2022’s Brilliant.org Review: STEM Focused and Fun

Brilliant is an online education platform that has helped over 10 million learners improve their science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills in a fun and engaging way.

Our latest Brilliant.org review covers the benefits of the platform’s gamification approach and how it helps the modern student acquire knowledge.

Learn more below!

What is Brilliant.org?

Sue Khim co-founded Brilliant in 2012 as an interactive STEM learning platform that engages its students, sparks questions, and helps them learn from their mistakes.

Nowadays, you can choose from close to 70 high-quality Brilliant courses, ranging from math fundamentals to complex topics like quantum mechanics. However, regardless of the lesson difficulty, you will always enjoy a brilliantly gamified and simplified learning experience.

Note: Apart from the web interface, Brilliant offers free-to-use Android and iOS apps.

What Can You Learn on It?

While grouped based on their topic area, the Brilliant courses are also combined into so-called ‘Learning Paths’ that take students on a journey to improve their STEM skills progressively.

Customised Learning Path

After answering several preliminary questions, Brilliant recommends several learning paths that suit your specific needs and circumstances, which vary based on your answers.

The courses comprise hundreds of concepts and exercises, along with many interactive quizzes, games, and puzzles. However, only Brilliant premium subscribers get access beyond the intro chapter, as well as the whole library of ‘daily challenges’, guided courses, and more. Another great alternative for STEM-based courses is Khan Academy.

From Foundational to Advanced Subjects

Depending on their pre-existing knowledge, students can either take a foundational or an advanced course in maths, science, or computer science, as listed below:

Regardless of your choice, each of these courses offers visual, hands-on learning, and helps you understand the key ideas by solving a variety of problems. 

Ultimately, the platform relies on the learners’ curiosity to understand, instead of memorise the core concepts. Coupled with fun storytelling and the option to make mistakes while playing, you will stress less and learn better with Brilliant.

Concise Learning Points

Typically, quizzes start with a brief explanation of the core learnings before moving onto multiple-choice questions that call on your logic and intuition. After arriving at the correct answers, a brief summary ends the lessons.

Note: You can ask for an explanation of the correct answer at any point during the quiz.

Daily Challenges

Brilliant’s daily challenges are interactive problems that keep your mind sharp, and your curiosity satisfied regularly; plus, they offer loads of fun and satisfaction when you solve them.

If you need more than one of these mind-boggling puzzles per day, you can always purchase a Brilliant subscription to access all the challenges published so far.

Who Is Brilliant.org For?

Despite the STEM-focused nature of the platform, Brilliant is an excellent learning website for several learner groups:

• Students who seek to understand math and science concepts better—the Brilliant computer science, physics, engineering, and maths courses are created by some of the best minds in their respective fields.
• Educators who wish to incorporate fun learning into their classes—the platform offers a free Education Plan for educators who want to include interactive, problem-solving lessons in their classroom.
• Parents who want to help their children with their STEM learning—parents with homeschooled pupils can create an efficient curriculum via Brilliant, thus ensuring their children keep up and even excel in STEM subjects.
• Avid learners who enjoy puzzles, games, and other visual aids—visual and Kinesthetic learners will find Brilliant’s courses engaging and illuminating as they are very interactive and provide great visual feedback.
• Professionals who need to improve their STEM skills for their job—employees who require a certain STEM-based skillset to fulfil their job obligations can utilise Brilliant’s coursebook to fill their skill or knowledge gaps.
• Pupils who like to study at their own pace and lifelong learners—older learners whose love for knowledge has been reinvigorated lately, or those who wish to learn at their own pace can start, pause, and continue their learning journey at any time.

Note: To learn via customary audiovisual courses, or study something outside the STEM sphere, look into platforms like Skillshare & Udemy.

Pricing Plans

When it comes to the Brilliant.org cost, the platform operates via a freemium business model, meaning it offers a free sample of its products, but you have to subscribe to the Brilliant premium plan for the full access at these price points:

With the premium scheme, you get full access to every chapter of the 60+ Brilliant courses, the entire daily challenges archive, offline app learning mode, guided lessons, and more. However, you can also try the Brilliant free trial plan for a week before committing. On the other hand, some eLearning platforms offer a longer trial period that doesn’t even require credit card information.

Note: Should Brilliant prove pricier than expected under your current circumstances, check out platforms like Pluralsight, which have access to a TV app.

Is Brilliant Worth It?

Brilliant takes full advantage of its gamified platform to deliver interactive, fun, and engaging learning experiences: every STEM course is well-built, informative, and easy to consume, regardless of its level of complexity.

All in all, students, parents, and teachers get much value out of a Brilliant subscription, as they spend hours on end engrossed in various puzzles, tasks, and challenges that quickly improve their problem solving skills along the way.