What is the best exam countdown app?

The best exam countdown app is the one that keeps your next paper in view without you opening anything: Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, a calendar view of the whole term, and a reminder before each exam. Exam Countdown has done this for students since 2014 and is rated 4.7 from over 29,000 ratings on the App Store, with 2.7 million downloads across the App Store and Google Play.

What actually matters in an exam countdown app

Most apps in this category can display a number. These are the things that separate one you still have in June from one you delete after mocks:

Countdowns where you already look. A widget on your Home Screen or Lock Screen means you never open the app to know what is next, which is the whole point.
A view of the season, not just the next paper. A month grid shows you where the crunch weeks are. A list sorted by date does not.
Reminders you control. One nudge the day before is the minimum. Being able to add a month, a fortnight and a week out is what makes it a revision tool rather than a clock.
Colour coding. Nine subjects in identical grey rows is not a timetable you can read at a glance on the morning of a paper.
It works without paying. You should be able to put a full exam season in and use it properly before anyone asks you for money.

What Exam Countdown does

Unlimited exams, a colour and an icon per subject from 400+, notes, a reminder before each one, and the free Next Exam widget, all without an account or a payment. Making an account is free as well, and backs your exams up.

Premium adds Calendar View, the full widget set including one that ticks every second, detailed alerts, categories and results tracking, and removes ads. It starts with a free trial, and you can unlock everything for 24 hours with a short video if you just want to try it.

Other things people use

Plenty of students get by with the Reminders app, a shared note, or a photo of the timetable on the fridge. Those work. They just do not count down, do not sit on your Home Screen, and do not tell you anything you did not already know.