Should I do Khan Academy by grade level or by subject?

By subject, in sequence, unless you are a school student following along with a class. The grade-level courses interleave topics for classroom pacing; the subject track (Arithmetic through Calculus) matches how the ideas actually depend on each other, which is what a self-learner needs.

What is the correct order of math subjects on Khan Academy?

Arithmetic, Pre-algebra, Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Trigonometry, Precalculus, then Calculus (AP/College Calculus or Differential/Integral Calculus). Statistics can slot in any time after Algebra 2. Geometry and Algebra 2 can be swapped without harm.

Where should I start on Khan Academy as an adult?

Not at Arithmetic by default. Most adults retain far more than they think, and starting too early is the most common way self-study dies of boredom. Take each course's unit tests to place yourself, or use a diagnostic that measures across the whole sequence at once and gives you a single starting point.

Can I skip courses on Khan Academy?

Yes, and you probably should. The sequence is a dependency chain, not a loyalty program. If you can pass a course's unit tests comfortably, move on. The only rule that matters: do not build on a concept you cannot actually use.

Guide

What order should you do Khan Academy math in?

People have been asking this in the Khan Academy subreddit, in nearly identical words, for at least six years. It deserves a straight answer, so here is one, including the part about where you personally should start.

Updated July 2026

The straight answer

For self-learners, use the subject courses, not the grade levels, and take them in this order: Arithmetic, Pre-algebra, Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Trigonometry, Precalculus, Calculus. Statistics is a branch line: any time after Algebra 2. Geometry and Algebra 2 are loosely coupled and can swap. That’s it. That list is the answer to the question as asked.

The grade-level courses exist for students tracking a school year, and they interleave topics to match classroom pacing. For an independent learner they scatter the dependency chain, which is why the two-tracks structure confuses everyone: it is two answers to two different questions, presented side by side without saying so.

The question under the question

But notice what you are really asking. “What order?” is a question about dependencies: what needs to come before what. The honest, slightly uncomfortable truth is that a course list is a very blunt answer to it. Algebra 1 is not one thing; it is dozens of concepts, and you probably know a scattered majority of them already. A course-level order forces an all-or-nothing decision on material that is patchy by nature. That is why “where do I start?” follows “what order?” in every thread: the course list cannot answer it.

How to place yourself (with or without us)

If you want to stay entirely inside Khan Academy: work backwards. Open the most advanced course you might plausibly know, take its unit tests cold, and drop down one course each time the wheels come off. It works, at the cost of an afternoon and some morale. The faster route is a diagnostic built for exactly this: measure across the whole dependency map at once, find the frontier where your knowledge actually ends, and start there. That is what a concept-level map of mathematics is for, and it is the gap-analysis test that, famously, the TED talk promised and the site never shipped.

Whatever order you pick, plan for the forgetting

One more thing the course list will not tell you: sequence solves which thing to learn next, not whether last month’s learning is still there. Working through courses linearly means the early material is quietly dissolving while you climb, which is how people reach Calculus with rusty Algebra. Pair whatever order you choose with scheduled review that runs itself, and if you are wondering whether the lessons themselves will be enough, we wrote an honest answer to that too. And if what you are really weighing is a different tool altogether, our comparisons of the Khan Academy alternative and the Math Academy alternative are the honest version of that conversation.

Questions

Should I do Khan Academy by grade level or by subject?: By subject, in sequence, unless you are a school student following along with a class. The grade-level courses interleave topics for classroom pacing; the subject track (Arithmetic through Calculus) matches how the ideas actually depend on each other, which is what a self-learner needs.
What is the correct order of math subjects on Khan Academy?: Arithmetic, Pre-algebra, Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Trigonometry, Precalculus, then Calculus (AP/College Calculus or Differential/Integral Calculus). Statistics can slot in any time after Algebra 2. Geometry and Algebra 2 can be swapped without harm.
Where should I start on Khan Academy as an adult?: Not at Arithmetic by default. Most adults retain far more than they think, and starting too early is the most common way self-study dies of boredom. Take each course's unit tests to place yourself, or use a diagnostic that measures across the whole sequence at once and gives you a single starting point.
Can I skip courses on Khan Academy?: Yes, and you probably should. The sequence is a dependency chain, not a loyalty program. If you can pass a course's unit tests comfortably, move on. The only rule that matters: do not build on a concept you cannot actually use.