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" In the last decade, hiring tutors has become the rage for parents eager to boost their children&amp;#039;s skills. But the hefty fees can be a killer. Luckily, there&amp;#039;s help to be found on the Internet \u2014 and it won&amp;#039;t cost a thing. We studiously reviewed 22 free educational Websites geared for ages 8 through college for ease of use and content. We posed sample questions to see if their resources were helpful and varied, and assessed quizzes, review sheets, reference materials, multimedia offerings like video and audio explanations, and more. We also consulted certified middle- and high-school teachers to ensure the lessons are grade-appropriate. Here&amp;#039;s our report card on the top tutoring sites. Watch the Good Housekeeping Research Institute experts discuss the best sites.      Best General Subject Sites hippocampus.org This was the highest-rated Website for assisting students with multiple subject areas because it offers video, audio, and written tutorials, plenty of examples, and interactive options. In particular, HippoCampus is the ideal site for older kids in need of homework help: It covers 10 high school subjects, such as biology and U.S. history, and earned the highest score out of all the Websites we tested for thoroughness of content. Lessons often begin with warm-up questions and typically conclude with a quiz or sample problems (and the answers), so the material is explained and reinforced. The site also offers interactive aids for more than 100 common textbooks. Its useful search engine makes finding what kids need a snap. There&amp;#039;s little information on English grammar or foreign languages, but some math support is offered for Spanish speakers. cliffsnotes.com Beyond the literature guides that it&amp;#039;s known for, CliffsNotes has information for grades 7 and up on many subjects, including basic French, Spanish, and 10 sciences. Those looking for ready-to-go review sheets before exams will appreciate the site&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;Cheat Sheets,&amp;quot; which contain basic formulas and data on a wide variety of topics. The glossary of terms that&amp;#039;s available for several of the subjects should make decoding homework easier for kids and parents alike. The tutorials on this Website might not be thorough enough to clear up a student&amp;#039;s confusion about a concept, and the site lacks practice problems to reinforce lessons, but students looking for a simple refresher of information should be able to find what they need.  See more of the best websites for:  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  Other General Subject Sites infoplease.com This site was able to provide only a basic review of the subject matter that we were looking for during our evaluation. But although it isn&amp;#039;t a standout for homework help, it does earn high marks for having a dictionary, thesaurus, almanac, and atlas. This site&amp;#039;s science section covers lots of topics for high school students, including earth, life, physical, and computer sciences, but with little depth. The math portion contains helpful information for elementary school students, focusing on skills like measurements and money, and the English section includes good tips on writing a paper for older kids but could use a more comprehensive range of information for all ages. For educational help for the younger set, try visiting the Infoplease sister site, Factmonster. sparknotes.com Geared toward high schoolers, SparkNotes is a bit limited: The site has a not-so-in-depth math section (touching on subjects from pre-algebra to calculus BC) and short biology, chemistry, and physics sections for science, and the only English materials are on the site&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;SparkCharts&amp;quot; (review sheets available for download for $5 each). SparkNotes&amp;#039; quizzes received great scores in our testing for their ability to reinforce material and pinpoint areas in need of review, however. Overall, this is a fine tutorial site for students looking for a short, simple review.  factmonster.com The younger sibling to Infoplease.com, Factmonster covers the basics of a variety of topics. It&amp;#039;s a good choice for students ages 8 to 14 looking to find information in a jiffy, thanks to its quickly loading pages. The math portion covers simple topics like measurements and fractions, the science section touches on everything from dinosaurs to food, and the English section (called &amp;quot;Word Wise&amp;quot;) includes explanations of grammar and usage. It has an encyclopedia, dictionary, almanac, and atlas, as well as fairly decent examples of science theories and math problems, games, and quizzes. See more of the best websites for:   --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  Best Math Websites inmath.com IntMath stands for &amp;quot;Interactive Mathematics,&amp;quot; so it&amp;#039;s no surprise that this site received a perfect score in our testing for interactive methods of teaching. It&amp;#039;s a great resource for high school math students: Concepts of algebra, probability, calculus, and other subjects are explained clearly and thoroughly. This site was very useful in solving the two more advanced math problems in our tests (lower-level math isn&amp;#039;t covered here). IntMath offers clear tutorials, examples, and follow-up problems to ensure that teens grasp the subject at hand. Some of IntMath&amp;#039;s pages contain advertisements streamed along the side of the site, which can be distracting. Still, this site&amp;#039;s search engine tracks down topics efficiently, and it was the best at addressing the various math topics that we examined.  sosmath.com This site, aimed at students in grades 9 and up, provides an abundance of examples for algebra, matrices, calculus, and everything in between, without being overwhelming \u2014 kids can choose to either display additional examples if needed or keep them hidden. While SOS Math touched on each of our three sample math questions, the lessons provided only a brief overview, which may not be enough for a student who needs more explanation. But teens who are struggling with a concept will appreciate this site&amp;#039;s step-by-step solutions (as opposed to just providing the answer for its sample problems). SOS Math also offers excellent practice quizzes to let students learn by trial and error. Take note: Finding a topic (particularly the quizzes) is easier via the search engine than by basic navigation. See more of the best websites for:  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  Other Math Websites math.com This Website has a very simple layout, so students struggling with math \u2014 from basic addition to statistics \u2014 won&amp;#039;t be frustrated by their search for help. Catering to math students of all abilities, the site provides proper and useful mathematic tables, although it doesn&amp;#039;t offer background information on those tables or help with more advanced integrals. The site received great scores in our tests for its quizzes, and our lab testers generally liked using it, although they left wanting a bit more: Math.com isn&amp;#039;t extremely comprehensive currently, but it claims to have additional information coming soon. mathisfun.com This site offers several teaching methods, including tutorials, examples, and interactive exercises for younger students (up to grade 10 or so). It even has games and puzzles, if that&amp;#039;s what will help your child want to learn. We liked the site&amp;#039;s useful tools: Students can check their answers after taking practice tests, and worksheets are easily printed out. Plus, the screen display is simple to navigate and loads speedily. This site covers only basic mathematics no more advanced than geometry, so older students may not benefit from the info, no matter how easy it is to use. onlinemathlearning.com Easy to follow, this site is suited to kids in middle school and up, although there&amp;#039;s little assistance for high schoolers studying calculus. There are tabs for quickly navigating to the type of math that you want to review, which ranges from word problems to SAT and ACT prep, and the site has a few videos for each topic, plus helpful worksheets. This Website also got great results in our tests for its interactivity. If you&amp;#039;re looking for something specific, like a geometry formula for finding the sum of the angles in various shapes, OnlineMathLearning can be very helpful. One downfall: It wasn&amp;#039;t able to address all of our mathematics test questions. freemathhelp.com The lessons on FreeMathHelp have a lot of useful tips, like how best to use a calculator for computing equations. There isn&amp;#039;t much depth in each of the high school math topics (algebra, geometry, trig, calculus, and statistics) listed on the site; several of the lessons contain offsite links to compensate for a lack of information. This wasn&amp;#039;t the easiest site to navigate, either, but if kids know what they are looking for, they can probably find it.  teacherschoice.com.au  Though it wasn&amp;#039;t tops at answering our mathematics test questions, this site has decent tutorials and is adequately thorough in its coverage of math content, including algebra, fractions, functions, and money. High school students should also be able to garner some math help from this fast-loading Website.  coolmath.com Geared toward a younger crowd (up to early high school), CoolMath doesn&amp;#039;t include math beyond algebra or geometry, and it was able to address only the easiest of our math test questions. Kids will love its teaching methods, though \u2014 it received a great score in our tests for its games. Most of our testers found it easy to understand despite its loud color scheme. As long as the lessons are appropriate for a student&amp;#039;s level of learning, this Website is quite helpful, with additional problems and worksheets available. Note: We found that a few of the links at the bottom of the homepage are dead. themathpage.com The format of TheMathPage is very helpful. It gives a tutorial, plus related problems and examples on subjects from arithmetic to calculus \u2014 through high school level. Students can try to get all the answers before viewing the correct response, as well. Though this site was able to address only the simplest of our three math queries, it has nice interactive features and loads quickly. Expect to poke around a bit to find a specific topic \u2014 the site lacks a search engine.  See more of the best websites for:  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  Best English Websites owl.english.purdue.edu  The Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) offers assistance in a variety of English-related areas, like writing, research, grammar, and ESL, for students from grade 7 through college. Here kids will find advice on structuring a thesis or essay, doing research, and avoiding composition pitfalls. Surprisingly, it lacks a dictionary and thesaurus, and not all lessons go into as much depth as we would have liked, but OWL was the only English Website we evaluated that was able to answer all of our English-based test questions. The site loads speedily, is easy to navigate, has a helpful search engine, and claims to have more than 200 free resources for students.  grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/index.htm  The Guide to Grammar &amp;amp;amp; Writing concentrates mainly on the mechanics of writing; it doesn&amp;#039;t go into as much depth on the composition of a paper. Still, older students in need of grammar help are in luck: Detailed pages explain parts of speech, sentence structure, and paragraph flow. This site offers very in-depth explanations and has different methods for testing students&amp;#039; knowledge, instead of providing only one basic quiz for each topic. The site also loads very fast, and both its display and text are relatively easy to read. With more than 170 quizzes, there&amp;#039;s plenty of practice available, but be aware: In some tests, the user&amp;#039;s wrong answers aren&amp;#039;t noted, so students will need to scroll up and down to compare their answers with the correct ones.  Other English Websites grammarbook.com GrammarBook is more of a guidebook for middle and high school students wanting to know the correct mechanics of writing. The grammar rules that are provided are helpful and clear; the information comes from the Chicago Manual of Style, a credible source for many types of writing. However, before relying on this site, kids should check with their teachers to make sure that Chicago style is acceptable, as opposed to other formats like MLA or APA. Note: In our examination, we found that some of the links on the site are dead.  See more of the best websites for:  --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  Best Science Websites physicsclassroom.com The Physics Classroom was the overall best Website evaluated, and it was the only site to receive a perfect score for its ability to address particular topics. This superbly organized site gives high-scoring tutorials and excellent animated multimedia examples that demystify the concepts of physics for high school students. Sample problems are illustrated and clearly explained. Physics Classroom is also the simplest to use of all the sites we tested: It&amp;#039;s easily navigable, loads quickly, and has very legible text. Currently, the site lacks a search engine, so honing in on one topic can be time-consuming. However, there are plans to add a search function soon. hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hph.html HyperPhysics is uniquely organized: Its navigation process is set up in the form of a mind map, so the topics (mechanics, heat, sound, electricity, etc.) are linked to and arranged in a circle around the central subject. If high schoolers know what topic they&amp;#039;re looking for, the mind map system is helpful; navigating between topics, however, is more difficult, especially since HyperPhysics doesn&amp;#039;t have a search engine. A bonus: The site&amp;#039;s examples allow you to input various numbers and see how your changes affect the answer, which is very helpful. This site was also able to address all of our test science questions, although not as completely as Physics Classroom.  Other Science Websites schoolphysics.co.uk School Physics loads fairly quickly and provides resources for those looking for science help on the Web on topics from matter to nuclear physics. However, the site was not particularly easy to navigate: Its subjects are listed by students&amp;#039; age (11 to 19), which can be confusing; we found that some of the links provided are dead; and, more often than not, the equations don&amp;#039;t include answers. It was nice to see the experiments that this Website provided, but the end results are usually not included, which makes it difficult for students to gauge whether they are drawing the right conclusions. Still, the site offers a dictionary, and it was able to touch on all of the science topics in our testing.  library.thinkquest.org/10796/index.html  Learn Physics Today (a part of ThinkQuest) allows high school students to attempt to solve a problem several times before providing the correct answer. Kids can really try to tackle topics like mechanics and electricity on their own, which can be a very helpful way to learn. However, the site&amp;#039;s layout leaves a lot to be desired, as it isn&amp;#039;t too aesthetically pleasing or simple to navigate (made even more difficult by the fact that there is no search engine). Still, the decent examples and quizzes on this site, despite its narrow content, make it a passable source for studying.  regentsprep.org/regents/physics/physics.cfm Regents Prep is most appropriate for high schoolers who want to reinforce what they&amp;#039;re learning in school. We found that most of this site is geared toward explaining specifics on topics like energy, waves, and mechanics, so this may not be the best source for initial learning. Regents Prep includes helpful labs, quizzes, and visual aids as supplementary materials, so if a student need to brush up on a specific science subject, this site can be useful. Plus, it loads quickly, so kids can find what they need without wasting time waiting.  See more of the best websites for:  --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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