Many students have found that the changes to Quizlet Plus’s features have limited their studying options, and the school has deigned to purchase subscriptions. However, in place of Quizlet Plus, many teachers have looked towards Knowt, a possible alternative.

After the summer break, students using Quizlet for studying found a few inconvenient changes to the app. Primarily, Quizlet now had a limit on the number of times its “Learn” feature could be used for free. Many students reported finding this feature helpful with memorizing vocabulary words in languages or other content-heavy subjects and wondered why the school didn’t already have Quizlet Plus subscriptions.

“It’s a very helpful study tool for students, and access to all of its features is important to allow students to succeed academically,” said sophomore Gabriella Sadaghati.

Many students felt similarly, with one senior, Dylan Hakimian, starting a petition for Quizlet Plus. “I found the “Learn” function of Quizlet to be a very important feature, and it was a little ridiculous that we didn’t have Quizlet Plus,” he explained. So he decided to take action, and his Google Form petition was shared with students from all grades, garnering nearly two hundred signatures.

The petition results were sent to the district’s Director of Technology, Dr. Lander, with Hakimian explaining “how vital having Quizlet Plus is and how important it is to the students.”

Dr. Lander expressed hope for the district to acquire Quizlet Plus, contacting Quizlet to determine possible pricing for the subscriptions.

However, Quizlet Plus has yet to be purchased by the school. Hesitation around this decision is primarily due to the cost of its subscription. Quizlet Plus costs $36 per student for one year. Multiplied by the hundreds of students in Great Neck North, the costs run much higher than any other subscription service the school currently has.

As a result, many teachers in the district have turned to lower-cost alternatives to Quizlet. One such alternative is Knowt, a free flashcard tool very similar to Quizlet. Knowt was developed shortly after the changes to Quizlet Plus, and many of its features were still in beta testing. Consequently, the district was only willing to roll Knowt out to students once these features were in place.

Many of these beta features were recently released, providing “Learn” and “Practice Test” functions similar to Quizlet. Additionally, Knowt works with Quizlet, allowing users to paste Quizlet links directly into Knowt to access flashcard features for free.

“I think that it’s going to be a great alternative, it’s free, and it works seamlessly with Quizlet,” said Ms. Lerner, science teacher and staff developer at North High.

Along with its flashcard features, Knowt allows users to search within its database for other flashcard sets, and has various functions to help students retain information and pace their studying across multiple days.

“Whether we have Quizlet Plus or an alternative, students should have access to necessary educational resources,” Sophomore Ashley Liu commented.

So while Great Neck North students may not be receiving subscriptions to Quizlet Plus, there are other alternatives in development that might take its place.