What's new
Speak your answer instead of typing it: every box you write an answer in now has a 🎤 Dictate button — short answers, the recall boxes in the narrated sessions, and the Level 3 design tasks. Tap it and say your answer. The words land where your cursor is rather than replacing what you have written, so you can type a bit and speak a bit. Read it back before you submit — it mishears trade words, and “invented” where you said “unvented” costs you the mark. Needs Chrome or Safari; on a browser without speech the button simply isn’t there.
Design assignments — practice at the synoptic (Level 3): six full design jobs, one per system — boosted cold water, hot water, heat loss and emitters, plant sizing, soil stacks and guttering. You get a real brief and work it end to end, and it marks the way City & Guilds mark design work: error carried forward, so one slip costs one mark rather than the whole job. Find them on the new 📐 Design pill at the top of any Level 3 unit.
Working cutaways — taps and valves that actually work: new label tasks where you open the component yourself and watch what happens inside. Drag the slider on a rising-spindle stop valve and the head, spindle and jumper all lift together, with water passing only once the washer clears the seat — then do the same on a non-rising spindle tap and see the head stay put. Gate valves, ceramic disc taps and single and double check valves too. The labels move with the parts, so you name each one while it's working.
Everything else we’ve added → — and every one of them has a card below, which is where to look for how to use it.
The whole thing, in a minute and a half
Filmed on the live site rather than mocked up: a lesson, a quiz marked with its explanations, a task, and the trap seal simulator. If you would rather be shown than read, start here.
Take a tour again
New here, or want a refresher? Tap any tour and we'll walk you round that screen, highlighting what each part does and why it's there. Each level has its own dashboard, so there is a dashboard tour for each of the three.
Why PlumbMate works
PlumbMate isn't just a question bank. It's built around three evidence-based learning principles: retrieval practice (recalling answers strengthens memory far more than re-reading), spaced repetition (revisiting material at intervals locks it in long-term), and weak-area targeting (drilling what you're worst at, not what feels comfortable).
Every feature below exists to serve one of those three principles. Once you know that, the app gets simple: quiz, review your heatmap, drill weak topics, repeat.
Pick your path
One page, three routes through it.
🚀 New & on a free trial
Your 14-day trial is enough time to cover a whole unit properly. Here's the game plan.
- Day 1 — Get set up Sign up, pick the unit you're closest to an exam on — this could be Health & Safety, Heating or something else depending on where you are in your course — and take your first quiz. Don't worry about the score — the app needs a baseline.
- Days 2–3 — Work through the unit Complete two or three quizzes per day. After each one, read the explanations carefully. This is where the learning happens, not the scoring.
- Day 4 — Check your heatmap Open Key Revision for that unit and switch to the Heatmap tab. Red areas are where you need to spend time — tap a red Assessment Criterion to drill those questions.
- Days 5–10 — Spaced retrieval Do at least one Key Revision session every day. The app decides which questions to resurface — you just show up. This is the feature that moves the needle.
- Day 12 — Final Challenge Attempt the unit's Final Challenge (40 questions, 85% to pass). If you pass, you've earned your certificate. If not, the app tells you exactly where to go back.
- Day 14 — Decide By this point you'll know whether PlumbMate works for you. Most students who've followed this plan keep going.
📚 Revising for my exam
The routine below works at any level. What changes is what you are aiming at — so start here, then follow the same daily pattern.
Ten units, each assessed on its own through the year rather than in one sitting at the end. That means you are never revising everything at once, and a unit you have finished is genuinely finished. Work the unit, revise the unit, sit it — then start the next. Your study plan will name the unit to do first and the lesson to start today.
Nine units, one exam each, seventy per cent to pass. Most units take around four weeks end to end. Because the exams are separate, the pattern below repeats nine times rather than building to one day — which is the good news: a bad week costs you one unit, not the qualification.
This is the one that catches people out. One written paper covers five units — 331, 332, 333, 334 and 335 — so you cannot finish with one and forget it; all five have to be alive on the same morning. Unit 336 is not on that paper at all; it is assessed entirely through the synoptic design assignment. Pace the five against your paper date, and treat 336 as separate work with its own deadline.
First — work through the unit
- Read each lesson and take its quiz in sequence — cover the whole unit before you start revising it. At Level 3, get all five examined units open before you go deep on any one of them.
- After every quiz, read the explanations. Especially on the ones you got right by guessing.
- Use the short-answer quizzes too — they build the writing muscle you need on exam day.
- Do the hands-on tasks — label the parts of a valve, or Pipe Up a whole system from scratch. Drawing a system is the fastest way to find out whether you actually understand it, and it's exactly what you'll be asked to interpret in the exam.
- Don't stress about heatmap colours yet. You're still learning, not revising.
Then — switch to revision mode
Now switch to the revision area. At Level 2 each unit has 6 Practice Tests and a Final Challenge exam. Run this daily 20-minute routine:
- 5 minutes: one Key Revision session. Let the app choose your questions.
- 10 minutes: one Practice Test, or tap a red AC on your Key Revision heatmap to drill those questions, or take a short-answer quiz on a weak area.
- 5 minutes: read the end-of-quiz AI summary and the explanations on anything you got wrong.
Aim to pass all 6 Practice Tests for each unit before attempting the Final Challenge. The Final Challenge is a 40-question, 85%-to-pass exam simulation — treat it as a readiness check, not something to keep retaking until you luck into a pass.
✨ Get a personalised study plan
On every Key Revision page you'll see a "✨ Generate my study plan" button. Click it and the AI looks at your actual quiz history for that unit and writes you a 5–8 bullet plan: which lessons to revisit, which quizzes to retry, which Topic Drills to run, and when you're ready for the Final Challenge.
- You need at least 3 completed quizzes on a unit before the AI has enough to work with — fewer than that and it'll politely ask you to come back later.
- Plans are saved — when you reopen Key Revision the next day, your plan is still there. Hit 🔄 Regenerate after a chunk of practice to get a fresh plan that reflects your new performance.
- You can generate up to 3 plans per unit per day (and up to 10 in total across all units). That's plenty for normal use — if you're hitting the limit you're probably regenerating instead of revising.
- Print or copy the plan if you want to keep a paper copy on your desk while you work through it.
Your weekly check-in
- Review your heatmap in Key Revision. Pick the reddest AC and tap it to drill those questions until you're scoring above 80%.
- Regenerate your AI study plan after a week of practice — your weak areas will have shifted.
- Take one Final Challenge if you're feeling ready. Use the pass/fail as a readiness signal, not a judgement.
- Check your Achievement Room. Seeing badges stack up genuinely helps motivation.
- If a topic keeps tripping you up, read its revision guide on the blog — sometimes a written explanation cracks open what a quiz can't.
The last few days
- Stop adding new material. Do Key Revision only — pure retrieval practice.
- Use the per-lesson Key Facts cards for a last-minute refresher on the facts you keep slipping on.
- Sleep. No late-night cramming. Retrieval beats re-reading every time.
Every feature, and when to use it
Grouped the way you actually use them — learn it, practise it, remember it. Tap any card for what it is, why it’s there, and how to use it well.
Learn it
Reading, listening and looking things up. Start here.
📖 The lessons
What it is
782 written lessons across the three levels — 83 at Level 1, 331 at Level 2 and 368 at Level 3. They are deliberately short: one is a tea break, not an evening. Every figure in them was traced back to the document it came from — the Water Regulations, the Approved Documents, the British Standards — rather than copied out of a textbook.
Why it's there
Most revision apps are a question bank with no teaching behind them, which is fine until you get one wrong and there is nowhere to go. You cannot revise from questions alone, and you should not have to own the textbook to use the app.
How to use it
Read one, then do the task and the quiz on the same lesson card while it is still in your head. Don't read three in a row and test yourself later — that feels like progress and isn't. If you would rather listen than read, every lesson has a Watch button.
🎧 Watch — the narrated sessions
What it is
Every lesson has a narrated version behind the purple Watch button on its card: the same material read aloud, a slide at a time, with the diagrams on screen and recall questions along the way. It is the lesson, not a summary of it.
Why it's there
Plenty of people take it in better by listening, and plenty of the time you have is time you cannot read in — the van, the bus, a break on site. A narrated session costs you nothing but the time, and the recall boxes mean it still counts as practice rather than as sitting watching.
How to use it
Use it as your first pass through a lesson, or as the second pass on something that didn't land the first time. Answer the recall boxes out loud if you're driving — and if you're not, type or 🎤 Dictate them, because an answer you actually commit to is worth far more than one you think you know.
🔨 Practical walkthroughs
What it is
A lesson of its own for each assessed practical task — what you will be asked to do, what the assessor is watching for, and the order to do it in. Find them on the Practical tab at the top of a unit.
Why it's there
The practical assessments are where the marks are most winnable and the least revised, because there is nothing obvious to revise from. Knowing the sequence before you stand at the bench is worth more than any amount of re-reading on the day.
How to use it
Read the walkthrough for a task before your session on it, not after. Then read it again the evening before you're assessed — it is the one thing here that is worth revisiting immediately before rather than spaced out.
📖 Revision Guides
What it is
Long-form written guides covering each Level 2 unit, written by a plumbing lecturer. Also linked from each unit's revision page.
Why it's there
Before you can retrieve knowledge, you have to encode it. The guides help when a topic is brand new, or when a Key Revision question keeps tripping you up and you need to understand why rather than just what the right answer is.
How to use it
Read the relevant guide before starting quizzes on an unfamiliar unit — it gives you the lay of the land. Come back to it when a specific topic isn't clicking. But don't treat reading as your main revision activity: retrieval practice is what moves the needle, and re-reading the week before your exam is one of the weakest ways to revise.
Key Facts
What it is
Per-lesson summary cards with the essential facts, numbers and definitions for that topic — pulled from the course material. You'll see a "Key Facts" button on every lesson card, sitting alongside Quiz and Short Answer. (You may know these as "Cheat Sheets" from earlier versions — same thing, clearer name.)
Why it's there
Sometimes you need facts in front of you — not another quiz. A minute spent re-reading the Key Facts for a lesson you got wrong is often more useful than immediately re-taking the quiz.
How to use it
Use Key Facts sparingly. They're for a last-minute refresher, not the first pass through a topic. If you read before you test, you're not doing retrieval practice. A good pattern: fail a quiz → read Key Facts → take the Short Answer quiz for that lesson → retake the quiz.
📖 Glossary & instant definitions
What it is
Every key plumbing term across all nine units in one searchable place, with clear flags for terms that mean different things in different systems (like "direct" in cold water versus hot water). The same definitions surface contextually too — a "Key terms" panel on each lesson, and tap-for-definition terms inside quizzes and the blog guides.
Why it's there
The quickest way to lose marks is to misread a term you only half-know. Having every definition one tap away — without leaving the page you're on — closes that gap, and the standalone glossary doubles as a fast revision skim.
How to use it
Browse or search the full glossary any time. While you're working, tap any underlined term in a lesson, quiz or guide for an instant definition, then carry on where you left off.
Further Reading
What it is
Below each lesson's buttons you'll often see a small strip that says 📖 Further reading: [topic] →. That's a direct link to a full deep-dive blog article on that exact lesson's topic — written specifically to match Level 2 Plumbing Theory content.
Why it's there
Video plus quiz works well for most learners most of the time. But when a topic isn't landing — when you keep getting the quiz wrong or you can't quite put it into your own words for the Short Answer — you need a written explanation you can reread at your own pace. The blogs fill that gap.
How to use it
Don't open every blog on your first pass through a unit — that's slow and unnecessary. Only dip in when a topic won't stick. Each blog ends with its own 10-question mock test, which is a useful self-check before moving on.
Practise it
Everything that asks you a question and then tells you how you did.
Unit Quizzes
What it is
Multiple-choice quizzes on the lesson cards, covering every learning outcome in the unit. Each lesson card carries its own row of buttons — Quiz, Short Answer, Interactive Tasks, Flashcards and Watch — so everything attached to that lesson sits in one place. Twenty questions, seventy per cent to pass, and both the questions and the options are shuffled every time, so you can’t learn the order.
The bar is ours, not your exam’s — and it is not the same everywhere. A quiz passes at seventy per cent, a calculation board at eighty, and a Final Challenge at eighty-five. Those are set per activity on purpose rather than copied from a syllabus: the real pass marks differ across the three qualifications anyway, so matching one of them would mean missing the other two. Check what your own paper needs with your tutor — that is the one that counts on the day.
Why it's there
Retrieval practice is the single most powerful revision technique. Every quiz you take strengthens memory more than re-reading ever could.
How to use it
Work down the unit one lesson at a time: read it, do its task, then take the quiz — don’t batch them. Afterwards read the explanations, especially on the ones you got wrong: they give you the reason, not just the right answer. Then read the study summary at the bottom of the results — it is written from your answers and tells you which topics to go back to. The progress table at the top of the unit shows what you’ve passed at a glance.
Short-Answer Quizzes
What it is
Type-your-own-answer questions, marked against the course material’s own mark scheme. Most lessons have a set — look for the purple Short Answer button beside the green Quiz button on the lesson card. You get a mark per question, what you got right, and — where you dropped marks — what the mark scheme wanted instead.
Why it's there
Exam questions aren’t all multiple choice. Short-answer practice builds the writing muscle you actually need on the day — and it is the only thing here that tells you why an answer fell short of full marks. Doing one on the lesson card means you practise writing about a topic while it is still fresh, not weeks later.
How to use it
Treat it like an exam. Write your full answer before submitting. Read the AI feedback carefully — it tells you what a mark scheme would credit. If you're running short on time, prioritise the Short-Answer quizzes on the topics you've scored lowest on in the multiple-choice quizzes.
Thumbing out an answer on a phone is the worst part of this, so you don’t have to. Tap 🎤 Dictate under the answer box and say it instead. The words go in at your cursor, so you can start typing, switch to speaking, and tidy it up afterwards — and you should, because the marker reads what is in the box, not what you meant. A misheard “unvented” loses the point just as surely as writing it wrong.
🔧 Interactive Tasks — 1,007 of them
What it is
Hands-on tasks on the lesson cards, in four families. Label the cutaway — a sectioned drawing of a real component or system, with labels you drag onto the right part. On taps and valves the drawing works: open a rising-spindle stop valve and the head, spindle, screw thread and jumper all lift together, and water only passes once the washer clears the seat. Do the same on a non-rising spindle tap and the head stays exactly where it is — that's the whole difference, and you can watch it. Gate valves, ceramic disc taps and single and double check valves all operate too. Sort — put every statement with the item it belongs to. Fill the Gaps — a passage with dropdown blanks. Pipe Up — draw a whole system pipe by pipe (its own card below).
Why it's there
You can memorise "rising spindle" and "non-rising spindle" and still not know which is which under exam pressure, because the words don't tell you anything — the movement does. Watching the washer lift off the seat gives you something to picture, and a picture survives a stressful exam hall far better than a phrase does. The labels moving with the parts is deliberate: it ties the name to the thing while the thing is doing its job.
How to use it
Play with the component before you touch a single label. Open it, close it, open it halfway. Watch where the water stops. Then label it. Your first-try score is what's recorded — the moment you press Check it locks, so it's worth being slow. Restart as often as you like afterwards; the score won't move, and the practice still counts. Everything you pass shows in the Tasks column of your unit progress table.
🌊 Simulators
What it is
Eight working models of things you cannot watch happen on site: a trap losing its seal, flow resistance down a pipe run, head pressure, a pipe interruptor, an RPZ valve, safe isolation, relative density, and power and current. Change the numbers and watch the result, rather than reading what the result would be.
Why it’s there
Some rules only make sense once you have seen what breaks without them. A 32 mm branch has a maximum length because past it the discharge siphons the trap dry — and a sentence saying so is worth far less than watching the seal go.
How to use it
Set it up the way the regulation allows and watch it hold. Then break one number at a time and watch it fail. That is the whole point: you are learning the cause, not the number.
⚙️ Working cutaways
What it is
Label tasks where you open the component yourself and watch what happens inside. Drag the slider on a rising-spindle stop valve and the head, spindle and jumper lift together, with water passing only once the washer clears the seat — then do the same on a non-rising spindle tap and watch the head stay put. Gate valves, ceramic disc taps, and single and double check valves too. The labels move with the parts, so you name each one while it is working.
Why it's there
You can memorise "rising spindle" and "non-rising spindle" and still not know which is which under exam pressure, because the words do not tell you anything. Watching the washer lift off the seat does.
How to use it
Play with the component before you touch a single label. Open it, close it, open it halfway, and watch where the water stops. Then label it.
🚰 Pipe Up — build a system
What it is
Tasks where you draw a whole system from scratch, pipe by pipe — single-feed indirect, double-feed indirect and combination cylinders in Unit 206, and the cold water systems in Unit 205. Name each pipe, pick the right size, and get it fully right to pass.
Why it's there
Reading a system diagram and being able to draw one are different skills, and only one of them is any use in an exam or at a customer's house. Building it yourself finds the gaps that looking at it never will.
How to use it
Do it once from the lesson, then come back a week later and do it again from memory. The second attempt is the one that tells you whether you know it.
📐 Design Assignments — the synoptic, marked (Level 3)
What it is
Six full design jobs on Level 3 — boosted cold water, hot water and the discharge pipe, heat loss and the emitter, sizing the plant, a soil stack, and guttering a roof. You get one job with a real brief and real dimensions, and you work it right through: about eleven steps, from the first measurement to the product you would actually order out of a catalogue. They live on their own page — the 📐 Design pill at the top of any Level 3 unit.
Why it's there
The synoptic assignment is component 036, and it is 60% of the whole qualification. It is also the part almost nobody gets enough practice at, because setting and marking one full design job takes a tutor the best part of a day.
A quiz asks whether you know a figure. A design assignment asks whether you can carry it through nine more steps without dropping it — which is a completely different skill, and the one the paper actually tests.
They also mark the way City & Guilds mark design work, which no quiz does: error carried forward. Get the flow rate wrong, then size the pipe correctly for your own wrong flow rate, and you keep the pipe mark. One slip costs one mark rather than the whole job.
How to use it
Read the brief before you touch step one. Who lives in the building, how sheltered the site is, what temperature the system runs at — all of it changes the answers, and all of it is in the brief rather than in the question. Missing it is the commonest way to lose marks here.
Work on paper alongside. You will need your own figures again three steps later, and the whole point is that they carry forward.
When you pick from the catalogue, read the whole page rather than grabbing the first row that clears your number — an oversized component is a different mistake from an undersized one, and it is marked as one. And treat the drawings as part of the question, not decoration: the roof section is what tells you the 4.8 m is measured on plan, which is the difference between the right gutter and one two sizes out.
You need 60% to pass one. The result comes with a profile across the five assessment objectives, so you can see whether it was your recall, your technique or your written justification that let you down. If the same objective keeps coming out low, that is your revision.
📝 Mock exams and papers (Level 3)
What it is
Full papers under exam conditions — mock exams, end-of-module papers and revision papers, built from the same bank as the unit quizzes but assembled and timed the way the real paper is.
Why it’s there
A paper is not a long quiz. It has a clock, a spread of topics you cannot predict, and no explanations until the end — and the first time you meet all three together should not be on the day.
How to use it
Once you are passing 85 per cent or more across a unit’s lessons, move to its revision papers rather than repeating easier quizzes. Sit them timed, all the way through, without looking anything up.
Final Challenge
What it is
A 40-question exam-style test per unit. Pass mark is 85%. Questions are pulled at random from across the whole unit, so every attempt is different.
Why it's there
You need a readiness check before the real exam. Final Challenge simulates exam conditions and tells you honestly whether you're ready.
How to use it
Don't take it too early. Work through the unit first, get your heatmap mostly amber or green, then attempt it. If you fail, the app shows you exactly where to go back.
Remember it
The spacing, the targeting and the planning — what turns a good week into a pass.
Key Revision
What it is
PlumbMate's flagship spaced-retrieval system. Wrong answers from every quiz type flow into Key Revision, then resurface on a schedule. Three sessions, with a minimum 4-hour gap between them.
Why it's there
Spacing is the single biggest multiplier in long-term memory. The 4-hour rule and 3-session rule aren't arbitrary — they're tuned to forgetting curves.
How to use it
Run one Key Revision session every day. Use the filter strip to focus on a specific quiz source if you want. Don't skip the Skip button — it's there so you can park a question for later without penalty.
Topic Drill & Heatmaps
What it is
Open the Key Revision page and switch to the Heatmap tab. You'll see every Learning Outcome for the unit, colour-coded from red (weak) to green (mastered), with your accuracy % for each. Tap any LO to expand its Assessment Criteria — then tap any AC row to drill every question tagged to it. Wrong answers come first so you can close the gap on your weakest points quickly.
Why it's there
Most students revise what they already know because it feels comfortable. The heatmap forces you to face the red — that's where the marks are — and the AC-level drill means you can practise a specific criterion to mastery rather than drifting through mixed-topic quizzes.
How to use it
Open your heatmap weekly. Pick the reddest AC. Drill it until you're answering 80%+ correct, then move on. If an AC shows "not attempted", you can still drill it — tap to practise those questions fresh.
Flashcards
What it is
Self-test flashcards for every Level 2 unit.
Why it's there
Flashcards are retrieval practice at its simplest — pull the answer out of your head, check it, move on. Perfect for definitions, key values and the kind of facts that turn up as multiple-choice distractors.
How to use it
Use flashcards alongside quizzes, not instead of them. Ten minutes of flashcards makes a great warm-up before a longer revision session, or a useful fill-in for dead time — commutes, breaks, or the five minutes before bed.
🚩 Flagging a question
What it is
A ⚑ Flag button on every quiz question. Flag anything you are guessing at — including one you think you have got right.
Why it’s there
A lucky guess is indistinguishable from knowledge in your score and completely different in an exam. Flagging is how you tell the app the difference.
How to use it
Flag as you go; don’t stop to think about it. After you submit you get the explanation for every flagged question, right or wrong, and the study summary explains them in plain English. A flagged question you got right is added to your unit revision anyway — clear it by answering it correctly once on the lesson card.
✨ My AI Study Plan
What it is
A "Generate my study plan" button on every Key Revision page. The AI looks at your actual quiz performance for the unit and writes you a 5–8 bullet plan with specific next steps — which lessons to revisit, which Topic Drills to run, which Short Answer quizzes to retry, and when you're ready for the Final Challenge.
Why it's there
Your heatmap shows you where you're weak. Knowing what to actually do about it is a different question. The plan turns "I keep getting LO3 wrong" into "go back and watch lesson 5, take the Short Answer quiz, then drill ACs 3.4 and 3.7 on the heatmap." Your weakness, your data, a concrete next step.
How to use it
Open Key Revision for a unit you've worked on (you need at least 3 completed quizzes for the AI to have enough data). Click "Generate my study plan", read it, then go and act on it. The plan is saved — when you come back later, it's still there. After a chunk of practice, hit Regenerate for a refreshed plan based on your new performance. Limit: 3 plans per unit per day, 10 total per day across all units.
📅 Exam dates and the countdown
What it is
Tell the app when your assessments are and it paces everything back from them. Add one date or several — Level 2 has an exam per unit, Level 3 has one paper across five units and a separate synoptic assignment.
Why it’s there
Everything else here can tell you what you are weak on. Only a date can tell you whether you have time to do anything about it.
How to use it
Put them in as soon as you know them, on the unit page or your dashboard, and change them later if they move. Once a date is in, your study plan works backwards from it and tells you what to do this week rather than in general.
Keep going
What brings you back tomorrow, which matters more than any single feature here.
Achievement Room
What it is
Your trophy cabinet: certificates for units passed, badges for milestones, and downloadable PDFs.
Why it's there
Motivation is fuel. Seeing your progress visually is a small thing that makes a real difference on the hard days.
How to use it
Visit weekly. Download your certificates when you earn them — they're yours to keep.
🔥 Streaks
What it is
A count of consecutive days you have done something. A quiz, a short answer, a revision session, a task, flashcards or a game all count, and it ticks once per day however much you do.
Why it’s there
Twenty minutes a day beats four hours on a Sunday, and it is not close. The streak exists to make the daily habit visible, because the habit is what actually gets people through.
How to use it
Protect it with something small on the days you have no time — one Key Revision session is enough. Don’t chase it with four hours on a Saturday: that is the pattern it exists to break.
Leaderboard
What it is
Weekly and overall ranking within your class group. Opt-in per group.
Why it's there
Friendly competition helps some learners and distracts others. Your tutor decides whether to turn it on.
How to use it
If you're motivated by rankings, use it. If not, ignore it — it won't affect your learning.
🎮 Games
What it is
A suite of fast, low-stakes games for every Level 2 unit. Quick-fire recall — True/False Rapid Fire, Timed Quiz, Anagram and Match the Image; plus sort-and-connect — Categorise, Sequencing, Matching and Memory & Pairs; words and figures — Crossword, Word Search, Know Your Numbers and Odd One Out; and Survival, which keeps going until your third wrong answer. Pick a unit, shuffle the questions, or choose a specific subject area to focus on.
Why it's there
Active recall doesn't have to feel like an exam. Games turn the same retrieval practice into something you'll actually come back to, and the variety — speed rounds, image-matching, anagrams — hits the material from different angles, which strengthens memory.
How to use it
Use them as a warm-up or a break between heavier revision, not instead of quizzes and Key Revision. Match the Image is great for components and fittings; True/False Rapid Fire is perfect for busting the myths that catch people out in the exam.
🟢 Live Class Games
What it is
Real-time multiplayer games your tutor hosts in the lesson. Join with a room code and play True/False, Timed Quiz, Anagram or Match the Image against your classmates — and your tutor — live.
Why it's there
Nothing sharpens recall like a bit of friendly competition under time pressure. Live games make revision a shared classroom event — and yes, you can try to beat the teacher.
How to use it
When your tutor starts a session, a "Join a class game" box appears on your home screen (college accounts only). Enter the code and you're in — answer fast and accurately to climb the live leaderboard.
Tip of the Day
What it is
A 365-day rotating tip on the dashboard — one small piece of plumbing knowledge per day.
Why it's there
Little and often beats long cramming. A daily tip keeps your brain lightly engaged even on rest days.
How to use it
Read it. That's it. If it sparks a question, follow it into the relevant unit.
Getting around
The small things worth knowing.
↩️ Picking up where you left off
What it is
A Continue where you left off card at the top of every level, naming the last thing you were doing and when you were last active.
Why it’s there
The most common reason a revision session doesn’t happen is the ten seconds of deciding what to revise. This removes them.
How to use it
Use it as the default. Decide what to work on only when you actually want to change direction — the rest of the time, press Continue and start.
🔀 One subscription, three levels
What it is
Level 1 (7202-01), Level 2 (6035-02) and Level 3 (8202-35) are all on the same account — 25 units and 782 lessons between them. Switch level from the header at any time.
Why it’s there
An apprentice does not stop being the same person at the end of Level 2. Your progress, badges and certificates carry across, and you never pay again to move up.
How to use it
Work at your own level — but do go and look at the one below when something isn’t landing. A lot of Level 3 trouble is a Level 2 idea that never quite set, and it costs you nothing to go back.
📱 Installing it, and using it offline
What it is
PlumbMate installs to your home screen on iPhone and Android and then opens like an app — no address bar, its own icon. Lessons you have already opened stay readable when you lose signal.
Why it’s there
A lot of the time you have for this is time you have no signal in: a van, a site, the Underground. An app you can’t open in a dead spot is an app you stop opening.
How to use it
Look for the install prompt on the home page, or the Install button on your account page. On iPhone it is Share → Add to Home Screen. On Android you can install from the browser the same way, or get it from Google Play. Anything you have never opened still needs signal, so open what you plan to read before you lose it.
🎓 The short courses
What it is
Standalone courses sold separately from the three levels: Gas ACS reassessment (CCN1, CKR1, HTR1, CENWAT1 and CPA1), unvented hot water, water regulations, heat pumps, solar thermal, underfloor heating and low temperature heating.
Why it's there
Tickets and competencies come round on their own schedule and have nothing to do with which level you are on. You should be able to revise for a reassessment without buying a qualification.
How to use it
They work the same way the main course does — lessons, quizzes, revision — and they have their own guide at how the short courses work.