Quizlet wants its users to pay up. Now, students and teachers are looking for new ways to study.
BY CARLY WITT ’23
Quizlet has always been a popular study tool for students, with its easy to make flashcards, and features such as Learn, Write, Spell and Test. Students and teachers are able to make their own sets of flashcards, and share with classmates. In 2018, Quizlet added a Premium feature, allowing students to have access to textbooks and other resources that made flashcards easier to make and more accurate.
“Over the years I’ve utilized Quizlet and the Learn feature to help learn Spanish vocab, and study for quizzes,” Spanish student Chloe Friedman said.
Recently, Quizlet has made more changes to its Premium content. Users can pay $7.99 for a monthly subscription, or $2.99 every month for a yearly subscription, totalling in $35.99 for the entire year.
Some of Quizlet Premium’s features include being able to scan handwritten notes into premade flashcards, ad-free studying, textbook solutions and feedback on concepts. You are also able to customize your sets with diagrams, add visual cues to help memorization and download sets for offline studying.
Quizlet is a staple in many classes at UAHS, especially in foreign languages, as flashcards are extremely helpful when learning new vocabulary and grammar. “My German teacher has Premium, so during her class we are all able to use Learn and the Premium features, but for other classes like my stats class, I don’t have Premium so I don’t use it,” German student Paige Parker said.
Many teachers use Quizlet as well, providing flashcard sets to their students so they are able to study direct definitions and terms for class material. Teachers also use Quizlet Live in class, a feature that is still available for free. Quizlet Live lets students compete against others in the class on teams to test their knowledge on the selected Quizlet set.
“I think it definitely puts certain classes or students at a disadvantage if one student in a class isn’t able to afford it, while others can,” Friedman said.
While Quizlet has become more of a selective, costly program, there are many Quizlet alternatives that prove to be just as effective, and less expensive for the average student. ANKI is another flashcard program that makes memorization and studying easier, while also being free. You can embed videos, photos and have unlimited amounts of cards allowed in a set. It is downloadable on Windows,
iOS, Mac, Android or anything with a web browser. Another great Quizlet alternative is Knowt. You are
able to import Quizlet sets into Knowt to make the switch easy, and Knowt prides itself on being the “free Quizlet.” On Knowt, the program creates flashcards right from your notes, instead of having to make them manually, and you can even apply to be a Knowtaker and make money for writing notes and flashcards.
At the end of the day, everyone studies differently. Some like to write out paper flashcards or have a family member quiz them, while others prefer to use an online program. Some students may be able to afford paying for Quizlet’s premium features, while others may need to find
a good, free, online alternative.