40 websites every student should know
Free websites that make studying easier, from step-by-step maths and interactive physics to open textbooks and full MIT courses.
They are good for school, university or teaching yourself something new.
Updated · 40 sites · hand-checked
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1. Khan Academy
Free, structured courses from arithmetic to art history, with practice that adapts to you.
- Learn
- Free
- khanacademy.org
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2. Wolfram Alpha
A computational knowledge engine that answers questions with worked steps rather than links.
- Learn
- Freemium
- wolframalpha.com
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3. Desmos Graphing Calculator
A graphing calculator so fast and pleasant that it turns algebra into doodling.
- Learn
- Free
- desmos.com
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4. MIT OpenCourseWare
Lecture notes, problem sets, exams and videos from thousands of real MIT courses, free to everyone and openly licensed.
- Learn
- Free
- ocw.mit.edu
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6. 3Blue1Brown
Mathematics with a visual soul: linear algebra, calculus and analysis animated into real intuition.
- Learn
- Free
- 3blue1brown.com
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7. PhET Interactive Simulations
Hundreds of physics, chemistry and biology simulations you can poke at — drag a mass onto a spring, mix a solution, build a circuit and watch it burn out.
- Science & Space
- Free
- phet.colorado.edu
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10. BetterExplained
Maths taught the way it should have been the first time: intuition and analogy first, formulas afterwards. The essays on e and the Fourier transform are the classics.
- Learn
- Free
- betterexplained.com
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11. Ptable
The interactive periodic table everyone ends up linking to. Drag the temperature slider to watch the elements melt and boil, or switch to orbitals, isotopes and compounds.
- Science & Space
- Free
- ptable.com
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12. Seeing Theory
Probability and statistics taught as things you drag: sample from a distribution, watch a regression line settle, see the central limit theorem happen in front of you.
- Learn
- Free
- seeing-theory.brown.edu
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13. Class Central
A search engine for online courses across every university and platform, with reviews and a list of the ones that are actually free.
- Learn
- Free
- classcentral.com
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14. Project Gutenberg
Seventy thousand public domain books, carefully proofread, in every format you would want.
- Read & Archive
- Donation
- gutenberg.org
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15. DeepL Translator
Translations that read as if a person wrote them, with alternative phrasings one click away. The one to use when tone matters.
- Everyday Tools
- Freemium
- deepl.com
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16. OneLook
A reverse dictionary: describe a word you can't remember and it finds it. Also searches a thousand dictionaries at once and finds rhymes and related words.
- Everyday Tools
- Free
- onelook.com
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17. Excalidraw
A hand-drawn-feeling virtual whiteboard. Diagrams that look deliberately rough, shareable in one link.
- Design & Type
- Open source
- excalidraw.com
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19. Car Anatomy
An interactive 3D car you can take apart: engine, gearbox, brakes and suspension, each explained in plain English as it moves.
- Learn
- Free
- underthehood.online
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20. Chemical Equations Online
Type the reactants and it predicts the products and balances the equation, with the steps shown.
- Learn
- Free
- chemequations.com
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21. DOF Simulator
Pick a camera, lens, aperture and distance and watch the depth of field and background blur change on a sample photo.
- Learn
- Free
- dofsimulator.net
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22. Entertrained
Practise typing by retyping classic novels page by page, so your speed drills double as reading time.
- Learn
- Free
- entertrained.app
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23. Hooktheory
See the chords and melody of thousands of pop songs laid out on a timeline, and learn why progressions work the way they do.
- Learn
- Freemium
- hooktheory.com
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25. LanguageGuide.org
Hover over illustrated scenes to hear the word for each object spoken by a native speaker, in dozens of languages.
- Learn
- Free
- languageguide.org
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27. NB Chemistry Lab
A virtual chemistry lab in 3D: pick up glassware, mix reagents and watch the reactions happen without breaking anything.
- Learn
- Freemium
- chemistry-en.nobook.com
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28. PCBX Simulator
Build Arduino circuits on a 3D breadboard in the browser, wire up displays and LEDs, and run real code against them.
- Learn
- Free
- pcbx.com
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29. Skill-Lync Resources
Free mini courses on engineering topics like finite elements and fluid dynamics, with interactive diagrams instead of walls of formulas.
- Learn
- Free
- resources.skill-lync.com
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32. CarCareKiosk
Short how-to videos for almost any car's basics, from fuses to wipers to oil, filmed on the actual model you drive.
- Learn
- Free
- carcarekiosk.com
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37. Electude Simulator Challenge
Diagnose a broken engine with a virtual multimeter and wiring diagrams, the way trainee mechanics do. Scored against the clock.
- Learn
- Free
- simulator.electude.com
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38. Freerice
Answer vocabulary and trivia questions; each correct one donates rice through the UN World Food Programme.
- Games & Play
- Free
- freerice.com
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39. Hacksplaining
Short interactive lessons where you carry out real attacks like SQL injection and XSS yourself, then learn how to defend against them.
- Learn
- Free
- hacksplaining.com
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40. Instructables
Step-by-step photo guides for making almost anything, from furniture to robots to cakes, written by the people who made them.
- Learn
- Free
- instructables.com
Want more than 40?
This list is one slice of a directory of 478 websites. Search, filter by category or tag, or shuffle the lot.
Explore the full directoryQuestions
What websites help with maths homework?
Wolfram Alpha, Desmos and Symbolab solve and graph problems. Khan Academy and Better Explained teach the idea behind them.
Where can I find free textbooks?
OpenStax publishes free, peer-reviewed textbooks, and Project Gutenberg and Open Library have millions of free books.
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