with misconception feedback and next-step recommendations without paying. Ilmino Pro unlocks the full experience at £12.99 per month.

How much does Ilmino cost?

Ilmino Pro is £12.99 per month, and the majority of Practice Mode is free. Prices were checked on 10 July 2026; confirm current prices on the pricing page.

Is Raphael included in Ilmino Pro?

No. Raphael is ILM AI's advanced visual teaching agent and is not included in the standard £12.99 Ilmino Pro subscription. It will be offered separately, with pricing and usage information announced independently.

Which is better for GCSE revision, Ilmino or Save My Exams?

It depends on how you revise. Save My Exams offers a larger library of board-specific notes and past papers for independent study, with Smart Mark to mark answers. Ilmino offers adaptive practice with AI marking of your working, method-mark analysis, misconception feedback and Bayesian next-step recommendations. Many GCSE students use both.

Which is better for exam practice?

Save My Exams gives you more past papers and mocks to work through. Ilmino gives deeper, step-level analysis of each attempt, with quick, standard and full timed exam modes and analysis of handwritten working. The best choice depends on whether you want breadth of papers or depth of adaptive feedback.

Can teachers use Ilmino?

Yes. Ilmino is a connected experience with teacher tools and dashboards, and Ilmino for Institution gives schools a school-controlled learning and management platform with curriculum spaces, assignments, tests and AI marking with teacher review.

Does Ilmino support handwritten answers?

Yes. Ilmino supports both typed and handwritten answers through an interactive canvas, and its AI marking reads handwritten working step by step to award method credit. A stylus or tablet gives the best experience.

Can Ilmino and Save My Exams be used together?

Yes. A common approach is to learn from Save My Exams' resource library, then practise on Ilmino to get adaptive AI marking of your working, misconception feedback and recommendations on what to practise next. The two play different roles: one is a study library, the other is an adaptive marked-practice loop. Students who prefer the interactive, feedback-first approach may also want to read our comparisons of Ilmino vs Seneca Learning and Ilmino vs Cognito.

Final call to action

Start practising with Ilmino for free and create a learning space designed around your subjects, goals and progress. Explore the plans on our pricing page or sign in to begin.

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Sources

• Ilmino pricing: /pricing
• Ilmino Practice Mode and exam modes: /features/exam-practice
• Ilmino AI assessment and marking: /features/automated-marking
• Ilmino progress tracking: /features/progress-tracking
• Ilmino revision planner: /features/revision-planner
• Ilmino for Institution: /institution
• Ilmino connected experiences: /solutions
• Save My Exams official website (revision notes, topic questions, past papers, Smart Mark, pricing): confirm current details on the provider's official site. Pricing checked 10 July 2026.