Brilliant: Learn by doing Reviews

by Dllnldr

First off, Brilliant doesn’t actually teach you, it’s a series of gotcha questions that may be beneficial if you already have knowledge of the subjects and just want a review, but there are no lessons, this is a prime example of a minimum viable product with an expensive subscription. Now, after barely using Brilliant due to dissatisfaction with the “learning” possibilities, I’m slapped with $100 charge for another year right as the holidays are coming up, and I don’t have an extra $100 lying around to spend on myself. There was no warning that my subscription renewal was coming, or how much it was going to be. (I bought the first year on a sale for $60 last year) As far as I know, there is no way of getting that back. When I cancelled the subscription in Brilliant , I had to endure 5 huge screens of scrolling where the company either pathetically begged me to stay, or threatened me with a higher price if I ever dared come back. They must not get many people coming back if they treat them with this vindictive manner on the way out the door. After that, I’m not motivated to go to their customer support and try to get my money back, because the one thing they have taught me is that I won’t get anywhere with that.

by Brock Zekany

App claimed the International Space Station (ISS) is ‘weightless.’ This is a slightly erroneous term but usually a forgivable mistake, if uttered by a layperson. However, as this is an educational app, I believe it should be held to higher standards and user proper rhetoric. Honestly, I am greatly disappointed because I was excited to learn some new trivia! It is a great injustice that Brilliant is propagating slightly skewed information. I would find it a better exercise to fully explain the idea rather than hastily throw out a common misnomer, which even further normalizes this incorrect sentiment. Knowing that people who are not already well-verses in physics would probably not recognize this mistake makes it an even more egregious error!

I am fed up with the educational system opting out of truly explaining difficult subjects. There is this trend of substituting them with slightly incorrect, water-downed, and much easier to explain versions of the true problem statement. The responsibility should lie within the institution to face this challenges comprehensively, so that we can build a model for the general public that cohesively explains such difficult subject matter.

by Jim C.K.

1) There hasn’t been any meaningful attempt at adding new content in years. Moreover, many “courses” share the exact same material. this app has a problem with the amount of content they offer. 2) They’ve done away with the open discussion solution forum; all you get is the (often stupid) this app staff solution. 3) The daily challenges, besides being broken (yet another bug to fix), cycle through the same boring repetitions of like ten different types of questions. Again, Brilliant needs new content. 4) Much of the content is really poorly presented. Technical terms are introduced without ever defining them, questions are convoluted, etc. Calling them “courses” adds artificial legitimacy to what are actually just a bunch of multiple choice questions/problems accompanied by tacky, ClipArt-esque illustrations. Fix this crap. And stop charging people who’ve already paid until you get actual new content (not just ‘new courses’ comprised of a mish-mash of content borrowed from old courses).

by Kj22012

For most of my incorrect answers I try to learn and understand what I did wrong. For some parts the explanations are helpful but wording is so skewed that’s it’s a problem to understand without taking time longer than the initial question.

Then I found a lot of questions are open ended or hides important information that makes solving the question a logical guessing game. Example pertaining to a probability question “guess how much money would be made on average per game” the question however does not tell you how many games will be played leading the player to come with an random guess which will lead them to a wrong answer.

If Brilliant is built for the purpose of learning or a wide range of learning levels the questions and explanations should reflect that. Instead of assuming everyone intelligence level will pick on the smallest details and understand what they already didn’t understand to begin with.

by Eric85579

First of all I love the idea. I studied Mechanical Engineering but haven’t worked in the field for 5+ years, so I just wanted to see if I still have the understanding for all the principles and check out new fields.
I feel like some of the explanations should have been read over by somebody else who hasn’t written it. Most of the time I don’t have issues understanding the principle or I even know it beforehand but reading the text is sometimes more confusing than clarifying.
Still, I’m enjoying Brilliant . Lastly I have to say that $150 per year seems really excessive for an app like this. It is not going into enough detail to prepare people for exams or anything, so all it’s for is joy/ interest in the theories. I can get that from Wikipedia or similar websites. Granted, not as organized but for free.
I will keep browsing topics this year but I will not buy another year of subscription. At least not for this prize.

by That One Guy On The Internet

I personally am more fond of listening to lectures than reading a lesson on my own, and because of this I sometimes can find myself mindlessly grazing over a lesson without truly learning it (yeah yeah, I’m in a minority I get it)... But unfortunately, for the week or so I’ve had Brilliant I haven’t found a lesson which has an auditory option or something that fashion. I fully understand how insignificant this problem may seem, but with a $100 annual payment I would expect my money to be going to a learning platform which can cater to my specific learning style, perhaps with a 10 minute in-depth explanation on a topic or even a whole lesson if I my attention is divided (for example if I wanted to listen to a lesson on my way to work).
Other than this minor problem I’ve experienced with Brilliant , I have enjoyed the engaging lessons and in-depth explanations. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone, especially if the visual examples and written lessons are the way you personally prefer to learn. Although for those of us who prefer an auditory method of learning it can be difficult to fully take in the information in an easily digestible way. 4/5, needs more lessons in my opinion (more are coming so it’s not a terrible problem) and a way to keep learners of all styles engaged in every lesson. Great app :)

by Unatone

I don’t know about using this app on my phone or laptop but interacting with the this app app is quite uncomfortable when using split screen. Whenever I’m browsing the course library on landscape mode or portrait mode and select a course to preview, the course overview and course sections vertically split the available screen real estate. It produces a very unflattering squished layout in which reading the course overview or seeing the various sections of each “chapter” is an uncomfortable experience. I don’t need to continue seeing course overview after I’ve read it once. I believe the course overview and course chapters shouldn’t be split and instead should be static at the top of the page in order to use the whole page real estate to comfortable horizontally scroll throughout the chapter sections (Think of the Netflix app for example, the main show they’re promoting at the top and different shows are scrollable horizontally, it would be quite annoying if we had to forcibly see the show they’re promoting everywhere as we continue scrolling down/ up while browsing).

Other than that this app is amazing, I would just like it to be more split screen friendly on mobile devices.

by RubiksA1

It’s a good app. Everything is clean, easy to use, good content, and fun. It is costly though to buy access to the full content. Even if it is just for one course. Although you gain access to all courses once you buy the subscription, sometimes you just want the one. You still have to buy the full package. I personally never bought it because it is super expensive, and I don’t have the time. It is still a good app. If you are truly dedicated to learning something scientific and mathematical (and have the time to actually use Brilliant to get your bang for you buck) I would get it and get the subscription. Otherwise you can use the free part of Brilliant to get teasers to see what you are interested in. Brilliant itself is aesthetically pleasing and its functionality is superb.

by Fatima Baji

I really enjoyed the mini quizzes, though I didn’t understand some of the material I still gained a lot of information in some of the explanations.
My *only* complaints are: try not to be so vague on some founding principles if at the beginning of the course if it says “Not to worry! You’ll learn about it in chapter so and so...’’ but then don’t explain the fundamentals if the course is for absolutely beginners? 🙄🙄🙄
Secondly, let us know we have to pay for the course before hand! Please let that be included at least in the introductory section, gave an option to buy the full package. Really took me by surprise, I’m sure others as well.
Otherwise I really enjoy Brilliant . I’m going to buy it only because I have no doubt it would greatly improve my understanding and comprehension of material. Thank you all for developing and writing the content of Brilliant.

by Tonitobonitogrande

During my free trial, I decided this app was not for me. Unfortunately, I missed canceling my trial by an hour and was charged a whopping $119 for a year membership.

I left a review explaining why I was upset, the support team responded, we emailed each other, and they have decided to issue a refund.

I initially gave a 1 star review because of having such a large surprise amount charged to my account (a surprise because I thought I would be charged for a single month, not a full year at the end of the trial if I were to not cancel in time).

Because the support team responded quickly and professionally, I am happy to raise my review to 4 stars, because I do think the world could use more math and science! I however find the payment/free-trial method a bit controversial. So until they decide to change their model, I can’t feel comfortable leaving any higher of a review.

My recommendation to this app is to give people a 7 day trial without charging the payment automatically upon completion. Send out a reminder message that the trial is ending. Maybe consider giving a discounted price if they purchase during a free trial. Let the user feel in control of their decision!

Thank you for understanding, and giving me a refund. I do appreciate that very much and wish you all well! Best!

by The Humble Student

So far, I enjoy the introduction to reasoning skills. I haven’t used Brilliant very long, but I’ve experienced that Brilliant is engaging from the moment you start using it. There are quite a few subjects to select from, and I’ve chosen to start from the beginning for a fresh outlook on mathematics. I expected daunting, simple problems to work through, and was surprised to find that while simple elements are introduced they are not boring . I’m grateful for the opportunity to enrich my perspective on the fundamentals as I’m a higher level math student feeling like I’ve reached a ceiling because my mathematical background is one of “here are the steps, now solve the problem”. I hope to regain a love for mathematics, and so far, it seems like I’m already there.

by Emu19

Last year I was a part of the graduating class of 2020 where I received my B.S.c in mathematics. As you might imagine, Instead of using my skills in the workplace (or at graduate school) I have been stuck in quarantine. this app has helped me review key concepts I will need for whatever comes next by providing engaging problems, a user friendly platform, and a myriad of topics to choose from. As someone with a mathematics background, I particularly enjoy the logical approach to not only the math course but also the physics and computer science courses they offer.

Overall it has been a great experience (other than the cost) and I recommend it to those trying to expand their minds while they are trapped inside.

by PMEinDenver

I’ve only been using this app a week, but it’s so much more interesting and engaging and fun than similar learning apps. The experience is like a combination of doing mini- courses with puzzle and game apps. I *never* learned math this way—it would have changed the whole experience for me! (I’m almost sixty years old and doing this mostly for fun, though I’m hoping it might help me with some novice level coding I’m also learning.) The interface is also very attractive and clean.

My only suggestion: offer two levels of explanation. There were a few questions where the explanation was so brief, it was kind of puzzle itself. I understand you want to keep things brief—that’s good. That’s why I suggest two levels of explanation: first button says “Show explanation.” But then another button appears at the bottom that says, maybe, “ Need more detailed explanation?” for us beginners. But this is a minor critique. I’m really enjoying it. Highly recommend!

by Lesliezdad

I’ve self educated since 7th grade, I would have died to have had this 20 yrs ago. I had to work full time since I was 14 and I’m a single dad now, this is wonderful! I’ve had to countlessly go back, time and time again: Example: Studying Physics, I can see the theory in my mind, but had to figure out what kind of mathematical approach to quantify things. I self taught trig, pre-cal and cal, but didn’t know about pure mathematics. It saves so much time to have a path to build on. I’m completely stoked, and when my daughter goes to bed, the two hrs I get are highly prized times for me. So having a lesson planned out for me dames me incredible time and frustration. Brilliant is a god send! Thank-you! You just don’t know how much I appreciate the (chance) to learn.

by Theopinionator2point0

Brilliant is allowing me to expand my brains capacity to understand natures fundamental laws from special relativity, to solving complex courses such as problem solving/ Logic. Doing very good when it comes to logic. I’m improving in mathematics. However, I’m a little lost with special relativity. It’s most likely because my curiosity got the best of me and compelled me to skip all the other essential courses to understanding it and the meaning behind certain symbols (variables). I would highly recommend using an app called Elevate in conjunction with this app. They go very well together hand-in-hand, at least from my experience. I use Elevate as a pre-workout to stretch and warm up my brain before using this app, as it is more advanced than Elevate. Just a suggestion. I hope this review helps!

by 386728

I have never been a math or logic person, so the problems in Brilliant were more challenging to me than they were for most. I wish something like this, with problems and explanations, all for free—were accessible when I was younger. I wouldn’t have known where to start looking! If I started at a young age, my math skills would be better, and I may have actually done math for fun.

This the kind of stuff that they ask on IQ tests, not the silly memory or perceptual reasoning stuff they have on online IQ tests. Perceptual reasoning and working memory do not require preconceived knowledge or study like verbal reasoning does (verbal reasoning includes vocabulary and mathematics). However, all three measures can be improved with practice. You just have to know where to find the challenges.

by Paroladema

I’m going to college and taking academic courses for the first time in several years. I failed the first day assessment for Elementary Statistics, so I dropped it. Since then, I’ve been trying to brush up on my math in various ways. However, most of the “traditional” ways have either not worked, brought up negative associations for me, or both. Brilliant TEACHES math from the ground up, along with many neat tips and tricks, in a way that’s novel and fun for me, but not insulting to my intelligence or dignity. Plus, Brilliant’s approach to teaching math visually and conceptually is getting through to me in ways that several math teachers have failed to do. I only have the FREE version, too! Don’t let the subscription cost scare you! You CAN download, use, and benefit from this app without paying a dime!

by L. X. D. Auther

Hello. I just downloaded your app and did part of one of the courses. I love this idea! I’ve always had a hard time understanding things like math and science, but I believe I’ll start understanding thing a lot more! I heard about this service from Mark Rober, a YouTuber that you sponsored in his latest video and I immediately downloaded this to try it. I have only one request to make, could you please bring Dark Mode to Brilliant ? I’m visually impaired and having Dark Mode would help me not strain as hard to read the text in your app. I read best with white text on black and I have an extremely hard time reading black text on white. Thank you for making this incredible app! I can’t wait to learn and understand more in the coming days, weeks, and months!

by Aeravis

Brilliant is amazing. I downloaded it originally when I was looking for resources to brush up on physics. Since then, I decided to enroll in a math class at my local community college—this app made learning so easy that my confidence has skyrocketed and I started daydreaming about earning a STEM degree.

Of course, I used this app to study for my math placement test, and after only working through half of the algebra and trig courses I tested in to Pre-Calc! I haven’t taken a math class since high school, ten years ago! I’m still using this app on the topics I find difficult, the easy step by step process is so good at breaking down complex problems and helping you understand.

I’m so excited to keep using Brilliant for a variety of subjects. Thank you so much to the team that built Brilliant and creates its content! This is modern digital learning at its best!

by Regrh

This tool is amazing for self-taught learners and students that want to enhance their critical thinking or mathematical ability, and supplement their academic course work. It’s amazing a resource like this available. The learning content is great people that designed the course work really put thought into every problem. Most problems are fun challenging and interesting. There should be more apps like this.
^^^ This is automatically generated response of developers praising themselves and I agree it is a very well made and interesting app for anyone looking to exercise their mind and delve into interesting puzzles and problems and I agree with all the praise given by the developers to themselves in the autogenerated review but I would like for them leave some of the praising up to the user of Brilliant . Amazing work Brilliant is a great supplement to learning and the designers of Brilliant are amazing.

by CJ Couter

Incredibly deceptive trial cancellation practice. Customer service communication sends you in loops and Brilliant conveniently malfunctioned not allowing me to cancel my trial until AFTER the deadline. Once available, the cancellation process requires a ridiculous number of “Are you SURE you want to cancel” questions and other processes meant to trick you into continuing your cancellation request. Customer service emails are not responded to in a timely manner and require several emails to convey information like “go here and fill out this request” - which at best illustrates incompetence and at worst deceptive business practices. All of the above renders Brilliant useless - if you cannot stand behind your product on substance alone and must resort to such practices to gain subscriptions, then even you clearly don’t believe in your product.

by Doodlebear90

That should be the real tag line, "Math and physical and computer science only" because apparently the developer either knew nothing about biological and chemical science or they didn't have any friends to help them with this part of Brilliant . There is no mention of chemistry, organic chemistry (which I argue is harder than many of the courses in there now), molecular biology, or any of the myriad of advanced or beginner subject that may fall under those broad headings. I downloaded Brilliant hoping to use it for some study help worth some masters courses in molecular biology but, nope...computational biology is as close as it gets and that is really just a programmer course for people that can speak Python or some other language.
If they can get some of these subjects added I will definitely be back, I like the look and feel of Brilliant .

So, good luck and let's hop to boys, let's get those subjects added and the future biochemist learning!!

by Evanman321

Many of the explanations for their problems are incomplete, and are clearly rushed through (and checked over) by people who already have a thorough understanding of the subject. This leaves the hopeful learner often stuck- wondering how to get from a->b. It’s discouraging, because Brilliant is a great idea overall and it does eventually work. With the help of intense googling the explanations make sense in the end. However, because of this- it’s just not a finished product yet. It shouldn’t be on the market, at least for paying customers, when so much must be supplemented elsewhere due to a lack of due diligence on the part of the devs.

The devs should focus more on testing their product to make sure it’s able to teach people and less on advertising all over the universe. Good products sell themselves. This is not yet a good product and they clearly lean into over advertising to compensate.

by CicyChen2018

Update: I received the refund. Thanks! I wish the process would be much easier. Modifying the rating from one to three.

Original:
I signed up for a monthly subscription since there is only a few courses I’m interested in. After I finished the course, I set a schedule to cancel the subscription before it renewed. I thought I canceled it because it asked me why I canceled and I selected my reason. I thought that’s it. To my surprise, they charged again. I went in and realized that the subscription is not cancelled because they hide the cancellation button at the very bottom of the page after you selected the reason so I didn’t successfully cancel it Lol. Well, I get it — you want to retain your user. But if a user does not want to use your product anymore, what’s the point of making the cancelation process so difficult. It felt like I was tricked. And customer support refused to refund due to internal policy even though I wasn’t using it at all - check your statistics please.

So for those of you who only find a few courses interesting, make sure when you cancel, scroll to the bottom of every single page. Otherwise, they will say it’s users fault.

by TBuber

I would definitely recommend Brilliant (great job on the appearance of Brilliant by the way. I like how simple it is.), because I love this style of learning. I have been using it for a few weeks now to understand Algebra concepts better, and it’s been working pretty well. I love how fun and interactive the quizzes are, and I love how you can just jump around and look at a whole load of different subjects without having to level up or something too. Now, I have given this review 4 stars though, because I find some of the explanations too complicated or lacking in clarity. Overall though, it’s a great learning tool, but for some of the subjects I feel it’s better to learn it the old fashioned way and then use this app to really clarify your understanding and anchor down your skills once and for all!!!

by Csmithstack

These courses are very helpful. That said, the usefulness of Brilliant (and even its fuller-featured web version) would be greatly improved with a few added features. In particular, I often find myself wishing I had the ability to “bookmark” difficult problems in a quiz so that I could easily track which concepts I need to work on and return to them at a later date to do so. This could go hand-in-hand with an improved dashboard page that gave a more granular view of my progress through the various courses. (As is, it just displays a progress bar for each category, with no further breakdown.)
Beyond that, I’ve been quite happy with Brilliant .

by Gamerrz247n

I subscribed to this service to refresh my memory on some fundamental concepts while also exposing myself to new areas of knowledge. Needless to say, Brilliant is well-designed and flashy. The illustrations and user-interface are intuitive and engaging. However, Brilliant lacks a lot with regards to pedagogy. While the brief lessons allow for quick consumption on-the-go, I think the superficiality of the explanations, examples, and exercises leads to shallow learning. If there were a practice/review tool that utilized a spaced-repetition learning model, I might feel more satisfied with my learning progress. In short, don’t expect the same learning outcomes from Brilliant as you would from a more intensive course.

by Willtheawesome

I really liked the lessons that I did. Sometimes with things like this it is difficult to strike a balance between childishly easy and face desk hard. However this kept me engaged and I was able to learn to think through the problems for myself. However to me it is not worth paying $120 a year, especially as this is just a thing I do in a five minute break. I would rather do Khan Academy for five minutes and that’s also free. I would definitely use Brilliant if there was a full version driven by ad revenue that didn’t require payment. Ads are annoying to most people but I don’t mind if the product provides value to my life.

by Anopinion8

I was happy to download Brilliant but was unable to use it due to having to register with Facebook, google or your email. I personally don’t like having to register in the manner that is requested but after speaking with the developers, they explained that this registration is necessary in order to protect against piracy issues. I understand where they are coming from and if you don’t mind registering, then perhaps Brilliant can be an excellent study resource. I gave it a 4 star review only because I did not get to use it and I do not want to register, however I am sure Brilliant itself is great and might be worth the 5 stars. Good luck!

by Ljvvvb

Brilliant has amazing courses, some of the courses have a better explanation than others. For example, the logic course is amazing and very useful, in the other hand calculus done right needs a little improvement because the way they explain some key concepts are rushed and fussy. However, you will enjoy it and learn from it. I would recommend it to those who are into math, science and want to improve their knowledge on the matters. Don’t buy if you don’t have time, I bought the year subscription but I’ve only used it for the time gaps that I have between college terms, so consider time!

by Ann94832

I absolutely love Brilliant. It reignited my passion for math and the world of numbers. It teaches in a wonderful fashion that lets you figure it out at your own speed and learn nonchalantly, as some learning should be. It integrates math and science into my daily routine of social media and texting, hopefully one day replacing the latter two completely! Unfortunately I am heartbroken by the price. I would pay it in a millisecond but I simply am a self sufficient student and I don't have extra funds. Despite this, I would recommend Brilliant to anyone with a burning curiosity pertaining to the wonders of the universe and its intricacies :)

by Micah@jtrumpower

These puzzles are amazing! Brilliant starts you off with small, simple exercises and puzzles. But not so diminutive that they’re boring. Then, you progress to more exciting and intricate puzzles; all the while learning, and immediately exercising what you just learned. And the most awesome part, if you don’t understand why something is the way it is, there’s a down to earth explanation - complete with descriptions, pictures, and gifs. You can’t help but learn, and the fun makes you never want to stop learning. If you are a lifelong learner, you will love Brilliant!!!