Common Sense Media Review
By Erin Brereton
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Hundreds of learning activities build skills and confidence.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 5+?
Any Positive Content?
Videos and Photos
IXL
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 1,609 parent reviews
Parents say that this website is widely regarded as a source of immense frustration and emotional distress for children, often resulting in tears and traumatic reactions. Many reviews express strong disapproval of the scoring system, which penalizes mistakes harshly, making it difficult for kids to feel accomplished and contributing to negative mental health outcomes.
- frustration and tears
- harsh scoring system
- emotional distress
- lack of support
- not recommended
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
Based on 6,417 kid reviews
Kids say the platform is a source of immense frustration and stress, primarily due to its punitive SmartScore system, which heavily penalizes mistakes while rewarding correct answers minimally. Many users express that it provides little to no educational value, often leading to feelings of anxiety, depression, and a sense of futility in their learning experience.
- high stress
- punitive scoring
- little educational value
- lack of support
- emotional damage
Summarized with AI
Privacy Rating Warning
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What's It About?
IXL offers more than 7,000 practice modules on Common Core pre-K through high school math and language skills. It also features language arts, science, and social studies for second- through eighth-graders. Kids repetitively practice one lesson at a time, earning certificates and virtual awards that reflect their favorite animals, foods, places, and hobbies for completing work, and they get step-by-step explanations for incorrect answers. After registering, parents can access progress reports to evaluate kids' strengths and weaknesses. Kids can write their responses, which is especially good for younger kids. There are also audio supports and on-demand Spanish translation.
Is It Any Good?
This academic skill-building site/app provides independent practice and focus on areas where they need to improve, but be aware that some kids don't love it. In terms of practice, for example, at the sixth-grade level IXL presents 320 math skills practice activities. Parents can view kids' scores for various skill exercises, the questions they answered, and other specific information to differentiate instruction for their child. The "Trouble Spot" report can be very useful in quickly identifying where kids are having a hard time and where they need extra help.
IXL's practice-and-drill approach may not thrill some kids, and some could feel they need to focus on getting the answer right every time, instead of viewing each exercise as a learning experience. But the questions -- which range from basics such as counting to geometry's perpendicular bisector theorem, as well as a range of grammar and vocabulary items -- offer consistent progression. They increase in difficulty once kids reach the challenge mode. Kids also get detailed feedback if they answer incorrectly, along with the chance to continue with the same skill to try to apply what they've learned. This can greatly improve their comprehension of difficult concepts. Adding tools like a virtual sketchpad would be great, and the subscription cost, which kids will need for full access, may be a deterrent for some parents. But overall, IXL is a comprehensive learning resource.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how practicing skills with IXL leads to confidence and accuracy. What's a skill you struggled to learn that you possibly could have studied with the help of a site like IXL? How did you feel when you improved? What other skills would you like to improve?
How can you use the math skills you're practicing in the real world? When do we use addition in everyday life? How about algebra?
Kids can see an explanation if they enter an incorrect answer. Does your child feel stressed out if that happens? Talk about why it's OK to not get things right sometimes when you're learning something new.
Website Details
- Subjects : Language & Reading : reading , vocabulary , writing clearly , Math : addition , algebra , arithmetic , counting , division , equations , fractions , functions , geometry , graphing , grouping , measurement , money , multiplication , numbers , patterns , probability , ratio , sequences , shapes , statistics , subtraction , Science : astronomy , biology , chemistry , ecosystems and the environment , energy , plants , weather , Social Studies : geography , government , historical figures , the economy , timelines
- Skills : Self-Direction : work to achieve goals
- Genre : Educational
- Topics : STEM , Numbers and Letters
- Pricing structure : Free to try (Kids can access 10 free questions in each overall subject area per day. A core subjects subscription is $19.95/month or $159/year; a pre-K to 12th-grade math and language arts subscription is $15.95/month or $129/year; an individual math, language arts, or Spanish subscription is $9.95/month or $79/year; and Spanish exercises can be added to any other package for $5/month.)
- Last updated : December 11, 2025
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