Privacy Policy | Civil Service Exam

1. Introduction

Civil Service Exam ("we," "our," or "us") is provided at https://www.civilserviceexam.org. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and share information when you browse our study guides and articles, create an account, use the practice-test dashboard, or purchase a study guide or Pro subscription.

2. Information we collect

We collect the following categories of information:

Account information. If you create a free or Pro dashboard account, we collect your email address, name (optional), and a securely hashed version of your password (we do not store your password in plain text). If you sign in with Google, we receive your email address, name, profile picture, and whether Google has verified your email. We do not receive your Google password.
Practice and exam activity. If you use the practice-test dashboard, we store your exam attempts, individual question responses, scores, timing, flagged questions, study-plan progress, flashcard progress (which cards you marked known or still learning, and when each is due for review), and guide/lesson reading or listening progress, so your dashboard can show your history and readiness data.
Payment-related account identifiers. If you subscribe to Pro, we store a Stripe customer ID and subscription status so we can manage your subscription. If you purchase a Premium study guide, the sale record we receive from Gumroad (our guide-checkout provider) includes the buyer's name and email address, which we retain for order support and revenue records. We do not receive or store your full card number in either case. Stripe and Gumroad handle card data directly.
Usage and analytics. Pages viewed, approximate location based on IP address, device and browser information, and similar data via Google Analytics (GA4), to understand how the site is used and to measure which pages lead to a purchase.
Technical logs. Standard server or hosting logs (for example, timestamps and request paths) used for security and reliability.

3. How we use information

We use this information to:

operate your account, save your practice history, and show your scores and progress;
process payments and manage subscriptions through Stripe and Gumroad;
send account, receipt, and (if you opt in) study-related email;
power the optional AI Study Coach feature described below;
understand site usage and improve the site and its content; and
maintain security and comply with applicable law.

4. AI Study Coach

Pro accounts can use an optional AI Study Coach feature. It is button-driven. You select from provided options rather than typing free text. When you use it, we send a summary of your aggregated practice performance (for example, category accuracy percentages, your readiness score, recent score trend, and your prep track) to OpenAI, our AI provider, to generate the coach's response. We do not send your name, email address, or payment information to OpenAI. If you don't want your performance data used this way, don't use the AI Study Coach feature.

5. Payment processing

Pro subscriptions are billed through Stripe. Premium study guide purchases are processed through Gumroad. Both are independent payment processors with their own privacy policies; we direct you to a Stripe- or Gumroad-hosted checkout (or Gumroad's overlay) to enter payment details, and we never see or store your full card number.

6. Other service providers

Resend: sends transactional and account-related email (e.g. verification, receipts, sign-in alerts) on our behalf.
Google (OAuth, Analytics, AdSense): provides optional Google sign-in, site analytics, and displays advertising on some pages.
OpenAI: powers the AI Study Coach feature as described above.
Stripe and Gumroad: process payments as described above.
Cloud hosting and database providers: store site data and account records securely.

7. Cookies and advertising

We use cookies and similar technologies for site functionality (e.g. keeping you signed in), analytics, and advertising. You can control cookies through your browser settings.

We use Google AdSense to display advertisements on this website. Google AdSense may use cookies and similar technologies, including Google's advertising cookies, to serve ads based on your visit history on this site and other websites.

You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings (https://adssettings.google.com). For more information on how Google uses data when you use our site, see https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

8. Data retention

We retain account and practice-history data for as long as your account is active, so your dashboard can show your history. If you delete your account (see Section 9), your account record, practice history, and study-plan data are deleted from our active database. Payment records held by Stripe and Gumroad, and records we must keep for accounting, tax, fraud-prevention, or legal-compliance purposes, may be retained separately for longer as required by law.

9. Your choices and rights

If you have a dashboard account, you can download a machine-readable export of your account data (account details, subscription records, guide and lesson progress, exam attempts, and question responses) and permanently delete your account, which also cancels any active subscription, from your account's Profile page at any time.

Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights to access, correct, or delete personal data we hold about you, or to opt out of certain uses. Contact us using the information in Section 12 to make a request.

10. Security

We take reasonable measures to protect information, including password hashing and encrypted connections; no method of transmission over the internet is completely secure.

11. Children's privacy

This Service is intended for adults and older teens preparing for civil service employment exams and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, contact us using the information in Section 12 and we will take steps to delete it.

12. Contact

For privacy questions or to make a data request, contact support@civilserviceexam.org.

13. Changes

We may update this policy and will post changes on this page with an updated date.