Is Brilliant.org Worth It?

Question

So, I'm a huge Duolingo fan, with a 1024 day streak and paying for Plus and all that jazz. I've found it very useful when supplemented with TV and later chatting/speaking with people.I wanted to find something similar for math, just to review and keep myself fluent because I want to eventually go deeper with physics, so I searched around and all I could find was Brilliant.I did a bunch of the samplers they offer but this didn't really give me an idea of whether it's good or not, I really wish they had a trial or ad supported version or something like that because they basically strong arm you into putting down $100 unless you want to pay 2x or 4x per month for shorter time periods... I just don't know if I want it yet or not, so I can't justify that.What is other people's experience with this thing? Is it worth it? Are there alternatives that are similar to Duolingo (keeps a streak, is gamified, cut graphics, with bite-sized levels, etc.)?[p.s. I'm not interested in Khan Academy, it's slow, imperfect and MIT has lectures up for all of these topics when I want them.]

jstx1 · Accepted Answer

For learning-learning? No. If you prefer MIT lectures over Khan Academy, then why not watch MIT lectures to learn whatever you want from Brilliant?For more of a info-tainment / puzzle solving type of diffused learning - sure, why not? You can always try it for a month and see if you like it yourself. I wasn't a huge fan but I didn't like Duolingo that much either.

bananarchist · Answer

I've been using Brilliant for a couple years and the thing I like about it is it _doesn't_ emphasize gamification. They'll manage your streak and iirc you can turn on notifications but it's not in your face like Duo - I've not actually seen what my streak is since an interface update two or so years ago because when I open the app it goes straight to my lessons. When I finish a lesson, it says good job and presents me a button to go home or on to the next lesson. Content is nicely bite-sized, graphics are entertaining and, unlike duo, often useful to the conveyance of the subject material, and often interactive.But still, as with everything, you're probably better off going to the library.