Art of Problem Solving Online

AoPS Online is the live-class division of Art of Problem Solving, the competition-math and advanced-mathematics program founded by Richard Rusczyk in 2003. These classes take the AoPS textbook curriculum, which we review separately, and deliver it in scheduled live online sections with problem-set homework and a uniquely vigorous message board. It is the single most prominent destination for mathematically gifted American homeschoolers.

Last updated: 2026-04-24 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Live online classes, discussion-based, problem-set heavy
Worldview	Secular
Grades	Approximately grades 3-12 (middle-school prealgebra through calculus and olympiad prep)
Formats	Live online class via the AoPS platform, plus textbook
Cost tier	Premium
Parent intensity	2
ESA-common	Yes (ESA vendors and homeschool co-ops list AoPS Online)
Accredited	No (AoPS does not grant credit; students earn credit through their umbrella school, charter, or transcript)
Established	2003 (per the AoPS Wiki entry for Richard Rusczyk)
Website	artofproblemsolving.com

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	5	The most mathematically demanding homeschool math option at its level
Ease of teaching	4	Instruction handled by AoPS staff; parent role is scheduler and homework enforcer
Content quality	5	AoPS textbooks are widely regarded as the gold standard for problem-based math
Flexibility	3	Scheduled live classes create real schedule dependencies
Value for money	4	Premium pricing, but no cheaper way to get this level of live instruction
Worldview scope	5	Faith-neutral; used across all worldview contexts
Visual/design	3	Functional platform; classroom interface is text-and-whiteboard rather than glossy
Support resources	5	Message boards, Alcumus practice platform, and AoPS community are exceptional

Who the publisher is

Art of Problem Solving was founded in 2003 by Richard Rusczyk, a former national MATHCOUNTS competitor (1985) and USA Mathematical Olympiad winner (1989). Rusczyk co-authored the AoPS textbook series with Sandor Lehoczky starting in the 1990s, and in the early 2000s began building the online platform that would deliver those textbooks as live instruction to students who did not have access to strong competition-math teachers in their local schools. The company's positioning has not changed since: AoPS exists for students who are ahead of grade level in mathematics, who want genuinely challenging problems rather than repeat-the-procedure exercises, and who are aiming at mathematics competitions or at college-level math earlier than the standard pathway permits.

AoPS operates three related product lines that families should distinguish. The AoPS textbook series. Introduction to Algebra, Introduction to Geometry, and so on up through olympiad topics, is a standalone curriculum families can use without enrolling in online classes. Beast Academy is the elementary-age product line, covering math for roughly grades 2-5 with its own textbook-plus-online platform. AoPS Online, the subject of this review, is the live-class program that delivers the AoPS curriculum through scheduled online sections taught by AoPS instructors. Families typically use the textbooks alone at first, move to AoPS Online when they want live instruction and peer discussion, and often pair the live classes with the textbooks for home review.

Rusczyk's role has evolved. He is no longer the only public face of the company; AoPS now employs a substantial team of instructors, curriculum developers, and community moderators. But the company's editorial voice remains recognizable as his: mathematically serious, occasionally dry, skeptical of curriculum that rewards pattern-matching over understanding. For gifted and advanced mathematicians in the homeschool community, AoPS is often the first place families look, and frequently the only place that delivers the depth they need.

The core pedagogy

AoPS Online is problem-based instruction. The class does not proceed by teacher lecture followed by student practice; it proceeds by the class working problems together, in the class chat, on shared whiteboards, in moderated text discussion, with instructor guidance pointing at productive approaches. A typical 90-minute live class spends perhaps 15-20 minutes on instructor-presented context and 70-75 minutes on collaborative problem-solving. Students type solutions into the chat, the instructor acknowledges or pushes back, the class works through multiple approaches to a single hard problem before the instructor synthesizes.

Scope and sequence tracks the AoPS textbook series: Prealgebra 1 and 2, Introduction to Algebra A and B, Introduction to Geometry, Intermediate Algebra, Precalculus, and Calculus, plus deeper subject courses in Number Theory, Counting and Probability, and olympiad-level competition preparation. Contest-specific courses include MATHCOUNTS, AMC 8 Problem Series, AMC 10 Problem Series, AMC 12 Problem Series, AMC 10 and 12 Final Fives, AIME Problem Series, and the WOOT (Worldwide Online Olympiad Training) program for students targeting USAMO-level competition. The schedule runs year-round with rolling enrollment.

Signature mechanics: (1) Problem-based rather than lecture-based instruction, the class is structured around problems, not around teacher exposition of procedures. (2) Text-and-chat live class format, classes run in a chat-room plus shared-whiteboard format rather than video conferencing; this keeps the conversation focused on mathematics rather than on faces and logistics. (3) Tightly scaffolded problem sets, homework is problem-based, frequently hard, and weekly. (4) AoPS community as part of the product, the AoPS forums, the Alcumus adaptive practice platform, and the wider AoPS community are genuinely active and constitute a meaningful part of what a student gets. (5) Olympiad preparation as a first-class offering. AoPS is the primary U.S. destination for students preparing for the AMC, AIME, and USAMO olympiads, with dedicated course tracks for each.

A day in the life

A twelve-year-old in AoPS Online Prealgebra 1 meets for one 90-minute live session per week, typically scheduled in the evening to accommodate students across multiple time zones. On class night, the student joins the chat-room interface at the scheduled time. The instructor introduces a topic, say, linear Diophantine equations, and poses a problem. Students work the problem individually for a few minutes, type attempted solutions into the chat, and watch as the instructor calls on responses, pushes back on flawed approaches, and draws the class toward a full solution. The class works through five to eight problems of increasing difficulty over the 90 minutes. Chat is lively, with multiple students typing simultaneously and the instructor moderating.

Outside class, the student works on a weekly problem set, typically 20-40 problems of varying difficulty, due before the next class meeting. Problems are challenging; a student whose school math homework takes 15 minutes may spend several hours on the AoPS problem set weekly. The student may also work on Alcumus, AoPS's adaptive practice platform, which delivers problems tuned to the student's demonstrated skill level. Parent involvement is scheduling (getting the student to class on time), homework accountability, and occasionally supervising when the student genuinely gets stuck and needs to work through a concept with an adult.

A high-schooler in AoPS AMC 10 Problem Series has a similar rhythm but tuned for competition preparation. The class meets weekly, works through AMC 10 problems from past exams and from the AoPS curriculum, and pushes toward the student sitting the AMC 10 exam in November. Homework is substantial, typically five to eight hours per week for a serious student, and the instructor expects students to come ready to discuss partial solutions and approaches.

What they do exceptionally well

Genuine mathematical depth. AoPS's problem-based curriculum is markedly harder than any standard textbook curriculum at the same nominal grade level. An AoPS Intermediate Algebra student works problems that require real insight, not just procedural execution. A student who completes the AoPS sequence through Precalculus and Calculus arrives at college with a problem-solving maturity that few AP Calculus students possess. This is the product's defining feature and the reason families pay premium pricing for it.

Discussion-based live classes with competent moderation. The AoPS class format, text chat plus shared whiteboard, moderated by an instructor, with active peer contribution, works better for advanced math than the alternative formats (one-on-one tutoring, recorded video lectures, unsupervised forum discussion). Students get live pushback on wrong approaches, see peers' attempts, and learn how mathematical discussion actually looks.

Competition-prep pathway. For students targeting AMC, AIME, USAMO, or international olympiads, AoPS's course pathway is the most structured option in the English-speaking world. Dedicated courses for each competition level, staffed by instructors who have themselves competed, with homework calibrated to the actual difficulty of the target competition, form a preparation ladder nothing else in the homeschool market matches.

What they do poorly

Not a fit for average or below-average math students. AoPS is built for students who are at or above grade level and who want harder mathematics than their textbooks provide. A student struggling with standard algebra who enrolls in AoPS Introduction to Algebra will find the problems too hard, the pace too fast, and the cohort too strong. AoPS does not market to this student and should not be selected by families hoping that challenging a student will produce improvement where the foundation is shaky.

Live scheduling is immovable. AoPS Online classes meet at specific times. Students who cannot fit the scheduled hour, due to co-op commitments, sports, travel, or time-zone mismatch, are at a structural disadvantage. Recordings are typically available, but the problem-solving-in-the-chat experience is fundamentally live; watching a recording later loses most of the pedagogical value.

Chat-based interface is polarizing. Some students love typing mathematics into a chat and reading peer solutions; others find the format cognitively taxing compared to video or in-person instruction. Parents should preview the class format. AoPS publishes recorded samples and demo classes, before committing, because the interface is a genuine variable in whether a student will thrive.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick AoPS Online if: you have a mathematically advanced student who is genuinely interested in mathematics as a discipline, not just in completing the grade-level curriculum; you want live instruction rather than a recorded video or textbook alone; you are considering competition-math preparation (AMC, AIME, USAMO); you are pairing AoPS with the sibling AoPS textbooks for home review; you have a schedule that accommodates live online classes; you want to connect your student with a peer cohort of similarly advanced math students.

• Skip AoPS Online if: your student is struggling with grade-level math; you want a self-paced program rather than a scheduled live class; you need a complete curriculum that goes beyond math (AoPS is a math and science specialist, not a full curriculum); you are budget-constrained and cannot absorb premium-tier pricing for the math component alone; your student dislikes chat-based interaction and needs video or in-person instruction; you do not have interest in or patience for the AoPS community forum culture.

Cost honest assessment

AoPS Online course pricing as of April 2026 runs approximately $300-$400 for standard introductory and intermediate math courses, with longer olympiad-prep sequences and the flagship WOOT program priced higher. Textbooks, which are typically required alongside the live class, are separately purchased at approximately $47-$60 per book through the AoPS bookstore. For reference, an 18-week AoPS Academy Honors Math 7 course (the AoPS Academy sister program, not AoPS Online proper) is priced at $945 plus a $60 curriculum fee, which gives some indication of the academy-level premium.

A realistic annual budget for a homeschool student taking two AoPS Online courses per year (a typical intensity for a student running AoPS alongside other curricula) is $600-$800 for classes plus $100-$150 for textbooks, totaling approximately $700-$1,000. A student committing to AoPS as the primary math program across all subjects, one or two classes per semester, can spend $1,200-$1,800 per year. Compare to ALEKS at $180/year, Khan Academy at free, or Teaching Textbooks at $550-$650/year for a single grade; AoPS Online is at the premium end of math-specific pricing. What the premium buys is live instruction from trained AoPS faculty, access to the AoPS community, and a curriculum genuinely operating at a higher mathematical level.

ESA eligibility notes

AoPS Online is generally approved on state ESA marketplaces for students at grade levels where the specific course fits, though individual courses must sometimes be approved individually. Arizona's ClassWallet, Florida's Step Up For Students marketplace, Utah's Utah Fits All, and Iowa's Student First Scholarship have historically approved AoPS classes. Because AoPS is secular, it does not encounter the religious-materials restrictions that affect Christian publishers. Class tuition is typically billed per enrollment and submitted for reimbursement through the ESA portal's tutoring or course-enrollment category rather than the textbook category; families should verify the correct category before submitting. Textbook purchases through the AoPS bookstore are separately submitted under the books category.

Alternatives

• AoPS textbooks alone (without the live class), a family would pick the AoPS textbook-only path over AoPS Online for lower cost and no scheduling dependency, accepting that the student learns from the book and community forums rather than from live instruction.
• Beast Academy Online (AoPS's elementary program), a family would pick Beast Academy over AoPS Online for elementary-age students (grades 2-5), where Beast Academy's illustrated textbook and online practice platform is pedagogically age-appropriate and AoPS Online's middle-school prealgebra is typically too advanced.
• Mathnasium / RSM / local competition clubs, a family would pick a local math center or competition club over AoPS Online for in-person instruction and a local peer community, typically at comparable or higher cost but with the benefit of face-to-face interaction.

How we verified this

Our editorial team reviewed AoPS's public course pages at artofproblemsolving.com and the associated AoPS Academy and AoPS Wiki pages. We cross-referenced Richard Rusczyk's Wikipedia entry and AoPS Wiki biographical entry, Common Sense Education's review of Art of Problem Solving, and community discussion of AoPS Online pricing and format on the Well-Trained Mind homeschool forum. Prices and program details verified April 2026. Our separate review of the AoPS textbook series, the written curriculum this live-class program delivers, is available on our site.