As thousands of schools got shut across the USA last year, improved online education delivery coupled with social distancing requirements led to an increasing number of American families making the switch to online schooling. Covid hit the entire education system, but high schoolers took the spotlight. Unfortunately, these young adults, set to transition to college, and our best bets for a bright future, suddenly find themselves confined to their rooms—idle and confused.

With a whole lot of time on hand, binging the latest docu-series on Netflix, posting Instagram stories of your dog, and just lazing around sound quite tempting. However, it is also a great time for high schoolers to take exciting courses, prepare for tests like SATs, learn new skills, and massively build on the existing ones. 

As restrictions on movement loosen up and schools start to open, many high school students prefer to stay back with the online system. It gives them the flexibility to do part-time jobs and the opportunity to choose from a wide array of courses to level up their resumes. According to an article on Forbes, online education at the high school level is looking at a steady rise as it gets more personalized, advanced, immersive, and automated.

Based on affordability, merit, accessibility, and unique offerings, Cuemath, a Google for Education partner, lists the ten best free online courses for high school, in no particular order.

Coursera

An e-learning platform that boasts of faculty members from eminent universities like Stanford and Duke, Coursera has free courses on various topics—from C++ and Engineering to Marketing and Psychology. In addition, its advanced courses help high schoolers explore possible major choices in college. 

Codeacademy

Undoubtedly one of the most valuable job skills out there, the requirement for coding skills is exploding day by day. Codeacademy is a free coding resource where students choose what to learn and can start writing code shortly after signing up. Students affected by school closures can also take advantage of the Pro Scholarships offered on the website.

edX

An online platform that offers over 2500 curses for free, edX has course material from many different schools. It has quality information covering a wide range of topics from Harvard, MIT, Berkley, and other top universities. Students could utilize the current time to learn new skills, boost their resumes and have a shot at majors at these universities.

Cuemath  

Cuemath is the world's leading online Math excellence platform for kids from K.G. to 12th grade. Their curriculum, taught by a pool of 10,000+ expert teachers, is entirely compliant with the U.S. Common Core plus accredited by STEM.org. In addition, Cuemath treats math as a life skill, not as a mere school subject. Their personalized 1:1 instruction from expert tutors and adaptive math-tech has created stellar learning outcomes for 200,000+ students. Ideal for homeschoolers looking to gain that extra edge. Cuemath offers Live Online Math classes. Book a Free online demo to experience stellar learning outcomes.

Khan Academy

An excellent learning website catering to students aged 4-18, Khan Academy offers a full spectrum of free resources. They provide short, easy-to-understand short tutorials in the form of video lessons. They also have courses and valuable material in physics, math, grammar, U.S. history, biology, and economics. aFree SAT practice tests are a bonus for High school sophomores.

Udemy

Similar in structure to Coursera, Udemy has a mix of free and paid services but also allows users to build custom courses. Again, the quality of content is excellent as they collaborate with top professionals and schools.

Youtube 

An excellent resource for visual learners, Youtube is another exciting option. From crash courses on complex Chemistry topics to DIY activities, it covers a broad spectrum of interests. If you are a fitness enthusiast or aiming to be in the next Masterchef, you can find countless relevant videos.
Skillshare

Not an entirely free platform, Skillshare does have a tonne of courses available for free. From a Productivity Masterclass on efficient studying to Strategies for e-commerce business, they have an eclectic mix of options. However, you need to pay to get their Premium membership and access all courses.

Established Institutions

Who knew learning Shakespeare from Harvard could be free? Well, it is.
So is learning Supply chain principles from Georgia Tech. Students should upskill themselves as some of the most established schools and top universities in the world offer free online courses.

Eight or eighty-six, learning need not stop. Whether wanting to learn something new or just looking to sharpen the saw, the internet is full of resources if you look hard enough.

-By Abhishek Deswal    

Abhishek is an engineer with a math-focus outlook on life. Through his writing at Cuemath, he puts forward his belief that life makes more sense when seen through numbers. A former analytics professional, he enjoys theatre, football, and long runs.