Written papers.

An exam paper for each week and side quest. Answer by hand, the way you would on a whiteboard: write, estimate and draw the diagram with a pencil, a finger or a mouse. Each answer is marked point by point against the paper's marking scheme, with the model answer and links back to the lessons.

48 papers · practice untimed or sit it as a timed exam · graded by AI on your daily credits

read the guide →

Course weeks · 12

Week 00 · Foundations85 minFoundations8 questions · 57 marks3 explain · 2 estimate · 1 diagram · 2 compare·
Week 01 · Data at Scale75 minData at Scale7 questions · 51 marks3 estimate · 2 compare · 1 explain · 1 diagram·
Week 02 · Failure-First Design75 minFailure-First Design7 questions · 50 marks2 estimate · 2 explain · 1 compare · 1 diagram · 1 design·
Week 03 · Messaging and Async Processing80 minMessaging and Async Processing7 questions · 52 marks2 compare · 1 explain · 2 estimate · 1 diagram · 1 design·
Week 04 · Caching85 minCaching8 questions · 57 marks2 compare · 2 explain · 2 estimate · 1 diagram · 1 design·
Week 05 · Consistency and Coordination80 minConsistency and Coordination7 questions · 52 marks1 estimate · 3 explain · 1 compare · 1 diagram · 1 design·
Week 06 · Real-Time Delivery80 minReal-Time Delivery7 questions · 52 marks2 estimate · 1 explain · 2 compare · 1 diagram · 1 design·
Week 07 · Designing a Search System80 minDesigning a Search System7 questions · 52 marks3 estimate · 1 compare · 1 explain · 1 diagram · 1 design·
Week 08 · Designing an Analytics Pipeline90 minDesigning an Analytics Pipeline8 questions · 59 marks4 estimate · 1 compare · 2 explain · 1 diagram·
Week 09 · Multi-tenancy and Security80 minMulti-tenancy and Security7 questions · 52 marks2 compare · 1 estimate · 2 explain · 1 diagram · 1 design·
Week 10 · Production Readiness and Operational Excellence80 minProduction Readiness and Operational Excellence7 questions · 53 marks2 estimate · 2 compare · 1 explain · 1 diagram · 1 design·
Week 11 · Designing AI Systems90 minDesigning AI Systems8 questions · 59 marks3 estimate · 1 compare · 2 explain · 1 diagram · 1 design·

Side quests · 36

Your answers are pages in your notebook (the “Written papers” notebook), so you can look back at them any time. Grading uses your daily AI credits: about one credit an answer, more when a drawn or borderline answer is double-checked by a stronger model.