Thinkwell Online Courses Review

I've taken Thinkwell classes since I was in 8th grade. I love them! I've taken Public Speaking, AP Biology, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Precalculus, and right now I'm taking AP Calculus AB and AP Chemistry. Here's why I'd recommend them:

• The teachers. Every teacher in Thinkwell's videos is obviously passionate about the subject they teach and extremely qualified to teach it. They are good at what they do, too. Prof. Burger has taught me math concepts I never thought I'd understand. Bonus points for being extremely funny and charismatic. I don't know how he works so many jokes into math videos, but I've actually laughed out loud on numerous occasions while watching them. Even the teachers who don't crack so many jokes are enjoyable to listen to because you can tell that they love what they do.
• The self-paced system. You can finish your class as fast as you want or take up to an entire year, if you need it.
• Great pricing. You get a lot of quality for a very reasonable price.
• Layout of video lectures: you can see the teacher, what he's writing, definitions of new terms, and a lecture outline all at the same time and the screen doesn't feel overly cluttered. Pretty rare and impressive.
• There is a ton of content in each course. Each lesson has a video and an exercise. Each unit has a practice test, an exam, and a homework. Each unit also usually has links and interactive content related to the videos as well as definitions for the vocabulary learned in that unit.

BenchPrep AP, ACT, and SAT Prep: Review

After trying Kaplan, I stumbled across BenchPrep, a lovely site where you can choose to have access to a single course for a year or pay a monthly fee to study as many as you want. I've been using BenchPrep for two months now and I like it a whole lot. Pictured above is a snippet of what the site looks like - a simple, streamlined layout, cross compatibility with computers, smartphones, and tablets and lots of courses to choose from.

Pros:

• Clear, well-written answer explanations
• Easy navigation
• Ability to complete the course from beginning to end or hop from section to section
• Compatible with phones, tablets, and computers
• You can access everything they have for a pretty low monthly price - perfect for some extra studying those last few months before a test
• After taking practice tests there's a clear breakdown of which skills you need to work on
• Ability to rate sections by how hard or easy they are for you, which is great when you need to concentrate on and quickly find parts of the course - fantastic for homeschoolers with busy schedules!

Cons:

• Some of the courses don't have as many practice questions or tests as others - there are two ACT math prep courses and I prefer one to the other by FAR. If you're buying the monthly all-access version of BenchPrep that's obviously not an issue.
• That's really it!

I'd recommend using BenchPrep if you're looking for courses that highlight strengths and weaknesses so real progress can be made. It's easy to see where you're at and there's no battling through section upon section of review before happening upon something you need to work on. In true homeschooling style, there are no limits on how long you take or how quickly you complete the work and you can study only what you need to practice without an effect on the entire course progress and grade.

Visual Calculus Course

http://archives.math.utk.edu/visual.calculus/
Includes pre-calculus review, extensive interactive notes, programs, drills, modules, and quizzes.

Math Vids.com

http://www.mathvids.com/

Features:
Math videos
TI Calculator tutorials

Brightstorm - Math

http://www.brightstorm.com/math/

The math part of Brightstorm.

Features:
"Short, to the point math videos"
Instant answers to homework problems
Large user base, active help forums