A Review: Brilliant

The app is dull

This spring I was chatting with a friend about my desire to learn, and a total lack of time, and he was commiserating that he had the same problem. I was specifically looking for resources to learn Python, at that point, and he suggested I look into Brilliant, which is in theory a learning app.

The concept was good - gamification of learning, in easy bites daily. That’s not a bad idea for memorization and reinforcement of concepts. However, the problem is, after six months of daily use, it’s flawed in execution. Badly. I have numerous times found answers that were either wrong, or there was no one right answer, but the only way to pass the question was to suss out which answer the app wanted you to choose. Annoying. Worst of all for me, the Python section contains insufficient information and explanation, and I came to a point after a few levels where I was stuck, unable to continue on with the ‘lessons’ and have given up. Instead, I went out and got a few books on Python, and have been trying to make time to study it properly, but that’s a different challenge and failure.

I’d bought the yearly subscription to Brilliant, which cost me $161. It was not worth it. I do not recommend it. Like Duolingo, which this looks and feels as though it were designed by the same people, it is severely limited in educational content. It is also better suited to refreshing and reinforcing concepts learned in much more depth elsewhere.

I’ve been at it for six months. It makes for a daily frustration, some days, and others it’s more interesting. I often use it as a distraction when I can’t sleep, as you may see from the timestamps on the screenshots. I wanted to give it it’s due, and not review it too soon, so after the 180 day mark I decided it was time. I see it advertised everywhere, so I’m likely shouting into the void.

This isn’t a good learning app. It’s not good for learning at all, and frankly isn’t even very fun as a gamification. Other than the streaks, there isn’t really a reason for me to keep at it, and now that I have fulfilled my intent to review it, I plan to delete it and make very sure my subscription doesn’t renew.