Privacy Policy

Effective date: November 10, 2026

This policy explains what personal information Ginseng LLC ("Ginseng English", "we", "us") collects when you use our website at ginsengenglish.com and our English proficiency assessment (the "test"), why we collect it, how we use it, and the rights you have over it.

If you have any questions about this policy or a request about your data, please contact us at english@ginse.ng.

On this page

Who this policy covers

This policy applies to:

  • Visitors to our website
  • People who take our online English proficiency assessment, whether they arrive on their own or through an invitation from a school or institutional partner
  • People who contact us or sign up for information

If you're taking the test as part of an institutional program (for example, through a school or language center that invited you), your school may also have its own privacy notice covering how they use your results. This policy covers only what Ginseng English does with your data.

What we collect

We only collect what we need to run the test, give you a placement result, communicate with you if you've asked us to, and improve the test itself.

When you take the assessment

At the start of the test:

  • Your name and email address, which you provide on the start screen
  • If you arrived through an invitation link, the invitation identifier so we can associate your session with the group that invited you

During the test:

  • Your answers to multiple-choice questions, including which options you selected and how long you took
  • The written text you produce in response to the two writing prompts
  • Audio recordings of your responses to the two speaking prompts, and text transcriptions of those recordings
  • Technical information about your session: device type (mobile, tablet, or desktop), session start and completion times, and whether you completed the test
  • Your approximate location: the country, and the state, province or region within it, that your internet connection is in when the test starts. This is worked out from your IP address. We don't store your IP address, and we don't record anything more precise, such as your city or street address. We never ask your device for its location. If you use a VPN, the location recorded is the VPN's

After the test:

  • Your placement result (a CEFR level and a scale score) and the underlying calculations that produced it
  • Scores for your writing and speaking responses, produced by our scoring systems
  • A results page for your test at a private link (for example portal.ginse.ng/r/…), with your first name, level, score and the date, and nothing else. Anyone you give the link to can see it. We don't list these pages anywhere, and we ask search engines not to show them
  • If you took the test on your own rather than through a school or program, a results email to the address you gave
  • If you use Email my results, the addresses you enter and any note you add, so we can send your result to those people. We use their addresses only to send that email and keep a record that it was sent; we don't add them to our mailing list
  • If you share your result (for example on WhatsApp, Facebook or LinkedIn), that service receives the link and whatever you post with it, under its own privacy policy. If someone starts the test from a result you shared, we record which shared result and which app it came through, so we can count how many tests start from shares
  • If you rate the test or leave a comment at the end, your rating and comment

If you tell us you've taken another English test (like IELTS, TOEIC, or a CEFR-level self-assessment) and share the result, we store that as well, to help us calibrate our own placements.

When you visit our website

Our website is hosted on Squarespace, which uses cookies for essential functionality and, if you consent, for analytics. The website also loads Google's analytics tools, which set analytics cookies only if you accept them. You can decline non-essential cookies through our cookie banner. See the "Cookies" section below.

Squarespace's reports may show us roughly where visits to the website come from (for example, which countries), without telling us who the visitors are. If you decline non-essential cookies, we do not track your browsing behavior across pages beyond what's needed to serve you the page you asked for.

When you contact us

If you email us or fill out a form on our website, we store the message and your contact details for as long as it takes to help you and for a reasonable period after that.

Why we use it, and our lawful basis

We use your information for five purposes:

1. To deliver the test and give you a result.

We need to record your answers to score them and give you a CEFR placement. This is the core service and is our contractual basis for processing.

2. To communicate with you about your result and about our services.

If you took the test through an invitation, we share your result with the institution that invited you, because that's the arrangement they've made with you. If you took the test independently and left your email, we may send you your result and information about Ginseng English's services. You can unsubscribe at any time. This is our legitimate interest, balanced against your reasonable expectation as someone who took the test.

3. To improve the test.

We analyze test responses in aggregate to identify items that are performing poorly, calibrate our scoring, and check that the test is measuring English proficiency fairly and accurately. Where possible, this analysis uses anonymized or aggregated data. Where individual responses are used, they are used as part of statistical models, not to make decisions about individuals. This includes checking, by country and region, that the test works equally well for people in different parts of the world. This is our legitimate interest as the operator of a placement instrument.

4. To keep the test secure and to prevent misuse.

We record technical information about sessions to identify unusual patterns, protect against abuse, and maintain the integrity of the test. This is our legitimate interest.

5. To understand where our test-takers are.

We use the approximate location recorded with each test to understand where the people taking it come from, so we can plan class times and decide which programs to offer and where. This is our legitimate interest. We record location only to the level of a country and region, because that is all this needs.

Who has access to your information

Within Ginseng English, only staff who need access to test-taker data to do their jobs have access to it. This includes reviewing individual sessions for quality assurance and viewing results for institutional clients.

We share your information with the following service providers, who process it on our behalf under contractual restrictions:

  • Supabase (United States) — stores our database and hosts audio recordings
  • Anthropic (United States) — scores writing and speaking responses using AI models. Writing samples and audio transcripts are sent to Anthropic's API for scoring; per their policy, these are not used to train Anthropic's models
  • OpenAI (United States) — transcribes audio recordings to text. Per their API policy, transcriptions are not used to train OpenAI's models
  • Resend (United States) — delivers our emails: results emails, results you send to other people, and invitations and reminders on behalf of schools and programs
  • Squarespace (United States) — hosts our website
  • Google (United States) — website analytics; analytics cookies are set only if you accept them in the cookie banner
  • Vercel (United States) — hosts your results page and the part of our service that the test contacts while you take it. When the test starts, Vercel works out your approximate location (country and region) from your IP address; we keep only that country and region, not the IP address

We share your placement results with institutional clients (schools, employers, or programs) only if you took the test through their invitation. In that case, the sharing is understood as part of you taking the test at their request.

We do not sell your information. We do not share it with advertisers. We do not use it for automated decision-making that has legal or similarly significant effects on you.

We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or to protect the rights or safety of Ginseng English, our users, or others.

Where your information is stored

Ginseng LLC is a Massachusetts limited liability company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States, and our service providers are also in the United States. If you use our website or take the test from another country, your information is sent to and processed in the United States.

How long we keep your information

  • Assessment data (your name, email, responses, writing samples, audio recordings, transcriptions, comments, approximate location, and results) — kept for two years from the day you take the test. After that, we delete your name, email address, writing, recordings, transcriptions and comments, and your results page stops working. Your answers and scores, and the country and region you took the test from, are kept without anything that identifies you, as part of the anonymized data described below. You can ask us to delete your data sooner at any time, and we will.
  • Your level, if you're in touch with us about classes — if you're a Ginseng English student or have asked us about classes, we keep your test level and score with your contact details, for as long as we keep those.
  • Aggregated and anonymized data used for improving the test (statistical models, item performance data with individual identifiers removed) — kept indefinitely as part of the test's ongoing calibration.
  • Email correspondence — kept for as long as we need it to help you.

We may keep information longer if required by law, or if we need it to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you have rights over the information we hold about you. These include:

  • Access — you can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you
  • Correction — you can ask us to correct information that is inaccurate
  • Deletion — you can ask us to delete your information. We will do so unless we have a legal obligation to keep it
  • Portability — you can ask us to provide your information in a portable format
  • Objection — you can object to our use of your information for purposes based on legitimate interest, including direct marketing
  • Withdraw consent — where we've relied on consent, you can withdraw it at any time. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing we did before you withdrew it
  • Complaint — if you're in the European Economic Area or United Kingdom, you have the right to complain to your local data protection authority

To exercise any of these rights, email us at english@ginse.ng. We will respond within one month. We may ask you to verify your identity before we act on your request.

Security

We protect your information with reasonable safeguards. Data is encrypted in transit using TLS, and our staff tools require a password.

No system is perfectly secure. If we ever become aware of a breach that affects your personal information, we will notify you and the appropriate authorities as required by law.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies for essential functionality (for example, so that the pages you view load correctly and the assessment can save your progress) and, if you consent, for analytics.

You can accept or decline non-essential cookies through our cookie banner, which appears the first time you visit the site. You can change your preferences at any time by clearing your cookies and returning to the site.

The assessment itself uses a small amount of technical storage in your browser to keep track of your session while you take the test. This is essential to the test running and is not used for tracking outside the test.

How we respond to Do Not Track signals

Some browsers can send a "Do Not Track" signal. We don't change what we collect when a browser sends one. On our website, you can decline non-essential cookies through the cookie banner instead.

Users under 16

The assessment is intended for users aged 16 and above.

If you are under 16 and are taking the test on your own initiative, please do so with the knowledge of a parent or guardian. If you are under 16 and are taking the test as part of a school program, we assume your school has obtained the appropriate consents from your parent or guardian; if this is a concern, please raise it with your school and with us.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your country) except through an institutional program with appropriate consents in place. If you believe we have collected information from a child in violation of this policy, contact us at english@ginse.ng and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will change the "Effective date" at the top and, if the changes are significant, we will notify people whose data we hold by email.

We keep a record of past versions of this policy and can provide one on request.

Contact us

For any question about this policy or to exercise any of the rights described above, please contact:

Ginseng LLC
1939 S Bouvier St
Philadelphia, PA 19145
United States
english@ginse.ng