Exam Countdown vs SIMS Student
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Exam Countdown
This app helps students, teachers, and schools keep track of important dates. It provides countdown timers for exams, tests, and coursework deadlines, with options for reminders and sharing progress with others. Users can organize their academic schedule and stay on top of their responsibilities.
- Countdown timers for exams and tests
- Unlimited exam countdowns
- Color-coded exams
- Icon customization
- Share countdowns with others
- Add notes to exams
- Basic and detailed notifications
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Exam Countdown is the beautifully simple countdown, planner and widget app for every exam that matters. Counting down since 2015, rated 4.7 stars from over 30,000 ratings. The original exam countdown app, used by students, teachers and schools in over 100 countries. Count down to the ones that count: matric prelims, trials and NSC finals, GCSE and A Level papers, IB, SQA Highers, university finals, coursework and homework deadlines, driving theory, music grades and every test in between. CALENDAR VIEW See your whole semester on a month grid, color coded, with every exam a tap away. LIVE COUNTDOWN WIDGETS A Home Screen widget that ticks every second, plus Next Exam, Next 4 Exams and Lock Screen widgets. LIVE ON YOUR LOCK SCREEN Live Activities put your next exam on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island as it approaches. MAKE IT YOURS Hundreds of icons, every color, categories to group your subjects, and notes on any exam. Free version: • Unlimited exam countdowns, all in one place • Count down in years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds • Color code your exams • Choose from 400 icons • Add notes to any exam • Invite friends and family to count down with you • Notifications before every exam Premium version: • Ad free • The full widget collection, including the second by second Live Countdown • Live Activities on your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island • Calendar View • Categories to group your subjects • Detailed alerts, with your choice of alert sound • Record and review your exam results • Sync across all your Apple devices • All 400 color icons and 70 colors Exam Countdown is free to download and use. Premium is available as a yearly subscription or as a one off lifetime purchase. Terms of Use - https://www.root38.com/terms-and-conditions/ Privacy Policy - https://www.root38.com/privacy-policy/
SIMS Student
Access your school life details with this application. You must be invited by your school to use its features.
- Access school life details
- School-specific access
- Student portal
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SIMS Student gives students access to the details of their school life. Please note that you need to have been invited by your school in order to use this app.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Exam Countdown at 82% against SIMS Student's 12%. Exam Countdown also leads on rating (4.7 vs 1.6) and ratings volume (1.7K vs 9). SIMS Student's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and ads (none vs shown). On price, update cadence and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Exam Countdown sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 3 months. SIMS Student asks for nothing beyond the download.
Exam Countdown holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 1.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Exam Countdown has 1.7K ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of Exam Countdown's written reviews are positive against 12% of SIMS Student's.
Exam Countdown ships an update every 5 weeks, SIMS Student every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Exam Countdown | SIMS Student |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (1.7K ratings) — better | 1.6 (9 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 82.2% of reviews — better | 12.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1.7K — better | 9 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 102 MB | 36 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ROOT38 LIMITED | Education Software Solutions Ltd |
Customer experience
Exam Countdown
SIMS Student
User reviews
Exam Countdown
From 1.7K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Helpful for organizing exams
- 🎨 Customizable with colors and icons
- ⏱️ Countdown timer for exams
- 🎯 Tracks completed exams
- 🆓 Free with optional premium features
Room to improve
- 💰 Some features locked behind paywall
- 🔍 Limited customization options in free version
- 🔋 High battery consumption reported
- 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
SIMS Student
From 9 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Works well for some users
- 💡 Useful for timetables and homework
- 🚀 Loads quickly for some
- 👍 Easy to submit work and receive feedback
- 👍 Informs about attendance
Room to improve
- 🐛 Constantly logs out users
- 🐛 Fails to load or is very slow
- 🐛 Login issues (incorrect details, unauthorized access)
- 🐛 Password reset emails not sent
- 🐛 Homework not showing or disappearing
Bugs and requests
Exam Countdown
Reported bugs
4 issues- Login issues after device change
- Subscription not working as expected
- Loading screen freezes
- Incompatibility with newer devices
Requested features
5 requests- Calendar view
- Sync with device calendar
- Customizable exam reminders
- Widget support
- More icons and color options
SIMS Student
Reported bugs
18 issues- App logs users out randomly
- App gets stuck on loading screen
- Timetables not showing with poor internet
- Cannot log in even with correct details
- Password reset emails are not sent
Show 13 moreShow fewer
- Homework tab never works
- App never loads
- Unable to access account
- App shows white screen on opening
- Unauthorized access error
- App not working on mobile data, only Wi-Fi
- Homework doesn't disappear after due date
- App crashes frequently
- Login authentication problems
- Parent app not linking accounts
- App not working on school Wi-Fi
- App not working after reinstalling
- Failed to load user profile
Requested features
9 requests- Allow offline timetable access
- Improve login process for non-English speakers
- Add option to delete old homework
- Auto-delete messages after a certain period
- Ability to manually delete messages
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Update for newer iPhone screen sizes
- More features beyond email functionality
- Option to mark homework as done before due date
- Show previous days on timetable
In-app purchases
Exam Countdown
- Premium 3 Months$2.993 Months
- Premium Yearly7 Days trial$4.991 Year
- Premium Access1 Year trial$4.991 Year
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Premium Yearly Subscription$5.491 Year
- Lifetime Premium$9.99
SIMS Student
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Exam Countdown free?
Is SIMS Student free?
Which has better reviews, Exam Countdown or SIMS Student?
Do Exam Countdown or SIMS Student have ads?
Which is updated more often, Exam Countdown or SIMS Student?
Other comparisons
