Best YouTube channels for academic success in AP and IB courses

Emma Llamas | Writer

September 19, 2025

We are now a month into the 2025-2026 school year. Some students are still easing into their classes, while others might already be struggling in their rigorous AP or IB courses. While some are fortunate enough to have tutors for these rigorous classes, some simply are not. But that does not mean that those students will fall behind. In fact, they can still excel in these classes because of accessible resources located on YouTube.

AP and IB students interested in rigorous social science classes might be taking AP Euro, AP Art History, APUSH, IB Global Politics and/or AP Government. For these students, the best channel for the AP courses — according to students who have previously taken some of these classes– is “Heimler’s History.” Mr. Heimler is a beloved educator and offers exciting and engaging content that is also concise and comprehensive. His material spans the entirety of these courses, making it easy and accessible for students to find the lessons they need with playlists and chapter reviews. Senior Talani Camacho said how Heimler “saved” him “through APUSH.” And for IB Global, the most comprehensive YouTubers for this course are “Korczyk’s Class” as well as “Elena Handtrack.” While Korczyk speaks thoroughly on theories and explores the material, Elena Handtrack does so while preparing students for the IB exam with tips and advice on how to get a 7.

Students in accelerated foreign language courses, such as AP/IB Spanish or French, might need the most help in grammar or even in vocabulary. For Spanish, the best channels for grammar and speaking are “My Daily Spanish,” “Spring Spanish,” and “Breakthrough Spanish.” They all offer time efficient lessons on grammar and even vocabulary. This prepares students to guarantee a confident score on the AP or IB exam. As for French classes, a YouTuber with duality of both grammar and vocabulary would be “Learn French with Alexa.” She offers many varied lessons, spanning from beginner to advanced speakers. As well as this, she offers comprehensive videos to help students improve their French literacy in an enthusiastic and analyzed manner.

For students in AP/IB Language or Literature who are struggling with essays, comprehension, or preparing for the AP/IB exam, the most effective and trusted YouTubers are “The Garden of English” and “IB Lit Guys.” They are both fun and explain complicated concepts thoroughly and comprehensively.

Students who are interested in challenging themselves in STEM related courses will generally find what their looking for in the “holy grail” of YouTubers in the “Crash Course” channel, hosted by brothers Hank and John Green. They have vast knowledge on several sciences, math, and even social studies concepts that are readily available for students. It is also helpful that their information comes from several credible professionals/ experts.
For AP and IB Biology students, “Bozeman Science” is considered the best YouTube resource for these courses.

According to senior Lexi Thi, who took AP Bio her junior year, he is “…the best teacher for biology.” He, like Heimler, is generally beloved by most taking or who have taken the course. Bozeman is also loved by students taking AP Environmental.

For AP Physics, YouTubers who offer thorough AP Physics knowledge would be “Flippin’ Physics” and “Polychoron Productions.” They both help students understand the material in a non-intimidating manner, but also aid in integrating much of the vocabulary that will be used on the end of year exam while rolling out the knot students might have in math or the conceptual parts of the subject.

For AP Chemistry students, there are many resources available on YouTube, but the best –according to students currently and who have previously taken it– is “Tyler Dewitt,” “Professor Dave Explains,” the “Organic Chemistry Tutor,” and Mr. Nguyen’s YouTube channel “Win Chemistry.” All these channels are tried and true for excelling in chemistry, and even in doing well on the AP exam, and offer personable teaching methods.

Lastly, for Honors Pre-Calculus–which is now considered an AP course by SCHS–and other AP Calculus courses, “Maximum Insight,” “Hartz Math,” and “Professor Leonard” allow for bite sized videos on every topic a math student could ever need.

It is important to stay consistent as well as passionate about classes and treat them as an opportunity to reach your goals. For students who have taken rigorous courses before, and especially those who are new to them, there is no success without struggle, and in fact there is so much room for growth, opportunity and improvement through these classes. Hopefully, these channels will aid that.