Javiera Vega
Study Consultant at Gradehacker
Updated June, 2023
Watch our Course Hero Review on our YouTube channel!
Many students were once trying to get through last-minute assignments, piled-up deadlines, unclear college professors’ instructions, and writer’s block. This is why today, we’ll share an honest review of Course Hero!
Getting a degree can be a rewarding experience and a bumpy road for even the most experienced university students. The stress that comes with it can make a simple task like writing an essay a complete nightmare.
The good news is that there are resources available for you, and here at Gradehacker, after many years of helping students find balance, we are happy to come up with this possible solution for you!
But first things first, what’s Course Hero? How legit can a platform like Course Hero be? If you use it, does it include plagiarism-free content? What’s the level of quality?
We are here to answer all concerns!
Let’s review Course Hero and checks its benefits, features, and costs in 2023!
So here we go, let's review Course Hero and checks its benefits, features, and costs in 2023!
You Deserve Personalized Help With Your Essay
If Course Hero isn’t enough help to write your essay, see how Gradehacker can deliver a plagiarism-free and quality paper!
You Deserve Personalized Help With Your Essay
If Course Hero isn’t enough help to write your essay, see how Gradehacker can deliver a plagiarism-free and quality paper!
What's Course Hero? Features and Benefits
Course Hero is a document-sharing platform centered mostly on previously written content by other students for their college assignments. It was founded in 2006 in Redwood City, California.
There are many great features this website offers to college students:
Document Sharing
- Essays
- Discussions
- Class notes
- Lab reports
There are many great features this website offers to college students
Plagiarism Detector
As a second feature, we have plagiarism detectors, which are very trustworthy tools that can take any work you do online to a higher quality. It works similarly to the ones Grammarly or Turnitin have.
If you’d like to know more about how they work and their effectiveness, you should check out our Grammarly review!
Some people are concerned that Course Hero promotes plagiarism and cheating.
Still, at its core, this website works more like a vast online study group created by former and current students rather than a source of original content that you can present as yours.
This platform follows an honor code where they clarify that their intentions are for you to improve your classes and expand your education by connecting with their resources.
When you sign up, you agree to be academically honest while using the platform.
Intended plagiarism will be detected through plagiarism checkers.
To avoid the chance that your professor finds the document familiar because, after all, it was probably written for their class, have in mind that:
- The idea is not to copy from them but more to take inspiration and guidance from others' experiences.
- Course Hero is a great option for students looking for educational materials or struggling with their studies.
24/7 Expert Tutor Assistance
Third feature we have 24/7 Expert Tutor assistance, which is about answering student questions and getting an email when it’s resolved.
You can write a specific question to an expert tutor in your area of interest, and you’ll get a reply in 15 minutes or less.
It’s especially helpful when you are stuck with a particular subject and need to solve that exact question to continue with your assignment.
Textbook Solutions & Explanations
The fourth feature is the Textbook Solutions & Explanations.
Here, you can get solutions and explanations for different books, activities, and questions. Each book offers exercises and tips. However, you’ll need to pay for a subscription to have full access.
The benefits of these features are that you have multiple options from a wide variety of subjects:
- Biology
- Accounting
- Math
- Chemistry
- Finance
- Physics
- Psychology
- Statics and Probability
- Business
- Law
And many more options since they keep adding new books.
Some additional study tools you can take advantage of are:
- AI Homework Help: For instant answers and explanations
- Flashcards: Personalized to your specific needs
- Standardized Tests: From AP exams to graduate school exams, they have information uploaded to help you
- Literature Study Guides: For in-depth analysis through study guides, infographics, and essays about books
Need to Know The Cost of Writing Your Essay?
Read out detailed blog and discover how much it costs to write your essay and the factors behind the pricing.
Need to Know The Cost of Writing Your Essay?
Read out detailed blog and discover how much it costs to write your essay and the factors behind the pricing.
How Does Course Hero Work?
To gain access to all of these features, there Is a system that works with “unlock points.” But how does this work? Let’s find out!
The unlock system allows you to read and download complete documents and access other features from the sites, such as the 24/7 Expert Tutor assistance.
There are three ways to obtain unlock points:
- Post your own content
- Rate other people’s submissions
- Subscribing to Course Hero
This is how an average document looks on Course Hero before you unlock it.
The first two methods are totally free and only depend on how many documents you submit or rate on the platform.
The process of unlocking works by sharing 10 educational resources you’ve created so you can access any 5 files in the library. Keep in mind that your resources will need to be reviewed before gaining access.
However, keep in mind that this process can get tedious.
Yes, the more content you share and the more ratings you give, the more unlocks you get, but rewards are not proportional to your effort in getting them. This system will definitely be a turn-off when you are in a hurry and out of unlock points.
You can also rate any document in Course Hero like this and get unlock points to see other people’s contributions.
On the other hand, paid subscriptions offer you a more unlimited experience that doesn’t require you to meet any of the conditions mentioned above.
You can get, see, and download as many documents as you want for a price. You’ll also get between 10 to 40 questions for a 24/7 Expert Tutor.
Can't Write Your Essay With Course Hero?
If Course Hero doesn’t have what you are looking for, with us you’ll get a 100% original paper!
Can't Write Your Essay With CourseHero?
If Course Hero doesn’t have what you are looking for, with us you’ll get a 100% original paper!
How Much Does Course Hero Cost?
You can use Course Hero and all its features for free as long as you meet the requirements to get unlocks. Still, it’s a tiresome process, and if you are a regular user, you will get tired of submitting content and ratings at some point.
When this happens, there is always the option of a paid subscription that offers the following benefits:
- 24/7 homework help from tutors
- Count with course-specific resources
- Access Course Hero's library
- Unlimited access to textbooks
- Upload to study
They offer three types of subscriptions:
- Annual: $9.95 /month or $119.40 charged yearly
- Quarterly: $19.95 /month or $59.85 charged quarterly
- Monthly: $24.95 /month or $24.95 charged monthly
Online tutoring is not available for free users.
While premier members can unlock up to 30 documents per month, you can unlock user questions, access all Textbook Solutions and Explanations from the library, and receive up to 40 tutor questions.
There is no free trial, but there is a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Course Hero also offers a $5.000 Student Scholarship to help you until graduation.
Scribd, Quizlet, and Course Hero: How Similar Are They?
Quizlet
Quizlet is a sharing platform, but users here share their study materials like flashcards, guides, and memory games created through the website.
In a way, Quizlet and Course Hero can complement their best features but are not a replacement for each other.
It also offers study activities related to the content for specific classes but not documents such as essays or notes.
Scribd
Scribd is a document-sharing platform that works with some sort of unlock system.
However, it’s not explicitly designed to host content related to college classes.
If a document, PDF, or book passes the screening process guidelines, you will get a free unlock. This brings a quality problem since you will find valuable study guides and completely unrelated content in equal parts.
For example, as long as you have words in a document, no matter if they make sense or are valuable for someone else, they will be approved as “content” by Scribd, and you will get a free unlock.
While on Course Hero, only college-related content is approved for sharing, in Scribd could be any type of content.
Scribd has quite a similar interface and system as Course Hero, but the quality of the content is debatable.
Our Verdict
So, is it worthwhile to use Course Hero for class materials?
Whether you want the free option or the paid subscription, we believe this website is usually worth your time.
As mentioned before, Course Hero has a free membership, and you can access “unlocks” by adding new content yourself or rating the content of others.
Unfortunately, this system might not be too convenient if you are struggling with a class or semester and need constant access to new content.
If you are in this position, you might want to opt for memberships that provide the most value, according to Course Hero helpful rating reviews made by students.
You can also count on step-by-step explanations and get answers to any difficult questions with their online tutors.
Does that sound good? I bet it does, but sometimes, you don’t have enough time to look for other classmates’ notes, summarize them, and make them look coherent. If you are definitely and utterly overwhelmed or just want to plan ahead, you can always look for other options.
Often, Course Hero resources are compared with Chegg Study Pack. So if you want to see alternative options, you can check our Chegg review.
We recommend thinking carefully about it and deciding if Course Hero will be a tool that might help you during your entire degree or just for a challenging class.
An online learning platform is only good as long as it is comfortable to use. If it is too convoluted or requires a high learning curve, students may feel they waste precious time just learning how to access the service.
Luckily, the Course Hero interface and reward system is intuitive, so even the less tech-savvy users will feel at ease.
Course Hero: Taking Your College Assignments To The Next Level
We hope our detailed Course Hero review helped you see whether a study assistance service like this is helpful for you.
In case you are looking for other types of services, platforms like Gradehacker offer you help with your classes or even help to accelerate your degree. If you need a single essay or stand out on your discussion boards, we are here for you too!
If you want to continue learning more tips on how to make your college life easier, you can read these articles:
Javiera Vega
Javiera Vega is a Study Consultant and Content Creator for Gradehacker. She has a degree in Education and Literature and is currently working on getting a master’s degree in Linguistics. Even though words, languages, and books are her thing, science and psychology were her hidden passion for many years. Luckily, Gradehacker has allowed her to use all that knowledge by helping many clients with everything they need. Javiera considers herself a proud nerd who likes to learn and read about everything she can find. From movies and comics to microbiology and genetics, every topic is interesting for her. Her curiosity has no limits. Find her on LinkedIn
