What is the Best Online Calculus Course - Distance Calculus

There are many online Calculus course options on the internet currently. They basically separate into the following 3 categories:

Free MOOC Courses
These are courses that are offered for free (or nearly so), but they do not offer academic credit for the courses. Some of these courses are awesome and are an excellent resource for the student enrolled in a for-credit online Calculus course.
Publisher Courseware
Many academic textbook publishers offer multiple-choice based "course systems" where you take the Calculus course by getting a login to their system (which is the same for multiple schools, but the logos at the top are different), and you engage the course via endless multiple choice quizzes - reading their online textbook, doing problems by hand, choosing multiple choice options.
If you like this kind of course, then you have many options in taking such courses. We, personally, feel these course systems are cold, boring, and monotonous.
Mastery Learning & Human Interation & Computer Algebra Software
These types of courses are our favorites, of course, because that's what Distance Calculus is modeled on. Other great courses using this type of system are NetMath from University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

Here are some videos to explore our Calculus courses from Distance Calculus @ Roger Williams University. We will leave it up to you to decide which online calculus course is best!

Freshman Mathematics Courses

Semester
Credit
Hours

STEM Calculus I 44
STEM Calculus II 44

Honors STEM Calculus I 55
Honors STEM Calculus II 55
Honors Calculus I+II for Data Science 55

Sophomore Mathematics Courses

Semester
Credit
Hours

Differential Equations + Linear Algebra 55

General Mathematics Courses

Semester
Credit
Hours

Discrete Mathematics 44

Number Theory 44
Non-Euclidean Geometry 44

Mathematics Major Courses

Semester
Credit
Hours

Computational Abstract Algebra 44

Computational Differential Geometry 44

Is Distance Calculus For You?

How Fast Can You Complete a Distance Calculus Course?

After AP Calculus for High School Students

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Distance Calculus - Student Reviews

Genevieve P.★★★★★

Posted: Sep 20, 2020

Courses Completed: Applied Calculus

I found out from my grad school after being accepted that I needed a Calculus course before starting their MBA program. I had less than 6 weeks to do it (and as a non-STEM undergrad no less). The video lectures were informative, the pre-calc refresher was great to get re-conditioned, and the asynchronous format worked so well as I did this at night/weekends after work. I completed it in 4 weeks. Professor Curtis was extremely responsive, graded assignments quickly, and a supportive guide providing constructive feedback to me to excel at the assignments. I highly recommend this course for those who need a pre-req in a hurry or like learning on their own schedule. Thanks, Distance Calculus and Professor Curtis!

Transferred Credits To: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Harlan E.★★★★★

Posted: Apr 29, 2020

Courses Completed: Calculus I, Calculus II

I did not do well in AP Calculus during my senior year in high school. Instead of trying to cram for the AP exam, I decided to jump ship and go to Distance Calculus to complete Calculus I. This was awesome! I finished Calculus I in about 6 weeks, and then I kept going into Calculus II. I started as a freshman at UCLA with both Calculus I and II done!

Transferred Credits To: University of California, Los Angeles

Malia K.★★★★☆

Posted: Mar 16, 2020

Courses Completed: Applied Calculus

Course was good and fast. I don't like math so I can't say it was fun or anything. Grader was very nice. Software was ok.

Transferred Credits To: University of Maine

Lucas L.★★★★★

Posted: Jun 25, 2026

Courses Completed: Multivariable Calculus

The professor as well as the TAs give great feedback when you need help with problems and the videos are great at explaining concepts. Return time on work is good and the work is not too much to handle.

Transferred Credits To: University of Wisconsin

Hari K.★★★★☆

Posted: Jun 24, 2026

Courses Completed: Linear Algebra

This course gives a perspective on Linear algebra that no traditional course does. I’d say i gained much more intuition for this subject from the DC course than my friends who took traditional courses elsewhere. As a cs major, this version of learning with visualization has helped me a lot in understand ML models. However the course doesn’t have videos for the last 2 chapers so i had to self learn with the mathematica notebooks. Response times are a little slow but since it’s a remote class, i guess it’s justified. Overall amazing course and definitely take this over traditional lin alg classes.

Julia★★★★★

Posted: Jun 24, 2026

Courses Completed: Calculus I

As a full-time business owner completing an Executive MBA, I needed to satisfy a calculus prerequisite without putting my work on hold. Distance Calculus made that possible. The fully self-paced structure let me work early mornings and weekends around an unpredictable schedule, which a fixed-semester classroom course never would have allowed.
The course covered the core business calculus material thoroughly — derivatives, optimization, integration techniques including u-substitution, the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, improper integrals, and numerical methods. The LiveMath computer algebra environment was central to the experience: it forced me to build each step explicitly rather than just arriving at an answer, which actually deepened my understanding of the mechanics.
Communication through the student portal was responsive when I had questions. For working professionals who need a rigorous, accredited calculus course on a flexible timeline, I'd recommend it.

Transferred Credits To: MIT Ebma