If you have ever started an online course without finishing it, don’t worry: you are in very good company. It is in fact the most common experience. The most cited study on the subject, published by Justin Reich and José Ruipérez-Valiente in Science in 2019, looked at MITx and HarvardX courses on edX. In 2017-2018, about 3% of participants completed their course. Among those who had paid for the certificate, the share was much higher, around half (Reich and Ruipérez-Valiente, 2019).
That 3% figure should be read with care. Many people who sign up never intended to finish: they come to take a look, watch a video, compare a few courses. It would be unfair to count all those curious visitors as failures. Still, it says something true, which anyone can check on themselves: without commitment and a method, almost nobody finishes.
The reasons for dropping out are surprisingly few, and each has its fix. Here are the six we come across most often.
“I don’t have time”
It is the reason people give most readily, and it is rarely the real one. When you signed up, the time existed: you had even pictured it quite precisely. What is actually missing is a reserved slot. A course with no set place in the week always gets pushed back, because everything else, work, family, errands, has times and deadlines.
The fix is to treat your sessions as appointments: fixed slots, written in your calendar, and a realistic pace. Ten hours a week is already a lot; twenty is almost always too many. We go into this organisation in studying 10 hours a week for a year.
The wrong level
A course that is too easy gets boring, and you end up neglecting it. A course that is too hard is discouraging, often from the very first graded assignment. The second case is by far the more common, and it almost always comes down to maths or programming: a foundation was missing, and you only noticed when you got stuck.
The fix is simple, but you have to take the time to apply it: check the prerequisites before you start. Every Atlas path shows the expected level, and some paths were designed specifically as refreshers, such as pre-university science preparation. Spending two months consolidating your foundations saves you six later.
A vague goal
“Learn data.” “Learn to code.” “Understand economics.” These goals are sincere, but they say neither what to learn, nor in what order, nor when to stop. And a vague goal has a nasty side effect: it makes every course optional. If nothing says this particular course is necessary, why not switch to another, more attractive one?
The fix is to sharpen the goal and give it a date: “be able to apply for a data analyst job next September”. Then choose an ordered path that leads there, step by step. That is exactly what the Atlas paths are for, and our quiz helps you find yours.
The mid-course slump
The first weeks are carried by enthusiasm. Then it fades, inevitably. Courses get harder, progress less visible, and the finish line looks as far away as ever. This is often when people drop off, once the first weeks are over.
To get through the slump, you need milestones that are close at hand. A specialization breaks down into courses, a course into weeks, a week into sessions: tick them off, and watch the list grow. Aim for concrete projects too, ones you can show: nothing restores motivation like seeing something real come out of your work. We talk about this in building a portfolio.
Learning alone
Learning alone means learning without classmates or a teacher. Nobody notices you are missing, nobody asks how you are getting on, nobody is waiting for you on Monday morning. It is the big difference from a classroom course, and one of the most underestimated causes of dropping out.
The fix is to recreate a little social connection around your learning. Take part in the course forums, even just to ask a simple question. Find a study partner on the same path, and check in together every week. Or, more simply, tell someone close about your goal and give them news every month. Just having to report back changes a lot.
A break that becomes quitting
A week’s holiday, a rush at work, a bout of flu: you stop, firmly intending to start again. Then a week goes by, then two, and you don’t start again. The hard part isn’t stopping, it is coming back.
The fix is to plan for the break before it happens. Our plans count forty working weeks a year, not fifty-two, precisely to leave room for these pauses. And one simple rule stops a pause from turning into quitting: never two weeks at zero. In a difficult week, do one hour, but do it.
Does paying help?
Reich and Ruipérez-Valiente’s study shows that participants who pay finish their course much more often. You might conclude that paying makes people finish. That would be jumping ahead: those who paid were probably more motivated from the start, and that motivation, more than the payment, explains their success.
A subscription is still a useful commitment, a way of telling yourself you are taking this seriously. But it replaces neither method nor organisation. To pick it at the best price, see is Coursera Plus worth it?.
In short
| Reason | Fix |
|---|---|
| No time | Fixed slots in the calendar |
| The wrong level | Check prerequisites, take a refresher |
| A vague goal | A dated goal, an ordered path |
| The mid-course slump | Short milestones, projects to show |
| Learning alone | Forum, study partner, report to someone |
| A break | Forty weeks a year, never two weeks at zero |
None of these fixes is heroic. They simply ask you to anticipate what will otherwise almost certainly happen.