A Smarter Way to Study

Why We're Making This Change
Meet the AI Ask Sidebar
How AI Uses Your Revision Content
More Than Just Search
Insights and Sessions Have Moved
Built Around How You Study

Over the past few months, we've made a number of improvements across Pastest to create a faster, more modern and more effective revision experience. From the redesigned Qbank and Past Papers to Offline Mode and our updated mobile experience, we've been steadily building towards something much bigger.

Our next update will bring those improvements together.

In August 2026, we're introducing a brand new AI-powered sidebar that makes it easier than ever to find information, get answers and navigate your revision resources—all without leaving the page you're working on.

We've purposely held off from incorporating AI into the resource so far, taking time to assess how it was being included on other platforms and researching what we felt would work best for our users.

This is likely to be the last major layout update for a while. Our focus will shift from redesigning the experience to continually improving the content, expanding AI capabilities and refining the features you've told us matter most. 

Why We're Making This Change

One piece of feedback has come up consistently from our users:

"I know the information exists somewhere... I just can't always find it quickly."

Whether you're looking for a textbook topic, need some specific performance data, or wanting a quick explanation before answering a question, finding the right content wasn't always as seamless as it could be.

Rather than simply adding another search box, we wanted to rethink how you interact with your revision resources altogether.

The result is our new AI Ask sidebar.

Instead of forcing you to know where information lives, you can simply ask.

Meet the AI Ask Sidebar

The new AI Ask sidebar will be available throughout the platform and acts as your personal revision assistant.

You can ask natural questions such as:

• What are the causes of atrial fibrillation?
• Explain nephrotic syndrome.
• How do I differentiate Crohn's disease from ulcerative colitis?
• What are my weakest specialties?

Instead of searching for just keywords, AI understands what you're asking and brings together the most relevant information from across your revision resources.

Because it sits alongside your study session, you never need to leave your question or textbook page to find what you're looking for.

How AI Uses Your Revision Content

Rather than searching the internet, it searches and understands the content within your Pastest resources, including:

• Textbook chapters
• Qbank questions and explanations
• Past Papers
• Other relevant revision content available for your exam

The AI analyses your question, identifies the most relevant material and generates a concise answer using trusted Pastest content.

Where appropriate, it also directs you to the source material - such as NICE Guidelines or a textbook topic - so you can continue reading in more depth or jump straight into relevant practice questions.

This means you spend less time searching and more time learning.

More Than Just Search

AI Ask isn't just designed to find content.

It can also help you:

• Understand difficult concepts
• Simplify complex explanations
• Compare similar conditions
• Summarise topics
• Clarify terminology
• Reference and link off to relevant NICE guidelines

Think of it as having an intelligent study companion available whenever you need one.

Insights and Sessions Have Moved

As part of this update we've also reorganised some navigation to make the experience simpler.

You'll now find:

• Insights
• Sessions

These are now inside the new sidebar instead of the top navigation.

This gives you a consistent place to access everything related to your learning while keeping the main interface focused on studying.

Nothing has been removed—it's simply easier to access alongside AI Ask.

Built Around How You Study

This update represents months of design, testing and user feedback.

Our goal wasn't simply to add AI because it's new.

We wanted to solve a genuine problem: helping you find the right information at exactly the moment you need it.

The AI experience has been designed to work naturally alongside the textbook, Qbank and Past Papers, helping you move seamlessly between learning, practising and reviewing without breaking your flow.

What's Next?

Although this is our last major interface update for the foreseeable future, it certainly isn't the end of development.

We'll continue to:

• Improve AI responses and search accuracy
• Expand the content AI can reference
• Introduce new study capabilities
• Refine the experience based on your feedback
• Continue investing in the highest-quality revision content

As always, your feedback plays a huge part in shaping what comes next.

Thank you to everyone who has shared suggestions, reported issues and helped us improve Pastest.

We can't wait for you to try the new AI Ask sidebar.