pearson textbook review

Suggested companies

Pearson vue, pearsonpte.com.

Pearson   Reviews

In the Media & Publishing category

Visit this website

Company activity See all

Write a review

Reviews 1.5.

Most relevant

Left completely in the dark

I have bought a book I cannot get access to it. I have spent hours trying to find help but end up in an endless loop of "support" pages and useless chat bots. They have my money and I get nothing in return. Instead of spending time studying, I am just clicking around in a loophole of confusing Pearson websites.

Date of experience : April 23, 2024

I order a book and I was waiting for…

I order a book and I was waiting for more than a month. I'm a student and I need the book. Since, I didn't get any notice, I called Pearson. They told me that the book hasn't been shipped because there was a mistake in my postal address, which is not true. I received an email when I ordered the book and the billing address as well as the shipping address is the same and is correct. No, one has been in touch with me and if I wouldn't have called, no one would have noticed anything. As a compensation I was offer the online book in the meantime. I was told that I would receive the book by the end of the week but it didn't. I will have to do an open book midterm exam this week without the book. The more deceiving part is that no one has told me anything at all. Overall, poor delivery service and poor customer service. I should have received a financial compensation. Therefore, I won't recommend anyone buying books from Pearson.

Date of experience : April 14, 2024

Won’t send copies of certificates to unis or employers

Universities and employers now INSIST on getting copies of certificates directly from the examination boards as certificates can now so easily be forged. On the 19th of February I made a request for 2 old exam certificates. EVERY OTHER BOARD I HAVE SAT EXAMS WITH COMPLIED IMMEDIATELY. NOT SO PEARSONS. I have sent them centre numbers, certificate numbers, candidate number, grades, my ID number for the ultimate supplier, my date of birth, inside leg measurement, eye colour, favourite meal, full list of hobbies and every other piece of information they have asked for. They have lied about sending emails and all sorts. When I phone them the promise to comply then we go back to lalaland. As of tomorrow I will lose over £6000. DO NOT TAKE EXAMS WITH PEARSONS BECAUSE IF YOU NEED EMPLOYER, FUTURE UNI OR COPIES OF CERTIFICATES LATER YOU STAND NO CHANCE. I’m going to have to get a solicitor or take them to county court and my next Google search is to ofqual to complain. INCOMPETENT.

Date of experience : February 20, 2024

Extremely disappointed at Pearson's…

Extremely disappointed at Pearson's customer service. They kept me on hold in the hope that I would receive a refund, only to take up a considerable amount of my time trying to prove my case. Even after rebooking (paying a second time), proving that I am the genuine test holder, passing the test, as well as providing proof of identity, my case was dismissed. Many companies make exceptions, when there is clear evidence to prove that a customer may have inadvertently made a mistake or an omission. Clearly, this is not the case with Pearson. This is simply another way of stealing people's money, hiding behind rigid policies as an excuse. Appalling!

Date of experience : March 25, 2024

Oh let me count the ways in which they are incompetant

Can't log in to account (have password manager- human idiot factor removed). Never received an order confirmation email, let alone an email to let me know it was on back order. Or indeed any email. And they have told me apparently my email is not actually an email ( strange, it's acted like one for the last few years to the rest of the world). Last years experience was also terrible, this time i have learned, I will never, never, never ever use them again. If I could give them no stars I would.

Date of experience : February 01, 2024

Absolute trash! IMPOSSIBLE TO USE ONLINE SERVICES. l'attivazione dei libri non funziona

l'attivazione dei libri non funziona! 40 euro di libro che funziona solo se attivato e non si attiva..penosi. book activation does not work! 40 euro book that works only when activated and does not activate..SHAMEFULL.

Date of experience : March 12, 2024

This is a SCAM.

This is a SCAM. They make you confused with all the informations, surname, middle name first name...etc, on purpose so they dont accept you when you are at the test centre. They then ask you to pay again to get more money out of you. The staffs are robotic who have no clue how to do their job and have no interest in helping you. Awful robotic phone line and ironically, they speak broken English you will struggle to understand them. I lost my money and time to get this frustration, I would give 0 star if i could. Please read these reviews and advoid this company.

Date of experience : March 26, 2024

Items never arrived

I ordered some GCSE revision flash cards on 18th February, delivery states allow 5 working days. After they didn’t arrive I messaged customer services on the chat system and they promptly replied the next day to apologise for the delay and confirmed they’d now been dispatched, quoting a delivery number. I’m still waiting (8th March) 15 working days later and still no delivery. Very disappointed as my son wanted these to help with revision and 3 weeks later still no sign. I’ve asked for a refund and will be pursuing.

Date of experience : March 08, 2024

Great service for refunding

The dutch customer service of Pearson is the best I've ever encountered. No stupid bots, just a simple email to a real person. Reaction within minutes. I bought a wrong eLearning program and instead of refunding and buying the right one afterwards, the GOAT of the costumer service just directly mailed me the secret code because the two products were around the same price. 10/10

Date of experience : February 15, 2024

Absoloutely horrible experience!

Absoloutely horrible experience! I had to wait for 3 hours to get a proctor, and still nothing happened, and support team doesn't respond to chat despite it says on the chat window that it takes 3 minutes to get a support member to chat.... The application also says you cannot access your cell phone, and must not move from the recording view, imagine sitting there waiting for 3 hours!

Date of experience : March 10, 2024

Still waiting on refund

My son purchased an online accounting book and was then told by his professor that everyone should request a refund because the school was covering the cost. After many chats and emails, he was told the refund was issued and the case was closed. Actually, the case is not closed until we actually get our money back. The refund is no where to be found and PayPal has filed a dispute on our behalf. The case isn’t closed just because you say so. Give us back our money.

Date of experience : February 28, 2024

Customer services and invoicing is a joke

I ordered books, they sent me double the order and invoiced me twice. I asked them to come and collect the books and credit me, they agreed. This has happened multiple times. They never come and they continue to hound me for the money. This has been going on for 4-5 years! Invoices have codes and jargon on so it's impossible to know what you're paying for, and when you try and contact them to try and find out it's extremely difficult. It makes paying for things so time consuming. I am going to cancel all subscriptions, but it will take me a while to find out how, perhaps that's the idea!

Date of experience : March 07, 2024

Their cancellation policy is just…

Their cancellation policy is just insane. If you miss the 14 day refund cancellation you’re locked in for the 4 month subscription. You can not just simply cancel the subscription and pay for the month after the 14 day. You just have to pay it.

Date of experience : March 17, 2024

I'm attending HVCC and accidentally bought an Ebook for a class without realizing it wasn't even needed. Called and they told me to just go online and figure out the return policy myself said they wouldn't help. Online said I have only 2 weeks to file a return yet with college ending and Christmas+new years I was too busy to file. Probably too late now the trash company probably wouldn't have even been honorable even if I did file tbh.

Date of experience : December 15, 2023

This is insane

So let me get this straight, after paying for my class I'm forced to pay $80 on top of that for an access code to the textbook, but if I want to use the Pearson app to view said textbook on the go, I must pay ANOTHER $44 for the length of my semester. F*** YOU.

Date of experience : February 19, 2024

Could have better customer service

While their customer service is definitely in need of improvement, they did eventually help me with my request. I am very grateful for that. Thank you Pearson.

Don't bother wasting your money

Asks for a decimal. I answer with a decimal. States I am wrong because the answer was apparently supposed to be a radical constant. I cannot believe I pay 90USD EVERY math class, only to be disappointed and left missing points on assignments because Pearson will not help in way shape or form. I cannot make them answer me.

Date of experience : January 26, 2024

Appalling "customer service"

Appalling "customer service". Tried to buy some books, the site said there was an issue with my card. However although no order was generated they actually did charge me! They have nearly $500 of my money. I tried the live chat "expert" who said he'd email me so I could submit my bank receipts but he didn't. I rang and they didn't seem to believe this could have even happened. She also couldn't seem to manage to transcribe my email address. Useless clowns

Date of experience : January 24, 2024

An Antiquated Scam, for $140 I Can't Even Use My Textbook

I've used several of their digital textbook and online learning platforms for college courses and wound up going to youtube or other sites to actually learn the material. This company simply should not exist. They only operate as part of the scam that is the textbook industry. Khan Academy, WikiPedia, and other open-source resource are free an plentiful. Pearson offers absolutely nothing to students or teachers.

Date of experience : February 05, 2024

Great Experience!

First of all, they were offering a discount of over thirty dollars which made it so my textbook was cheaper than amazon and because I placed it before noon, it's getting shipped out today with free shipping! Finally, I could use Apple Pay check out which I have never done online before and it was a pretty mind blowing experience to be honest. 10/10 would buy a book from Pearson directly again.

Date of experience : September 12, 2023

May We Suggest?

Is this it, how about this, search results.

Our reviewers evaluate products and services based on unbiased research. Top Consumer Reviews may earn money when you click on a link. Learn more about our process.

Pearson Review

Wednesday, April 24th

2024 College Textbook Store Reviews

• Access to 1,800+ eTextbooks and study materials for $10.99/month
• Includes flashcards, audio, and study tools
• Additional Channels feature offers curated study videos, quizzes, and summaries for $7.99/month

Pearson is a leading global publishing and education giant, long-recognized for its extensive collection of educational textbooks, resources, and digital learning platforms. However, while its influence in the education sector is undeniable, it hasn't been without its fair share of criticisms.

Response to the criticism

Many have voiced concerns over Pearson's near-monopoly status in the industry, accusing it of leveraging its dominant position to impose high prices and exploit students financially. Perhaps in response to some of this criticism, Pearson introduced Pearson+, a subscription service dubbed the "Netflix for textbooks". With Pearson+, the company attempts to reposition itself in the digital age, offering students access to nearly 2,000 eTextbooks and study materials for a monthly fee.

1,800 textbooks to choose from

For $10.99 a month (with a 4-month term), the eTextbook model gives subscribers access to their selection of 1,800+ eTextbooks. This subscription also boasts flashcards, audio, and other study tools. At face value, this seems like a deal, especially if you consider the cost of traditional textbooks.

No textbooks from other publishers

Something to keep in mind is that the catalog of 1,800+ only includes textbooks published by Pearson. This means that if your coursework requires textbooks from various publishers, Pearson+ might not meet all your needs. You could end up subscribing and still have to spend additional resources on books from other publishers.

Study videos for $7.99

For an additional $7.99/mo, Channels offers thousands of curated study videos, practice quizzes, and AI-powered summaries. It sounds like a comprehensive study tool for the modern student, and the potential for this tool is vast, especially for visual learners.

Logs you out while reading

Unfortunately, not all that glitters is gold. One user from UBC voiced their regret after opting for a Pearson eTextbook, finding the platform "extremely frustrating and unintuitive." The book's navigation was clunky, and, even worse, the system frequently logged them out. Adding to their woes was Pearson's penchant for weekend site maintenance, rendering their "book" inaccessible just before an exam. Although this particular customer complaint was logged almost 6 years prior to the time of this review, our own experience with Pearson's eTextbooks confirms that these technical issues have not been fixed. We suppose there is not much incentive to create a product that works well when customers are cornered into buying it from you.

Not accessible for users with disability

Accessibility features, too, left much to be desired. Another user, living with low vision, criticized Pearson's text-to-speech function, which kept defaulting to the beginning of the book. Despite their efforts to seek help, customer support was "equally unhelpful." A harsh critique, but echoed by others: "I wish this company would vanish off the planet."

Customer support is terrible

Finally, there are the customer support failures. One user lamented being charged five times for an online textbook, one they never accessed. When they called for support, the experience was draining, the outcome unsatisfactory: no credit, no access to the book, just hours and money lost.

Too good to be true

Pearson+ seems too good to be true. That's because it is. While the allure of accessible digital textbooks at a low price is tempting, the reality, as reported by many users, is a platform riddled with technical glitches, subpar accessibility features, and frustrating customer support. Students looking for consistent and hassle-free access to their study materials have learned the hard way that sometimes, the old-fashioned way - purchasing or renting a physical or used textbook - is best. It's no wonder that Pearson earns our lowest ranking among providers of college textbooks.

More College Textbook Store Reviews

• Valore Books

• BiggerBooks

The 10 Best College Textbook Stores

Where can you find the cheapest college textbooks.

Picture this: Emma is a sophomore majoring in Economics. A new semester is approaching, and she's been handed her list of required readings. Instead of braving the long lines at the campus bookstore and potentially paying high prices, she turns to online college textbook stores.

In a matter of minutes, she's located every textbook she needs, some at heavily discounted prices or even available for rent. Not only does she save money, but she also saves time, making her semester preparations smooth and hassle-free. Right on, Emma!

College Textbook Store FAQ

Do colleges and universities still use print textbooks, or are they mostly digital, how much do textbooks cost, why would i buy my textbooks online instead of my campus bookstore, can i buy good used textbooks online, how much will i pay for shipping, is it true that i can rent my textbooks instead of buying them, what if the textbook comes and isn't what i needed can i exchange it or get a refund, are online textbook stores legitimate.

Continued from above...

Online college textbook stores have revolutionized the way students acquire their academic resources. These platforms offer a convenient, often cheaper, alternative to traditional brick-and-mortar stores. With just a few clicks, students can purchase new or used books, rent textbooks, or even access digital versions.

How much could you save? In some cases, students might spend over $1,000 per semester on required course materials, especially if they are studying in fields that require expensive textbooks or access codes for online resources. It's obvious that every penny counts, so why not take advantage of every possible way to get your textbooks for less money? You could cut that $1,000 in half (or even more) by skipping the school bookstore and opting to source your books online.

When choosing a college textbook retailer, it's important to consider several factors to be sure you get the best deal and the resources you need. Here are some factors to keep in mind:

• Cost. How much does the textbook cost on this site compared to others? Look for competitive prices. Are there any special deals or discounts? It's always a win to save some money.
• Selection. Does the website have the textbooks you need? Check if they offer both e-books and physical copies. It's best to have choices to fit your study style.
• Shipping and return policy. Can they get your textbook to you before classes start? Consider shipping costs and speed. If the textbook isn't what you meant to order, is returning it easy? A good return policy can save you from headaches later on.
• Access codes. Do you need an online code for your course? Some books come with codes for online materials. If buying used or renting, is the code still valid? Make sure you're getting everything you need.

Top Consumer Reviews has reviewed and ranked the best online stores to buy college textbooks, both secondhand and new. We hope these reviews help you get the books you need for school quickly and without spending too much.

Compare College Textbook Stores

Select any 2 College Textbook Stores to compare them head to head

Trending College Textbook News

USA Today on MSN

A fight over college textbook prices is leaving students unsure who ...

A new rule under consideration by the Biden administration could change how college course materials are priced. Textbook publishers are pushing back.

  Fri, 12 Apr 2024

New York Magazine ...

Scott Galloway on Whether College Is Still Worth It

The NYU marketing professor and Pivot co-host reflects on the challenges facing Gen Z and whether the university system is stacked against it.

  Mon, 22 Apr 2024

Malaysiakini

Imperium College Ignites Passion for Literature on World Book Day

A highlight of the celebration was the engaging Book Sharing Sessions, where students and staff enthusiastically shared their literary treasures with fellow attendees.

  Tue, 23 Apr 2024

College of Design dollar book sale raises funds for student designers

In preparation for a full building renovation, Iowa State’s College of Design hosted a $1 book sale in efforts to help faculty clear space and raise funds for The Design Closet. The dollar book sale ...

The College Fix

College hosts professor who calls for ‘defending democracy from its ...

Muskegon Community College in Michigan recently brought popular Christian ethicist Professor David Gushee to campus to discuss his new book “Defending Democracy from its Christian Enemies.” ...

  Sun, 21 Apr 2024

The New York Times

Kathleen Hanna’s Music Says a Lot. There’s More in the Book.

In “Rebel Girl,” the punk frontwoman reveals the story of her life — the men who tried to stop her, the women who kept her going and the boy who made her a mother.

The Athletic

College football’s unlimited transfers policy is shaking the sport ...

Everything is coming full circle in college football as the sport deals with changes in transfer rules and a new era.

  Fri, 19 Apr 2024

Related College Textbook Store Reviews

Since you're interested in College Textbook Stores, here are some other reviews you might find interesting.

Background Check Services

Where can you get the most accurate and affordable background checks? You're already well aware of the fact that you can find out lots about people with a simple Google search, but ...

Dating Sites

What is the best online dating site? If you're interested in online dating, you're not alone.

Online Fitness Programs

Which online fitness program is the best for you? To answer that question, you should start with an idea of what you're hoping to accomplish.

People Search Providers

Which people search platform offers the most accurate results? There are hundreds of sites out there that promise to connect you with long-lost relatives, childhood friends, former ...

Student Loan Refinance Companies

Where can you find the best options for student loan refinancing? If you got your student loans back when interest rates were high, you're smart to think it might be a good idea to ...

Teeth Whiteners

What is the best way to whiten your teeth? We all know that your smile is one of your most important features, and sometimes it's just not as bright as you like.

Newest Reviews

BBQ Sauce Clubs

Where Can You Find the Best BBQ Sauce Clubs? Barbecue sauce and rubs have earned a revered status in culinary culture, captivating taste buds with their rich, complex flavors and enhancing the succulence of ...

Chinese Lessons

Where Can You Get the Best Chinese Lessons Online? The motivations for learning Chinese are as diverse and compelling as the language itself.

Installment Loans

Where Can You Find the Best Installment Loans? Installment loans are like that dependable friend who's there to help you out when unexpected expenses pop up or when you're dreaming of that ...

Medicare Advantage Plans

Which Medicare Advantage Plan provider is the best? If you or a family member is approaching the age of 65, or if you are soon eligible for Medicare Parts A and B, now is the perfect time to start looking at ...

Perfume Stores

Where Can You Find the Best Perfume Store? Finding the perfect fragrance is a journey for your olfactory senses.

Prom Dress Stores

Where Can You Find the Best Prom Dresses? The quintessential high school experience, prom, is one of the most exciting moments for teenagers across the US.

Plagued by delays and errors, California’s colleges navigate FAFSA fiasco

How Fresno Unified is getting missing students back in class

How can we get more Black teachers in the classroom?

Patrick Acuña’s journey from prison to UC Irvine | Video

Family reunited after four years separated by Trump-era immigration policy

School choice advocate, CTA opponent Lance Christensen would be a very different state superintendent

Black teachers: How to recruit them and make them stay

Lessons in higher education: What California can learn

Keeping California public university options open

Superintendents: Well-paid and walking away

The debt to degree connection

College in prison: How earning a degree can lead to a new life

Is dual admission a solution to California’s broken transfer system?

April 24, 2024

March 21, 2024

Raising the curtain on Prop 28: Can arts education help transform California schools?

February 27, 2024

Keeping options open: Why most students aren’t eligible to apply to California’s public universities

Textbooks: Do we know which ones are effective?

Ze’ev Wurman

September 28, 2022, 10 comments.

Wouldn’t it be nice if all teachers had verifiably excellent instructional materials at their disposal and if every school and school district had a reliable guide as to which instructional materials are effective, before adopting — and paying for — such?

Clearly, it would be nice. And it might actually help improve children’s education — were such labeling true and based on evidence. Yet the people who brought you the mediocre Common Core are now engaged in convincing everyone that textbooks, simply by virtue of being aligned with Common Core, are necessarily also “high quality” and “effective.” They do it without any empirical evidence of them actually being of high quality or effective, while disparaging the quality and effectiveness of textbooks that were proven as truly effective by successful widespread use.

Before 2010, when every state had its own educational standards, some states attempted to provide such guidance by reviewing and creating a list of approved textbooks from which schools and school districts were encouraged — and sometimes forced — to select. Other states left such decisions to schools and school districts. Neither system worked very well. Textbook publishers had significant financial sway over state and local selections, too often overriding the textbooks’ academic merit. Further, the review committees, particularly local ones, often lacked competent content reviewers and input from parents. Publishers added to the confusion by having multiple versions of essentially identical textbooks customized in a minor way for different states. All in all, not a very good situation, even though some highly effective, even if not fashionable, textbooks such as Saxon Math ,  Singapore Math , or Open Court Reading managed to survive.

The situation has changed since the adoption in 2010 of Common Core standards by almost all of the country. Now most states have kind-of the same standards so, suddenly, rather than competing with each other over each of the 50 states, textbook publishers could focus on competing at a single national level.

In theory this could have been a boon for improving the quality of textbooks and other instructional material. After all, there are only so many textbooks on the market addressing essentially the same educational standards — Common Core — so seriously reviewing them all should have been doable.

And, indeed, an organization called EdReports was established in 2014 to do precisely that: review textbooks. EdReports is a nonprofit, a major chunk of whose support comes from key promoters of the original Common Core. EdReports is dedicated to reviewing the alignment of textbooks with Common Core, yet its ratings are based only on “paper review,” not on any studies of the textbooks’ actual effectiveness.

Then, in 2017, the Council of Chief State School Officers ( CCSSO ), the originator of Common Core, established the High-Quality Instructional Materials and Professional Development ( IMPD ) Network dedicated to promoting materials rated well by EdReports as “High Quality” to member states. The key financing of this effort has been by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which funded its creation, and promoters that lend it credibility, such as the Fordham Institute.

All this would be fine if the Common Core standards were actually improving American education. But the standards are mediocre at best , and they have caused a clear deterioration of American student achievement in math and reading as visible on the 2017 and 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP — the first declines in more than two decades. Here is what Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) had to say about the 2020 Long-Term Trend (LTT) NAEP, taken just weeks before the pandemic :

“The reading and mathematics scores of 13-year-old students fell between 2012 and 2020—the first time in the almost 50-year history of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) long-term trend (LTT) assessment. …  The mathematics scores for the lower-performing students (students at the 10th and 25th percentile) declined among students from both [9 & 13] age groups from the previous assessment in 2012. Scores also declined in mathematics for 13-year-olds at the 50th percentile. Scores for higher-performing students (at the 75th and 90th percentiles) did not change. … Mathematics scores at age 9 declined for females but did not change significantly for males since 2012.”

If it was not bad enough that EdReports rates textbooks on how well they are aligned with mediocre academic standards, it also verifies that textbooks do not stray from the Common Core standards’ scope and sequence (e.g., move standards to different grades) or spend a significant amount of time on additional standards. In other words, much of EdReports “quality” is embodied in checking whether textbooks closely follow Common Core rather than whether they present meaningful math or effectively teach it.

Then the Instructional Materials Network elevates those evaluations and promotes them as “High Quality” to states without any research to back it up.

You can see this with Singapore Math, which gained its fame because of its proven efficacy as demonstrated in Singapore’s high achievement on international mathematics tests. Yet, of the five textbooks based on Singapore Math, four of them receive EdReports’ lowest possible score, and one gets the second worst . And sure enough, the effectiveness of the texts in teaching math is not even checked by EdReports, which prefers a narrow and formalistic evaluation of effectiveness rather than actual empirical evidence. Similarly, Open Court Reading, which was responsible for improving the reading skills for millions of early grade students in California is deemed not worthy of evaluating its usability by EdReports as it doesn’t align with Common Core standards.

Perhaps in the future when parents are given a significant voice in their children’s choice of schools, such maverick textbooks will have a chance. Meanwhile, the Council of Chief State School Officers peddles untested textbooks hewing to mediocre standards on our teachers, giving them fake “High Quality” seals of approval and eliminating the chance to penetrate the wall of mediocrity.

Ze’ev Wurman  is a research fellow at the Independent Institute , chief software architect with MonolithIC 3D, and former senior policy adviser with the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development at the U.S. Department of Education.

The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines  and contact us.

To get more reports like this one, click here to sign up for EdSource’s no-cost daily email on latest developments in education.

Share Article

Comments (10)

Leave a comment, your email address will not be published. required fields are marked * *.

Click here to cancel reply.

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

Comments Policy

We welcome your comments. All comments are moderated for civility, relevance and other considerations. Click here for EdSource's Comments Policy .

Phil Brubaker 6 months ago 6 months ago

I'm a retired Mathematical Engineer that has been attempting to Train Educators on Modeling, Simulations & (Mathematical) Optimizations. Optimizations require an Objective (function). Today's Engineers & Scientists solve problems with a “Find X” mind-set. With some Operational Research training they could expand their thinking to a “Find X to Optimize Y” mind-set. “Find X to Optimize Y” thinking among professors will cause most Engineering & Science textbooks to be rewritten with optimization examples … Read More

I’m a retired Mathematical Engineer that has been attempting to Train Educators on Modeling, Simulations & (Mathematical) Optimizations. Optimizations require an Objective (function). Today’s Engineers & Scientists solve problems with a “Find X” mind-set. With some Operational Research training they could expand their thinking to a “Find X to Optimize Y” mind-set.

“Find X to Optimize Y” thinking among professors will cause most Engineering & Science textbooks to be rewritten with optimization examples and discussions. This will be great stuff for industries and government; applied engineering and/or science; not just theories.

Today’s Math textbooks need to be replaced with 1950s or 60s textbooks that taught MATH that is used in industries today. Not some ‘new math’ concepts as done today; just old math concepts, terms, & logic.

How to get future authors and evaluation studies to realize that math understanding for future jobs is the main reason for math education, correct?

Phil Brubaker Oregon State University ’67 (Applied) Mathematician | Electrical Engineering | Author

Barry Garelick 1 year ago 1 year ago

Excellent points. Many people think that a high rating from Ed Reports means the textbook is effective. Alignment with the Common Core standards is not a measure of effectiveness. In terms of Singapore Math, they got dinged because the standard algorithm for multidigit addition and subtraction was "assessed" in the textbook prior to 4th grade in which the standard appears. CC does not prohibit teaching the standard algorithms earlier than the grade in which they appear, … Read More

Excellent points. Many people think that a high rating from Ed Reports means the textbook is effective. Alignment with the Common Core standards is not a measure of effectiveness.

In terms of Singapore Math, they got dinged because the standard algorithm for multidigit addition and subtraction was “assessed” in the textbook prior to 4th grade in which the standard appears. CC does not prohibit teaching the standard algorithms earlier than the grade in which they appear, but the publishing guidelines prohibit the testing (i.e. “assessment”) of same in grades prior to when the std algorithm appears in CC. Note, it’s the publishing guidelines, not the CC standards themselves.

Dave G. 2 years ago 2 years ago

Let the teacher decide!

Cathy Kessel 2 years ago 2 years ago

The reference for “mediocre” is a report dated December 2017. Here are some examples of what it has to say about the Common Core standards for mathematics. Standard 1.OA.6 is criticized for its “long list of different ways of doing the operations.” In 2013, I examined a similar criticism from the same author, noting that the "different ways" appear as headings and objectives in Singapore Primary Mathematics 1A, Teacher’s Guide for the first half of grade … Read More

The reference for “mediocre” is a report dated December 2017. Here are some examples of what it has to say about the Common Core standards for mathematics.

Standard 1.OA.6 is criticized for its “long list of different ways of doing the operations.” In 2013, I examined a similar criticism from the same author, noting that the “different ways” appear as headings and objectives in Singapore Primary Mathematics 1A, Teacher’s Guide for the first half of grade 1. See comments-on-milgrams-review-of-final-draft-core-standards.

Other criticisms mention two poorly written problems which were not part of the CCSS.

The report also claims that “[4.NBT.4 Fluently add and subtract multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm] is fully two to three years behind what is expected from students in high-achieving countries” and gives addition and subtraction examples that include 4- and 5-digit whole numbers from a translation of a grade 3 Russian textbook originally published in 1978 by Pcholko, Bantova, Moro, and Pyshkalo.

In contrast, the 2007 Singapore Syllabus says for grade 2 “Include: addition and subtraction of numbers up to 3 digits.” For grade 3, it says “Include: addition and subtraction of numbers up to 4 digits.” It doesn’t say anything further about whole-number addition and subtraction in grade 4, but it does include “addition and subtraction of decimals (up to 2 decimal places).” The 2012 Singapore Syllabus has similar expectations, see pp. 37, 42, 50 of the syllabus, which is here: https://www.moe.gov.sg/primary/curriculum/syllabus . (There is a new syllabus for the 2021 cohort but it doesn’t have entries beyond grade 2.)

The reference for “mediocre at best” is a report dated February 2010. The CCSS were released in June 2010: http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/development-process/

Ze'ev Wurman 2 years ago 2 years ago

Cathy Kessel is correct in that one of the references for the mediocrity of Common Core I quoted is from February of 2010, while the final version of Common Core was released only in June of 2010. So here is a report with similar finding on the final Common Core version, published in July 2010. https://pioneerinstitute.org/download/national-standards-still-dont-make-the-grade/ Kessel also finds an issue with the other paper I quoted, which argues Common Core "is fully two to three years … Read More

Cathy Kessel is correct in that one of the references for the mediocrity of Common Core I quoted is from February of 2010, while the final version of Common Core was released only in June of 2010. So here is a report with similar finding on the final Common Core version, published in July 2010.

https://pioneerinstitute.org/download/national-standards-still-dont-make-the-grade/

Kessel also finds an issue with the other paper I quoted, which argues Common Core “is fully two to three years behind what is expected from students in high-achieving countries” and demonstrates that when it comes to integer addition, it is “only” one year behind. There are other standards and expectations where Common Core is more behind but, eventually, all this is now moot, when we have actual empirical evidence of Common Core mediocrity.

On PISA international comparison, US declined between 2009 and 2018 by 9 points (from 487 to 478). On long-term NAEP our age 9 student declined 9 points (almost a grade level) between 2008 and 2019. And the C-SAIL report is the clincher, where the researchers embarked to find Common Core superiority and instead found that:

“Our study revealed that the adoption of the new college- and career-ready standards had significant negative effects in grade 4 reading. Specifically, our analysis suggests that had the “treatment” states stuck with their prior standards, their grade 4 NAEP reading scores would have been 2.3 to 3.8 points higher on the 0-500 NAEP scale during the seven years after the adoption of the new standards. We also found a significant negative seven-year impact on grade 8 mathematics. While most of our results were statistically non-significant, they tended to be in the negative direction.”

https://www.the74million.org/article/song-did-common-core-standards-work-new-study-finds-small-but-disturbing-negative-impacts-on-students-academic-achievement/

Re "demonstrates that when it comes to integer addition, it is “only” one year behind”: Does “Include: addition and subtraction of numbers up to 4 digits” mean “fluency with addition and subtraction of numbers up to 4 digits using a standard algorithm”? I don’t see anything in the Singapore teacher’s guides that says so. Also, note that grade 3 addition and subtraction expectations for Russia (then USSR) and for Singapore differ: one includes 5-digit numbers, … Read More

Re “demonstrates that when it comes to integer addition, it is “only” one year behind”: Does “Include: addition and subtraction of numbers up to 4 digits” mean “fluency with addition and subtraction of numbers up to 4 digits using a standard algorithm”? I don’t see anything in the Singapore teacher’s guides that says so. Also, note that grade 3 addition and subtraction expectations for Russia (then USSR) and for Singapore differ: one includes 5-digit numbers, the other does not. I believe this discrepancy may be due to an error in the 2017 “mediocrity” report’s account of Russian mathematics education history, and will link an account of details here: https://mathedck.wordpress.com/2013/08/04/comments-on-milgrams-review-of-final-draft-core-standards/ .

On the page about the C-SAIL “report” (“Effects of states’ adoption of college- and career-ready standards on student achievement”), the reader is told that it was a working paper (that is, not peer reviewed). I write “was” because the link for the paper is dead. There is a more recent peer-reviewed article with a somewhat similar name (“Did States’ Adoption of More Rigorous Standards Lead to Improved Student Achievement? Evidence From a Comparative Interrupted Time Series Study of Standards-Based Reform”), somewhat different conclusions, and two of the same authors. Its abstract says:

“This study was designed to assess the effects of states’ adoption of more rigorous standards as part of the current wave of standards-based reform on student achievement using comparative interrupted time series analyses based on state-level NAEP data from 1990 to 2017. Results show that the effects of adopting more rigorous standards on students’ mathematics achievement were generally small and not significant. The effects on students’ reading achievement were also generally small, but negative and statistically significant for Grade 4. The study also revealed that the effects of states’ adoption of more rigorous standards varied across NAEP subscales and student subgroups.” https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/00028312211058460

Similarly, there were mixed results when, years ago, the Singapore books were used at four US sites. Here is an excerpt from the report (which was published in 2005 by AIR, the American Institutes for Research):

“The Montgomery County [Maryland] outcomes were positively correlated with the amount of professional training the staff received. Two Singapore pilot schools availed themselves of extensive professional development and outperformed the controls; two other pilot schools had low staff commitment coupled with low exposure to professional training and were actually outperformed by the controls. Professional training is important in helping teachers understand and explain the nonroutine, multistep problems in the Singapore textbooks. Teachers also need preparation to explain solutions to Singapore problems, which often require students to draw on previously taught mathematics topics, which the Singapore textbook, in contrast to U.S. textbooks, does not reteach.” https://www.air.org/resource/report/what-united-states-can-learn-singapores-world-class-mathematics-system-exploratory

After noting the variability in test site outcomes, the AIR report says: “our study shifted from merely assessing the results from the U.S. textbook pilots to developing a broad comparison of the coherence and quality of the Singapore and U.S. systems for delivering mathematics instruction.” For example, it notes “Singapore’s teachers must take a stringent examination before being accepted to education school, and while they are students, they are paid a teacher’s salary.”

Also, “Singapore’s professional development program offers sustained learning opportunities through a modularized approach that adjusts to teachers’ learning needs and is integrated into a continual learning process that includes experiential training experiences in nonschool settings. In contrast, professional training in U.S. school systems focuses on short-term workshops that fit into teachers’ released time. Evaluations suggest that these experiences are not likely to improve teachers’ performance in mathematics; the teachers themselves agree and do not seem to value this training very much.”

A recent PD example from Singapore: https://www.science.edu.sg/for-schools/teacher-professional-development/teacher-work-attachment . A recent PD example from the US: https://edsource.org/2022/we-need-to-fix-professional-development-for-teachers/678632

As with the AIR study, the mixed results of the C-SAIL study may have prompted more focus on the US educational system, rather than a single component of the system. The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL) conference in 2020 was on “What’s next for standards-based reform? With the release of the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress results in math and reading, it became clear that standards-based reform has not moved the needle on student achievement. This may be due, in part, to how districts, schools, and teachers are making sense of and implementing college- and career-readiness standards.” https://www.c-sail.org/videos

Transforming expectations (such as standards) into instruction is no easy matter—as shown by three decades of standard-based reform. “We failed to prioritize the hard work of translating standards into rigorous curriculum materials, instructional strategies and teacher training,” says a recent essay ( https://www.future-ed.org/unfinished-agenda-the-future-of-standards-based-school-reform/ ).

Cathy Kessel and I could continue this back-and-forth for a long time, yet a few facts are indisputable: The key ones are that the regular (Main) NAEP results started to level off and drop since the 2017 NAEP, after decades where they consistently grew. Similarly, the results for Long-Term (LTT) NAEP dropped for the first time between 2008 and 2019. PISA results, particularly in math, did the same for US students. US TIMSS achievement increased by 22 (!) points … Read More

Cathy Kessel and I could continue this back-and-forth for a long time, yet a few facts are indisputable:

The key ones are that the regular (Main) NAEP results started to level off and drop since the 2017 NAEP, after decades where they consistently grew.

Similarly, the results for Long-Term (LTT) NAEP dropped for the first time between 2008 and 2019.

PISA results, particularly in math, did the same for US students.

US TIMSS achievement increased by 22 (!) points between 1995 and 2015, yet *dropped* by by 4 points between 2015 and 2019.

All this occurred *before* the pandemic but after Common Core adoption.

Kessel is correct when she quotes “Transforming expectations (such as standards) into instruction is no easy matter – as shown by three decades of standard-based reform,” particularly in systems similar to ours where teachers are often encouraged not to follow recommendations based on robust research “invent” curricula and pedagogies on-the-fly behind their closed doors. Yet such consistent *national* (as opposed to local and regional) results across multiple national and international tests, of actual *decreases* in achievement since Common Core entered the mainstream of our classrooms, cannot be “explained” away as just “complexities of implementation,” as Kessel attempts.

There are many other issues with Kessel’s attempts to show that standards like Singapore’s or other high achieving countries are “similar” to Common Core, but this is inside baseball to most so I will not engage in it here.

People concerned about children’s education might appreciate clarification of claims about high-achieving countries. The 2017 “mediocrity” report Wurman cites says “[Common Core 4.NBT.4 Fluently add and subtract multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm] is fully two to three years behind what is expected from students in high-achieving countries” (page 16, https://pioneerinstitute.org/pioneer-research/academic-standards-pioneer-research/mediocrity-2-0-massachusetts-rebrands-common-core-ela-and-math/). In contrast, Wurman is a co-author of a 2020 report that says “MA.3.NSO.2.1 Add and subtract multi-digit whole numbers including using a standard … Read More

People concerned about children’s education might appreciate clarification of claims about high-achieving countries.

The 2017 “mediocrity” report Wurman cites says “[Common Core 4.NBT.4 Fluently add and subtract multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm] is fully two to three years behind what is expected from students in high-achieving countries” (page 16, https://pioneerinstitute.org/pioneer-research/academic-standards-pioneer-research/mediocrity-2-0-massachusetts-rebrands-common-core-ela-and-math/ ).

In contrast, Wurman is a co-author of a 2020 report that says “MA.3.NSO.2.1 Add and subtract multi-digit whole numbers including using a standard algorithm with procedural fluency” is “exemplary” (page 2, Better Than Common Core, https://www.independent.org/publications/article.asp?id=13176 ).

Perhaps a future Independent Institute report will explain this apparent contradiction.

NAEP results: As a commenter has pointed out, Minnesota did not adopt Common Core. Its grade 8 NAEP scores follow the national pattern.

https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2019/pdf/2020013MN8.pdf

Despite the predictions of the “mediocrity” report (full title is Mediocrity 2.0: Massachusetts rebrands Common Core ELA & Math), grade 8 NAEP scores in Massachusetts were higher than Minnesota’s:

https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2019/pdf/2020013MA8.pdf

One author has suggested that state investment in teachers is an important part of the explanation:

“Even more relevant for us is the experience of Massachusetts, which in the early 1990s had mathematics achievement that was fairly typical of the US, but which decided that that was not good enough, and embarked on a long-term effort to improve. The Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 provided for increased funding to make opportunities to learn more equitable, substantial professional development, and higher mathematics requirements for teacher certification (thus impacting teacher preparation programs) [6]. It worked. Massachusetts now, considered as a separate country, has test scores significantly above the US average [20], [16], [11], [7]. Massachusetts also comes out at the top in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the US’s own instrument for assessing student achievement. For example, in the 2019 edition of NAEP, Massachusetts eighth-graders had the highest overall average of any state, and perhaps more significantly, 48% of them scored at the proficient or advanced level [12]. Only two other states had over 40% at these levels. The rest of the country should take some lessons.”

For references and the rest of the article, see https://www.ams.org/notices/202006/rnoti-p842.pdf .

Bruce William Smith 2 years ago 2 years ago

Minnesota was wise to reject the Common Core mathematical standards while accepting those for English; One World Education Centre has long done the same. We use the Singapore mathematics textbooks in use in Singapore, rather than those being marketed as such in the United States, and our students consistently score in the 99th percentile on American math tests like the SAT and ACT, and on the exams for AP Calculus.

Linda Diamond 2 years ago 2 years ago

This article is spot on. Ze'ev got it right. Not only is the Common Core dated, it's relationship to what we know from evidence is necessary to learn to read is tenuous at best. In fact, many excellent proven ELA programs and foundational skills curricula do not even bother submitting because although they have proven results, they know they will not fit the Common Core criteria. As Louisa Moats pointed out, the CCSS was weak … Read More

This article is spot on. Ze’ev got it right. Not only is the Common Core dated, it’s relationship to what we know from evidence is necessary to learn to read is tenuous at best. In fact, many excellent proven ELA programs and foundational skills curricula do not even bother submitting because although they have proven results, they know they will not fit the Common Core criteria. As Louisa Moats pointed out, the CCSS was weak from the start on word recognition and writing and spelling. Thank you Ze’ev!

EdSource Special Reports

Grassroots contributions fueled bid to oust two from Orange County school board

A grassroots campaign recalled two members of the Orange Unified School District in an election that cost more than half a million dollars.

California moves a step closer to eliminating one of the state’s last teacher assessments

Legislation that would remove one of the last tests teachers are required to take to earn a credential in California passed the Senate Education Committee.

Community college faculty should all be allowed to work full time

Part-time instructors, many who work for decades off the tenure track and at a lower pay rate, have been called “apprentices to nowhere.”

Bill to mandate ‘science of reading’ in California classrooms dies

A bill to mandate use of the method will not advance in the Legislature this year in the face of teachers union opposition.

EdSource in your inbox!

Stay ahead of the latest developments on education in California and nationally from early childhood to college and beyond. Sign up for EdSource’s no-cost daily email.

Stay informed with our daily newsletter

There’s now a subscription service for college textbooks

Think netflix, but for textbooks.

By Monica Chin , a senior reviewer covering laptops and other gadgets. Monica was a writer for Tom's Guide and Business Insider before joining The Verge in 2020.

Share this story

Pearson, the largest publisher of college textbooks in the US , has announced Pearson Plus, a new subscription service for digital textbooks. The Pearson Plus app, available in both mobile and desktop form, will be available on US college campuses this fall and is expected to roll out globally in the future.

There are two subscription tiers. Enrolled students can pay $9.99 per month to access one textbook at a time or $14.99 per month for access to the company’s full library (a selection of over 1,500 e-books). The app provides various other study aids as well, including flashcards, annotations, and customizable fonts.

The Pearson Plus app will be available on US college campuses this fall

College textbooks are a big expense , and can saddle some students with hundreds of dollars of costs per semester. Pearson is pushing this service as a money-saving measure. The average cost of a digital textbook, Bird estimates, is “anywhere from $40 or $50 to over a couple hundred dollars,” which means students who need two or more Pearson textbooks per semester would feasibly save money by purchasing eight months of the more expensive subscription tier.

That’s with some caveats, of course. Students can save money on physical textbooks by buying them used, and can recoup some of their value by reselling — both benefits that aren’t available through a digital model. And subscription platforms can always raise their prices, as we’ve seen platforms from Netflix and Disney Plus to Spotify and Philo do in the past year as their user bases grew.

Students will need to make their own calculations based on their courseload, but it’s clear that the value of a Pearson Plus subscription rises with each Pearson textbook a student is assigned. It’s easy to see how the new model, while possibly saving students some cash, could conveniently exert some pressure on professors and departments to slot in more Pearson books.

“We’re moving from transaction to relationship”

That may be part of the reason Pearson appears to be targeting a loyal and long-term user base rather than a massive one. “Rather than a rental or purchase, being more transaction-focused, we’re moving from transaction to relationship,” Bird says. “We get insights into their habits over time, they get to use a lot more functionality within the application, and that will lead them and us together into a lifelong career.”

Pearson isn’t the first publisher to try a product like this, and some competitors have hit hurdles. Cengage offers a similar platform, Cengage Unlimited , priced at $69.99 for four months. It’s faced lawsuits from authors claiming that the service altered their compensation structures and negatively impacted their royalties. Bird says that Pearson has worked this out in advance. “How we deal with royalties and compensation, that’s all been part of active discussion during the development of this app,” he says.

Tesla’s in its flop era

Apple announces may 7th event for new ipads, microsoft launches phi-3, its smallest ai model yet, anker’s 8-in-1 charging station is matching its lowest price to date, sonos announces redesigned app that puts everything on your homescreen.

More from Tech

Wyze cameras reportedly let owners see into a stranger’s home — again

Here are the best Apple Watch deals right now

OpenAI can’t register ‘GPT’ as a trademark — yet

Sony’s portable PlayStation Portal is back in stock

Materials Matter

We provide free reports that help you evaluate instructional materials because high-quality content matters to teachers, to kids, and to our collective future.

Select a subject to browse reports

Adoption Steps

What you select and how you select matters. Explore these best practices to ensure your next adoption delivers meaningful results for students and teachers.

State of the Market

Learn about the availability of programs aligned to college and career-ready standards and how regularly they’re being used in classrooms.

Dive into our vast collection of how-to resources, case studies, educator voice blogs, webinars, videos, and much more highlighting why materials matter for students and teachers.

Recent Reports

Explore our latest reviews of K-12 math, English language arts, and science instructional materials.

Math Mammoth

i-Ready Classroom Mathematics

Carolina Certified Version of OpenSciEd

Mathspace High School Traditional Series

Kendall Hunt Certified Version of OpenSciEd

Activate Learning Certified Version of OpenSciEd

Snappet Math

Open Up Resources K-5 Math

Foundations A-Z

BSCS Biology: Understanding for Life

Inspire Biology

Biology for NGSS

Amplify Science

More reports are available

Our Process:

How reports are developed.

About EdReports

Our mission is to increase the capacity of teachers, administrators, and leaders to seek, identify, and demand the highest quality instructional materials. See how our reviews can lead to better materials for students.

Review Criteria and Evidence Guides

Our educator-developed review tools identify criteria for high-quality instructional materials. Dive into our review tools for details on what we look for in our substantive review process.

Educator Review Teams

Learn more about our educator reviewers which consist of outstanding classroom educators, district coaches, and state content leaders who understand the importance of high-quality materials.

The Review Process

At the heart of EdReports is a commitment to a by educator, for educator instructional materials review process. See how educators are leading the way to support teachers with the tools and resources they need to support students.

Why We Care

At EdReports, we know materials matter for kids. Our mission is to increase the capacity of teachers, administrators, and leaders to seek, identify, and demand high-quality instructional materials to ensure students at all levels receive an excellent education.

Student Learning

Rigorous college and career-ready standards can improve and deepen student learning. What is taught matters.

High Expectations for All

Not all students have the same access to high-quality instructional materials and this perpetuates the opportunity gap.

When teachers are provided with high-quality materials and aligned professional learning, this increases the opportunity for all students to learn and grow.

Related Resources

Q&A: Evidence and Efficacy in Curriculum Adoption

Supporting Multilingual Learners: 3 Lessons From the Field

3 Ways to Prioritize Multilingual Learners in Your Curriculum Adoption Process

“When you’re adopting instructional materials, it’s easy to think that receiving the textbooks you’ve chosen is the end of the process. But really it’s only the beginning. These tools from EdReports guide us in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of our academic programs so that we can offer teachers targeted, strategic supports and ensure the materials we have will help students thrive.“ Geoff Dean, Instructional Math Coach, Clovis Unified School District

Copyright 2024. EdReports.org, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Pearson+ Reviews

About: Pearson+ lets you read, study, and listen to your Pearson eTextbooks, and with offline access, you never miss a beat. Access all your Pearson eTextbooks in one place, including those from MyLab, Mastering, and Digital Collections courses.

  Table of Contents :

• User Reviews (21)

Pricing Plans

• Is it Legit?
• Is it Safe?

Not working

• Report Issue
• Contact Support

About Pearson

Pearson+ lets you read, study, and listen to your Pearson eTextbooks, and with offline access, you never miss a beat.

Access all your Pearson eTextbooks in one place, including those from MyLab, Mastering, and Digital Collections courses.

Log in with the same username and password you created via the web-based version to get started using the app.

Overall User Satisfaction Rating

Key benefits of pearson.

- AMAZING app

- Neat features such as auto read

- Built in flash card/ question and answer section

- Easy on-the-go

- Dark mode in place

- Super easy to navigate

21 Pearson Reviews

By Tttoooooo ssslllooowww

Still Frustrated

I teach several courses per semester and have done so for more than 15 years. I adopted MyMathLab early on after moving to this app, and Pearson is now the third attempt by this app to provide a digital textbook for the courses I teach. The apps continue to improve despite some irritating setbacks. You would think that after so many years, I would be able to arrange the order of my books? (thank you for allowing this in MyLab with the pin and drag options). And when will the duplicates end? It should not be so difficult to locate the book that I want to use. My biggest complaint, though, is the syncing of Pearson with the website. You would think that this would be a nice feature but it makes it impossible to “hold my finger on a page” to answer a students question and then go back to where I was on the exercise page. And as an instructor, or tenured professor to make the point, I shouldn’t have access to textbooks removed because the MyLab course expired. I used to have contacts at this app who set access privileges for some of my textbooks, which migrated over to this new app. But it was a hassle and I don’t have the patience to go through this again. Overall, I appreciate having Pearson for my iPad. I just wish it were more useful and better suited for instructors.

Needs a Major Overhaul

It hurts my heart that I had no choice but to spend $130 on this etext, because I needed the proprietary statistics software that came with it to complete my assignments. I guess when students have no choice but to buy a software product, the product manufacturer isn’t then inclined to keep that software updated and user friendly. For one thing, there is no turning the phone for a wider view of the tiny text. Only vertical, sorry. And when you try to zoom in it is jumpy and unpredictable, and you’ll likely lose too much text so just keep it tiny and vertical and deal with the headache you will inevitably get. The desktop software isn’t much better. Search function is awful - sometimes terms will come up but when you click on them… nothing. No action. Does it at least tell you what page the term is on? Nope. Tough luck. Try google. And then you can’t zoom OUT - this is wild. I can’t fit the page on one screen/browser. And there are these little ‘tips for success’ on the sides of the pages that narrow the margins, making one long column when what would actually be user friendly is a nice square of text that perfectly fits one page into the browser window. I just don’t understand how this expensive platform can be so bad all around. Is anyone trying at all? Had anyone at this app actually tried to use these texts? Cmon guys. Quit robbing people. We’re students, for chrissakes!

By Crimson (twitter @wtf_hemmo)

Please listen :(

I like being able to have all my textbooks in one place, and to have such easy access to them at all times. However, Pearson is actually driving me insane. 1) it took me 4 days to even figure out how to open my textbooks on my iPad. Pearson looks like there is a better layout, but for some reason it defaults my app to a page with just textbook names. 2) I love to highlight important information as I read, but every time I try to, it takes me to the next page or the page before!!!! It is so annoying! I wish there was a way to lock my page so I don’t have to reload the page over and over. Also, why do I have to even select text? I want to be able to select a highlighter and just highlight the text without having to select the words. I wish there was a better way to annotate. 3) when I read my book along side of my notes with split screen, I cannot scroll without it going to previous or future pages. A lock feature would help with this as well! 4) I often have to site page numbers for my homework, and there are no page numbers in Pearson . Why….? Overall, I kind of wish I would’ve just invested in paper textbooks instead of an iPad specifically for Pearson. Oh well.

By Elmo2077

Unwieldy, inconvenient, and finicky

I had to download Pearson because the ebook features weren’t supported in my browser. That’s fine. But Pearson doesn’t really work either. If I accidentally rotate my screen, the text automatically scrolls all the way back to the top of the section instead of saving my place. It also resets to the top of the section any time I accidentally touch anything that I didn’t mean to, so I have to be very careful. This causes a lot of unnecessary scrolling. Also the highlighter function sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t, depending on the amount of text I’d like to highlight and the location on the page. Every once in awhile I’m trying to highlight something important and I accidentally switch to a whole different section, causing the above problem again. Using this book has been a very frustrating experience. If I could use the browser version I would, but unfortunately I’m stuck with this janky app. Luckily I found a really cheap used copy of the print textbook on Abe books, and it’s only one edition older than the required edition for my class. I definitely recommend any student go the used book route rather than attempt to navigate this fail of an ebook. One star.

By airicaxoxo

this app, your apps have always been utterly disappointing semester after semester. Upon downloading Pearson, my expectations were low from the numerous letdowns in the past. However, Pearson is AMAZING!! I had to pause my exploring in Pearson to post a review!! I’ve been waiting for years for an app that was worthy of not just the price but of the content of your products! I will be graduating this semester, which also means that my time with Pearson will be limited. It is bittersweet since Pearson is a huge transition from the other terrible apps. I LOVE the features, such as being able to transform the text to nice sounding audio and the overall sleek design makes studying more enjoyable. Thank you and FINALLY!!

By DanCross85

This is a great app!

I was a bit hesitant about getting the E book verse the actual text book. I’m kinda old fashion sometimes when it comes to school, but I have been pleasantly surprised with the Chemistry book. There are some really neat features such as the auto read. I can have it read the text to me as I follow along. It also has a built in flash card/ question and answer section so once I’m through with the chapter I can test myself on key terms which helps me when taking the quizzes and test.

By DisisNickname

Frustrating Experience

Pearson is not very usable. Controls frequently conflict with each other and make Pearson a frustrating experience. These small issues pop up frequently. Just trying to highlight text becomes frustrating because Pearson registers a left or right movement as a movement to read the next section of a text book. Sometimes the highlight options disappears because Pearson doesn’t think you’re trying to highlight. This means that sometimes you need to use two hands to simply highlight text which is dumb. Reading itself can be annoying because Pearson is incredibly sensitive in terms of it’s touch controls. Often it will interpret slight side movements as a gesture which results in it going to the next chapter/section. The developers really need to rethink how features should implemented. I would recommend they look at apps such as Pdf Expert implement their controls. Dedicated buttons for features such as highlight or copying text is much less frustrating because Pearson requires you to be deliberate in what you are attempting to do instead of trying to guess your intentions. Overall Pearson is the most frustrating experience I have had when it comes to reading text books. this app needs to change their approach to how features are implemented.

By PDXPDXMD

Decent reading app

Pros - search function, access to videos, adjustable text size, hyperlinks to other pertinent sections of the book, cost (subscription $9.99/mo) is much less than renting or buying the book. Cons - navigation could use some improvements - sometimes swiping up causes it to move to the next section. Also, it doesn’t return you to where you left off in a section. When you leave Pearson briefly (ex: to access calculator), it automatically scrolls back to the top of the section instead of staying where you left off. Or if you click a hyperlink to briefly read another section and go back, you are not where you left off. Annoying, but not a deal-breaker. I will likely use again with future classes that require texts published by this app as it is pretty easy to use and less costly than other options. Ideally there would be a subscription service covering multiple publishers. I will likely use it again with future courses where the text is published by this app. My alternative is Ideally, would love a similar subscription service covering multiple publishers.

By Phuong Thanh Nguyen

THIS APP HAS ERRORS NEEDED TO BE FIXED

I am very disappointed with this new version of this app eText. It used to allow me to read the text in landscape mode, but now I cannot with Pearson. I am using iPad Pro 2020 and I am totally sure that I DO NOT LOCK THE SCREEN ROTATION. This is a big problem because it does not also allow us to read in split screen, which some of the reviews have already mentioned. Also, I COULD NOT READ THE TEXT IF MY IPAD IS IN DARK MODE. The background is dark and the text is also in black color which makes it impossible to read. I AM A BIG FAN OF this app ETEXT SINCE IT HAS SO MANY FUNCTIONS THAT I CAN UTILIZE TO UNDERSTAND THE TEXT AND STUDY MY SUBJECTS. HOWEVER, I TRULY BELIVE THAT THESE ERRORS MUST BE FIXED. I hope that the developers of Pearson will consider these problems and do something to live up to the old version of Pearson , which is this app eText. This is not a “Plus” version. This is a “MINUS” version.

By PizzaPresident

Needs page numbers

I had a good experience with Pearson, and I absolutely love the search capabilities because it helps me out. But one thing I can’t forgive it for is not having the page numbers on the textbook. I had an assignment where I had to answer certain questions from exact page numbers, and I had no idea what those questions were. I tried looking everywhere to get a page number and absolutely nothing popped up. I was fortunate to explain to my professor what was going on and she gave me the direct questions, but another professor deducts points from every assignment because I can’t cite direct pages; I can only cite chapters. Overall worth it, but it just needs page numbers to be perfect.

By Larissa2011

App is useless

I love the this app Plus website on my laptop. Highly recommend the subscription, and I’ve been telling everyone I know that is taking classes about it. It saved me $200 in one class alone. HOWEVER, Pearson is awful. You can not access the book to actually read the text at all. It just pulls up a blank page with a loading wheel, but the text never loads. I’ve deleted, redownloaded, updated Pearson . Nothing fixes this problem. I reached out to the feedback email provided by this app and have yet to get a response back. The audio is also an issue because it will only play one segment of the book over and over rather than starting the next part on its own. My textbook is written in many short sections that makeup a chapter so every couple of minutes I have to manually select the next part. Very annoying. Again, I love the this app Plus website on my actual laptop. The subscription service was a fantastic idea. I just hope these app issues get resolved quickly. Classes start next week, and I really depend on being able to read/listen to my textbook during my commutes to and from school and work.

By Cerulean_Sunshine

A pleasure…

I usually use this app for math, so I actually didn’t know that it could be used for anything but; however, the bio class I am taking had a this app login. I saw that it was easier to get Pearson , and I actually really love it. It’s an easy on-the-go, automatically had a dark mode in place, which makes reading way easier, (my whole phone is in dark mode), and it’s SUPER EASY to navigate. I’m kind of really diggin’ it. Didn’t think I would be as excited not having a physical book, but this is better than anticipated. ♥️

By anerol azonipse

100% recommend

Awesome resource to have! I am taking human physiology and microbiology this semester. I love the audio feature. It helps from getting distracted while reading. When I don’t feel like reading the content myself, I just have it read to me as I follow along. This way I can pause and takes notes and not lose anything in the process. Reading the content yourself vs following alongside the audio is super helpful! I recommend this for everyone! All other features are also good to have.

By Eliz0502

At least the old app I could use on all devices

I can’t even use Pearson for the book I paid $100 for!! My only option is to sit in front of the computer on your garbage platform and read. What year are we in?? I cringe every time I see one of my professors says we’re using this app products. Downloaded Pearson on my phone and this textbook says not compatible for mobile viewing. Tried to download Pearson on my iPad and it says I need at least iOS 13 but my iPad says it’s up to date at 12.5….. so $100 to access my book electronically meaning more money for this app because no printing… and I can’t even access it on my convenient devices. What about the people that don’t have an actual computer? Get with the program this app!!!

By guijhuyghgtfdacvhyfcnjf

Here is 5 stars, can you work on my suggestions?

Ian a big fan of this app platforms, particularly mathematic platforms. I love the abundance of homework and Examples. I hope to keep on using this app for years to come. But if I would make a suggestion could you make an iPad app for the actual courses. This would help people who study on the go. I know the web version works on iPads. But I think the convenience of an iPad app would be a game changer.

By cheyeyeyeyy

Pages constantly jumping around as I try to read

If I scroll anything more than a snail’s pace pages start flipping randomly and I have to struggle to find where I left off. It’s even worse when using split screen on the iPad. Every little movement might flip the page when I don’t want it to, and flipping back and trying to scroll back down to where I was flips the pages back again. Very frustrating and not conducive to learning. I think it would be better if we had to tap an arrow in the corner to flip the page instead.

By Ugh, What's up!

Getting better

Thank you for the improvements. Enabling landscape mode is a great addition. 👍. However, page display is still limited by the rigid zoom factor, fit to width and page. When in landscape mode, 2 pages are displayed instead of the page of interest. It would be great to manage page reading by also enabling the ability to control desired font size in addition to zoom factor. Lastly, sometimes Pearson would not load the book content correctly. It is stuck at the spinner, no content is loaded.

By Bejeweledlove

Disappointed

As an instructor you could imagine the amount of books I have. Yet I do not have the ability to remove books that are duplicates simply because of various courses that use the same books. And even worse, I cannot control their position. I have to constantly look for the book I need. Why not give the ability to reposition books we are currently using at the top, or change their order to current classes? And the landscape only showing 2 pages, not just 1 is just aggravating.

By Fefe_isBest

Just started class and it’s not working on my iPad the reading screen never loads , certain links on interface does not work like support button. Pearson is useless better off getting a hard copy Update : it’s working . Make sure you have the latest ios . Thank you for reaching out to me

By stoic and chill

Useless for iPad

The old was ok, but it worked. This new app does have cool features, but they are all useless if Pearson does not let me screen share with my notes taking app. My favorite part of the old app was that they let us split screen taking notes as it makes life easier. I think they are trying to get us to use their note taking section, but it is not as nice as a note taking app. I also like having all my notes together. Since I can’t split screen will be deleting as I have no use for Pearson. I am extremely upset because split screen sharing seems like a small feature, but in reality makes all the difference.

By trying2begin

Audio doesn’t pronunciation formulas right

Hello, I love the audiobooks it definitely makes it easier to read my chapters! However, the audio gets stuck in pronouncing formulas or anything with subscripts and it actually says the words “parenthesis” and “subscript” and different numbers as well. It gets distracting. It will be easier to skip if I was able to click a sentence and the audio skips directly to the new sentence. Thanks!

By tr.rojas31

Blank screen

I’ve been using Pearson for the past 2 months for Certification, love how I have the book on my phone but now starting last night 8/6/21 when I log in it just gives me a blank screen with no access to anything. It says that my IPhone is not supported so I updated and still nothing. Would really like to be able to use this again for with my run around schedule it is really convenient when I get 20-30 mins to read a chapter. Hope this issue can get resolved, thank you.

By NurseJennJenn

App is no good if I have to bend my neck to the side to read!

Very disappointed with the changes made. I loved the old version had no issues with it. This version does not allow for reading or typing in landscape mode which is how my IPad sits on the magic keyboard, causing me to either take my IPad off the keyboard and use only touchscreen or severely bend my neck to the side to read and type!!! I have been in touch with this app and was advised to delete my apps and add them back. I did this and it did not help.

By noattention

The app is completely broken

You can no longer read and take notes, as they made the lethal decision to both 1. drop multitasking, unlike the old app; 2. not allow landscape mode, so you can’t connect and iPad keyboard and take notes in slide over. You can only read in landscape. An enormous regression that makes Pearson worthless for students - I now have to resort to the web version just to have a word processing app open to take notes. Did they do any user testing on iPad at all?

Unable to read chapter text with this app

The eText app was a great tool for me to study the textbook chapters from my iPad. It had a lot of flaws but it WORKED. However, after upgrading to the this app+ version, I can no longer read chapter text using iPad. Pearson literally crashes by itself. People are depending on Pearson version for studying. How is it even passed the QA process when the most fundamental feature of a textbook app, allowing students to read the textbook materials, is broken?

By BratalieS

UPDATES NEEDED

Pearson is horrible. I can’t highlight things without it jumping around the page. Some sections I can’t even highlight. You cant even scroll down or up the page without the side menu bar popping up. Seriously you need to release an update to fix all the bugs immediately. All I want to do is ready my text book and it’s taking me 45 minutes to get through a section when it should have taken 10 tops.

By kevin070786

The old app was fine. I was not great but at least it worked. The old app forced me to download this new version. And now I cannot get to my textbook on my iPad. I see the book in my library but when I try to read it, I get a blank screen. It will not even load the table of contents. I cannot navigate to my bookmarks. I will have to read from the browser now, which is a read pain. And all of this with only one week left in this school term.

By Jetty737

Just not working!

I cannot get my macroeconomics book to display. It shows the bookmarks I have saved with the old app, but now when I click on them nothing happens! Even the content page is empty and it just keeps on loading. I just bought more this app ebooks for the fall semester…great, bet they won’t work on my iPad either. Very disappointing…all that money for an ebook on an app that does not work anymore! ☹️

Great interface and easy to use

Audiobooks work great and are very easy to use. Functionally, Pearson is fast and makes the process simple when taking notes. Great product.

Easy to use, helpful app

Simple to use app that should make this school year easier. Runs fast, hasn’t crashed and contains some pretty cool features such as Audiobooks, etc.

By lemmonkl

Let me help you

I would like to inform you of a glitch within the New this app+ app. When listening to the audio of a E-Text, some of the audio skips or is inaudible. Also, rather than playing chapter 1 from start to finish and moving on to chapter 2 seamlessly; Pearson plays Chapter 1 subsection 1 on repeat, you have to click the next subsection to continue. This is inconvenient especially when driving. The chapter summaries are excellent, and the audio mentions that the review questions are best view in the E-Text and skips them! Brilliant! But it reads the entire references section at the end of the chapter. While I agree credit should be given where credit is due, it really takes away from the flow of reading/learning the material. I attempted to offer this feedback via the Support Chat on this app Case#41358525, but I kept being transferred. I’d love to help with the Beta test if there is a better way to submit feedback.

By Traytrat

The other this app global app told me I should download this one and it's not even working. Tried restarting my iPad and nothing. Tried restarting Pearson , nothing. It gets stuck on the home page and doesn't load. Now with both apps, I can't even split screen to take notes. Very inconvenient. I hope there's a way to fix this problem soon.

By TheCouncil47

This garbage came up on my other this app app so i downloaded it thinking it would be more efficient. I went on Pearson and downloaded my textbook and it erased all the content on there. Not only that, now my OTHER this app app has no text on the pages and it crashes when i try to search chapters.. right before a test i have to take. Thanks alot. DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS BUG INVESTED APP.

By SusanEdwards83

Great so far!

So far Pearson has been great. Loving the audiobook, and that I’ll be able to read my textbooks and study when I’m not by my laptop.

Awesomestudent   2 years ago

No landscape mode?????? No longer useable since print is too small to read on my iPhone. Please fix the app so it is useable. Thanks.

Is Pearson Safe?

Yes. Pearson+ is very safe to use. This is based on our NLP (Natural language processing) analysis of over 27,111 User Reviews sourced from the Appstore and the appstore cumulative rating of 4.8/5 . Justuseapp Safety Score for Pearson Is 62.6/100.

Is Pearson Legit?

Yes. Pearson+ is a totally legit app. This conclusion was arrived at by running over 27,111 Pearson+ User Reviews through our NLP machine learning process to determine if users believe the app is legitimate or not. Based on this, Justuseapp Legitimacy Score for Pearson Is 76.4/100. .

Is Pearson+ not working?

Pearson+ works most of the time. If it is not working for you, we recommend you excersise some patience and retry later or Contact Support .

**Pricing data is based on average subscription prices reported by Justuseapp.com users..

How was your experience with Pearson+? Post a Review

Leave a comment:

Alternatives

Protect yourself online with Justuseapp Privacy Cards

How does it work.

• Signup for Justuseapp Cards.
• Create up-to 24 virtual cards per month.
• Using your Justuseapp card, signup for unlimited subscriptions and free trials without worry. Your real card info stays hidden.
• Cancel a subscription / trial at anytime by blocking the site or app on your Justuseapp Card. Zero stress.
• Be safe from hackers and unwanted bills. Get started today!

You must enable JavaScript in order to use this site.

The Duel is a great guide to understanding both Canada’s past and present

With The Duel, John Ibbitson has done a service to the legacies of both Diefenbaker and Pearson. Christian Lalonde - Photoluxstudio/Photolux studio

• Title: The Duel: Diefenbaker, Pearson, and the Making of Modern Canada
• Author: John Ibbitson
• Genre: Non-fiction
• Publisher: Signal

Historical political writing routinely runs the risks of mawkish nostalgia and hagiography. Some writers, seeking to avoid these liabilities, overcorrect, producing a different kind of unidimensional assessment of the past that excoriates peoples and times, stripping them of context and evaluating the past against the expectations of the present. While the present is by necessity a lens through which we filter the past, it can play a more or less prominent role in our evaluations. We can’t escape it, though we can manage it.

Books we're reading and loving this week: Globe staffers and readers share their book picks

In The Duel: Diefenbaker, Pearson, and the Making of Modern Canada, Globe and Mail columnist John Ibbitson has managed to deftly navigate through the Scylla and Charybdis of golden-ageism and presentism. In a deeply researched study of two consequential and, indeed, at times complementary prime ministers , he manages to examine the men, their era and the context, events, motivations, successes and failures that shaped Canada as it came of age in the postwar years.

Throughout the book, Ibbitson switches back and forth between a narrative that focuses on the Progressive Conservative prime minister John G. Diefenbaker and Liberal prime minister Lester B. (Mike) Pearson. The narrative construction of the book works, reading like a cat-and-mouse game in which we know, from page one, that a showdown of consequence looms. It’s slow to build, with a hefty part of the tome dedicated to the early years of each man’s life, dragging at times. But the build is worth the payoff and by midway through the book, the story seems to tell itself.

Toward the end, in the epilogue, Ibbitson writes, “One purpose of this book has been to attempt to dispel the false narrative that the two Pearson governments accomplished much while the three Diefenbaker governments accomplished little.” He succeeds in this task. One of the book’s theses is that ministries from the earlier days of the Canadian state through to the Pierre Trudeau, and, in fact, even Brian Mulroney years build on one another. Mulroney’s efforts to oppose apartheid in South Africa were rooted in Diefenbaker’s efforts to do the same decades earlier. Universal health care, pensions, the St. Lawrence Seaway, multiculturalism, race-blind immigration, recognizing Mao’s China, patriation and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and plenty more are policies for which governments may lay claim, but whose origins and development precede them and for which the accolades that accompany success ought to be shared.

The Duel relies on tension that emerges from contrast to tell the story of Canada over six decades or so. Much of that contrast is between Pearson and Diefenbaker themselves. Accordingly, the book is more than a chronicle of the men and their times, it is also a psychological study of Pearson, Diefenbaker and their rivalry. The latter is framed as a Nixonian character, something out of a Greek tragedy. The U.S. writer Garry Wills once wrote of Richard Nixon as “Nixon agonistes” – Nixon the fighter, Nixon the struggler. Ibbitson’s portrait of “Dief the Chief” reads similarly. As he notes, “Diefenbaker was vain, untrusting, indecisive and, as the years went on, increasingly paranoid.” He was a populist who struggled for the working class, for the outsider, for the downtrodden. But he was too much of himself, which proved to be his undoing as he collided with scandal, poor decisions and a rocky – to say the least – relationship with the John F. Kennedy administration.

In contrast, Pearson was, Ibbitson writes, “fundamentally decent, collegial, funny at his own expense, a team player, someone people wanted to have as a friend.” Like Diefenbaker, he too was eventually brought down the way governments tend to be brought down – by one bad decision, event and scandal at a time until that government, which is to say the prime minister, defeats themselves. Same as it ever was.

The stories told in The Duel resonate today for a few a reasons. For one, the book sweeps across the history of monumental events that shaped Canada and the world and still do – events that hold a semimythical status today, much of them conflicts. The First World War, the Depression, the Balfour Report, the Statute of Westminster, the Second World War, the rise of Red China, the Avro Arrow, the advent of birth control, the Cold War, the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, women’s liberation, decolonization, Expo 67 and even Trudeaumania.

But the book also resonates because the country’s past often looks a lot like its present. A government grows tired, a prime minister becomes entrenched, scandals build up, personalities clash, the House of Commons falls into disarray and indecorous shenanigans, an upstart Conservative leader prepares to unseat an arrogant Liberal prime minister.

In other ways, the path illuminates the present by the light of contrast. Pearsonian diplomacy and foreign policy seem more than a time of respectability and consequence compared with Canada’s foreign policy – or lack thereof – today. Pearson won a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in managing the Suez Canal crisis in 1956. He took part in forming the United Nations and helped win Canada a temporary seat on the Security Council. He helped preserve the Commonwealth in such a way that the Guardian, as Ibbitson points out, wrote that Pearson was “the lifeline that held the Commonwealth together.” It’s hard to imagine that Canada is today the same country on the world stage that it once was. Because it’s not.

Ibbitson has written a book worth reading to understand not only Canada’s past, but its present. He has also done a service to the legacies of both Diefenbaker and Pearson, treating them not as dearly departed saints, but men, flawed and accomplished, fundamentally human, and bound up with one another in history for as long as we remember them and for as long as Canada remains.

Report an editorial error

Report a technical issue

Editorial code of conduct

Follow related authors and topics

• Books Follow You must be logged in to follow. Log In Create free account

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following .

Interact with The Globe

Suggested companies

Pearson vue, pearsonpte.com.

Pearson   Reviews

In the Media & Publishing category

Visit this website

Company activity See all

Write a review

Reviews 1.5.

Most relevant

Left completely in the dark

I have bought a book I cannot get access to it. I have spent hours trying to find help but end up in an endless loop of "support" pages and useless chat bots. They have my money and I get nothing in return. Instead of spending time studying, I am just clicking around in a loophole of confusing Pearson websites.

Date of experience : 23 April 2024

I order a book and I was waiting for…

I order a book and I was waiting for more than a month. I'm a student and I need the book. Since, I didn't get any notice, I called Pearson. They told me that the book hasn't been shipped because there was a mistake in my postal address, which is not true. I received an email when I ordered the book and the billing address as well as the shipping address is the same and is correct. No, one has been in touch with me and if I wouldn't have called, no one would have noticed anything. As a compensation I was offer the online book in the meantime. I was told that I would receive the book by the end of the week but it didn't. I will have to do an open book midterm exam this week without the book. The more deceiving part is that no one has told me anything at all. Overall, poor delivery service and poor customer service. I should have received a financial compensation. Therefore, I won't recommend anyone buying books from Pearson.

Date of experience : 14 April 2024

Won’t send copies of certificates to unis or employers

Universities and employers now INSIST on getting copies of certificates directly from the examination boards as certificates can now so easily be forged. On the 19th of February I made a request for 2 old exam certificates. EVERY OTHER BOARD I HAVE SAT EXAMS WITH COMPLIED IMMEDIATELY. NOT SO PEARSONS. I have sent them centre numbers, certificate numbers, candidate number, grades, my ID number for the ultimate supplier, my date of birth, inside leg measurement, eye colour, favourite meal, full list of hobbies and every other piece of information they have asked for. They have lied about sending emails and all sorts. When I phone them the promise to comply then we go back to lalaland. As of tomorrow I will lose over £6000. DO NOT TAKE EXAMS WITH PEARSONS BECAUSE IF YOU NEED EMPLOYER, FUTURE UNI OR COPIES OF CERTIFICATES LATER YOU STAND NO CHANCE. I’m going to have to get a solicitor or take them to county court and my next Google search is to ofqual to complain. INCOMPETENT.

Date of experience : 20 February 2024

Extremely disappointed at Pearson's…

Extremely disappointed at Pearson's customer service. They kept me on hold in the hope that I would receive a refund, only to take up a considerable amount of my time trying to prove my case. Even after rebooking (paying a second time), proving that I am the genuine test holder, passing the test, as well as providing proof of identity, my case was dismissed. Many companies make exceptions, when there is clear evidence to prove that a customer may have inadvertently made a mistake or an omission. Clearly, this is not the case with Pearson. This is simply another way of stealing people's money, hiding behind rigid policies as an excuse. Appalling!

Date of experience : 25 March 2024

Oh let me count the ways in which they are incompetant

Can't log in to account (have password manager- human idiot factor removed). Never received an order confirmation email, let alone an email to let me know it was on back order. Or indeed any email. And they have told me apparently my email is not actually an email ( strange, it's acted like one for the last few years to the rest of the world). Last years experience was also terrible, this time i have learned, I will never, never, never ever use them again. If I could give them no stars I would.

Date of experience : 01 February 2024

Absolute trash! IMPOSSIBLE TO USE ONLINE SERVICES. l'attivazione dei libri non funziona

l'attivazione dei libri non funziona! 40 euro di libro che funziona solo se attivato e non si attiva..penosi. book activation does not work! 40 euro book that works only when activated and does not activate..SHAMEFULL.

Date of experience : 12 March 2024

This is a SCAM.

This is a SCAM. They make you confused with all the informations, surname, middle name first name...etc, on purpose so they dont accept you when you are at the test centre. They then ask you to pay again to get more money out of you. The staffs are robotic who have no clue how to do their job and have no interest in helping you. Awful robotic phone line and ironically, they speak broken English you will struggle to understand them. I lost my money and time to get this frustration, I would give 0 star if i could. Please read these reviews and advoid this company.

Date of experience : 26 March 2024

Items never arrived

I ordered some GCSE revision flash cards on 18th February, delivery states allow 5 working days. After they didn’t arrive I messaged customer services on the chat system and they promptly replied the next day to apologise for the delay and confirmed they’d now been dispatched, quoting a delivery number. I’m still waiting (8th March) 15 working days later and still no delivery. Very disappointed as my son wanted these to help with revision and 3 weeks later still no sign. I’ve asked for a refund and will be pursuing.

Date of experience : 08 March 2024

Great service for refunding

The dutch customer service of Pearson is the best I've ever encountered. No stupid bots, just a simple email to a real person. Reaction within minutes. I bought a wrong eLearning program and instead of refunding and buying the right one afterwards, the GOAT of the costumer service just directly mailed me the secret code because the two products were around the same price. 10/10

Date of experience : 15 February 2024

Absoloutely horrible experience!

Absoloutely horrible experience! I had to wait for 3 hours to get a proctor, and still nothing happened, and support team doesn't respond to chat despite it says on the chat window that it takes 3 minutes to get a support member to chat.... The application also says you cannot access your cell phone, and must not move from the recording view, imagine sitting there waiting for 3 hours!

Date of experience : 10 March 2024

Still waiting on refund

My son purchased an online accounting book and was then told by his professor that everyone should request a refund because the school was covering the cost. After many chats and emails, he was told the refund was issued and the case was closed. Actually, the case is not closed until we actually get our money back. The refund is no where to be found and PayPal has filed a dispute on our behalf. The case isn’t closed just because you say so. Give us back our money.

Date of experience : 28 February 2024

Customer services and invoicing is a joke

I ordered books, they sent me double the order and invoiced me twice. I asked them to come and collect the books and credit me, they agreed. This has happened multiple times. They never come and they continue to hound me for the money. This has been going on for 4-5 years! Invoices have codes and jargon on so it's impossible to know what you're paying for, and when you try and contact them to try and find out it's extremely difficult. It makes paying for things so time consuming. I am going to cancel all subscriptions, but it will take me a while to find out how, perhaps that's the idea!

Date of experience : 07 March 2024

Their cancellation policy is just…

Their cancellation policy is just insane. If you miss the 14 day refund cancellation you’re locked in for the 4 month subscription. You can not just simply cancel the subscription and pay for the month after the 14 day. You just have to pay it.

Date of experience : 17 March 2024

I'm attending HVCC and accidentally bought an Ebook for a class without realizing it wasn't even needed. Called and they told me to just go online and figure out the return policy myself said they wouldn't help. Online said I have only 2 weeks to file a return yet with college ending and Christmas+new years I was too busy to file. Probably too late now the trash company probably wouldn't have even been honorable even if I did file tbh.

Date of experience : 15 December 2023

This is insane

So let me get this straight, after paying for my class I'm forced to pay $80 on top of that for an access code to the textbook, but if I want to use the Pearson app to view said textbook on the go, I must pay ANOTHER $44 for the length of my semester. F*** YOU.

Date of experience : 19 February 2024

Could have better customer service

While their customer service is definitely in need of improvement, they did eventually help me with my request. I am very grateful for that. Thank you Pearson.

Don't bother wasting your money

Asks for a decimal. I answer with a decimal. States I am wrong because the answer was apparently supposed to be a radical constant. I cannot believe I pay 90USD EVERY math class, only to be disappointed and left missing points on assignments because Pearson will not help in way shape or form. I cannot make them answer me.

Date of experience : 26 January 2024

Appalling "customer service"

Appalling "customer service". Tried to buy some books, the site said there was an issue with my card. However although no order was generated they actually did charge me! They have nearly $500 of my money. I tried the live chat "expert" who said he'd email me so I could submit my bank receipts but he didn't. I rang and they didn't seem to believe this could have even happened. She also couldn't seem to manage to transcribe my email address. Useless clowns

Date of experience : 24 January 2024

An Antiquated Scam, for $140 I Can't Even Use My Textbook

I've used several of their digital textbook and online learning platforms for college courses and wound up going to youtube or other sites to actually learn the material. This company simply should not exist. They only operate as part of the scam that is the textbook industry. Khan Academy, WikiPedia, and other open-source resource are free an plentiful. Pearson offers absolutely nothing to students or teachers.

Date of experience : 05 February 2024

Great Experience!

First of all, they were offering a discount of over thirty dollars which made it so my textbook was cheaper than amazon and because I placed it before noon, it's getting shipped out today with free shipping! Finally, I could use Apple Pay check out which I have never done online before and it was a pretty mind blowing experience to be honest. 10/10 would buy a book from Pearson directly again.

Date of experience : 12 September 2023