Best free courses · Crash Course
Every Crash Course series on YouTube, ranked by total hours
Updated 2026-10-05 · 11 courses · totals are live
Crash Course, the educational channel John and Hank Green started in 2012, turns a whole subject into a series of ten-to-fifteen-minute episodes, and many of its series were written around AP and intro-college courses. That makes each one a short course with a known shape: forty-odd episodes, start to finish. What the channel doesn't show is how long a series takes to watch, which is the number you need when an AP exam or a midterm is coming.
The numbers next to each series are live totals from the playlist itself, ranked longest first. Click one to see every episode, tick off what you've watched, and get a finish date.
From 6h 11m (Economics) to 10h 35m (US History).
| # | Course | Videos | Total | At 1.5× |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US History · Crash Course US History — John Green Colonial America to the Clinton years, the Obama era as an epilogue, at the series' usual speed. Widely used alongside APUSH. |
49 | 10h 35m | 7h 4m |
| 2 | Organic Chemistry · Crash Course Organic Chemistry — Deboki Chakravarti Structure, naming, reactions and mechanisms, for the course with the reputation. |
51 | 10h 35m | 7h 3m |
| 3 | World History · Crash Course World History — John Green The original series: from the agricultural revolution to globalisation, built around the AP World History course of its day. Quick, funny and dense. |
43 | 9h 15m | 6h 10m |
| 4 | Anatomy & Physiology · Crash Course Anatomy & Physiology — Hank Green The human body system by system, based on an introductory college course. |
49 | 8h 56m | 5h 58m |
| 5 | Chemistry · Crash Course Chemistry — Hank Green From the nucleus and the periodic table through reactions, gases and equilibrium. The general chemistry series, before the organic one. |
47 | 8h 13m | 5h 29m |
| 6 | Computer Science · Crash Course Computer Science — Carrie Anne Philbin From transistors and logic gates up to operating systems, the internet and AI. The big picture before a real [computer science course](/best/computer-science). |
41 | 7h 55m | 5h 17m |
| 7 | Philosophy · Crash Course Philosophy — Hank Green An introductory Western philosophy course: knowledge, the mind, God, free will and ethics. |
47 | 7h 25m | 4h 57m |
| 8 | Psychology · Crash Course Psychology — Hank Green From the brain, sleep and memory to personality, disorders and therapy, based on the AP Psychology course. |
41 | 7h 15m | 4h 50m |
| 9 | U.S. Government and Politics · Crash Course US Government and Politics — Craig Benzine Congress, the presidency, the courts, civil rights and elections, based on the AP US Government and Politics course. |
50 | 6h 50m | 4h 33m |
| 10 | World History 2 · Crash Course World History 2 — John Green John Green's second World History series. Watch it after the first one, not instead of it. |
31 | 6h 13m | 4h 9m |
| 11 | Economics · Crash Course Economics — Adriene Hill and Jacob Clifford Micro and macro in one series, from supply and demand to inflation, recessions and trade. Clifford also teaches AP Economics, and it shows. |
36 | 6h 11m | 4h 8m |
Totals count available videos only and update as the playlists change. Private or deleted videos are excluded. Compare the top 5 side by side →
How to use a Crash Course series
- Before an AP exam: AP exams are in May. A whole series fits into a few weeks at an episode or two a day, so work back from the exam date in the planner and it tells you how many episodes a day that takes.
- As a first pass: watch the series before a textbook or a full course, so the details have somewhere to go.
- At speed: the episodes are scripted and already fast, so they have less slack to speed up than a lecture does. The guide to watching at 1.5× and 2× suggests a speed for each kind of video.
Finishing one
Open a series here, tick episodes as you watch them, and the remaining time updates. The planner turns the total into a dated schedule you can put on your calendar, and the guide to finishing before an exam has the method.