Kognity

Kognity is an interactive teaching and learning platform for secondary schools, built around digital textbooks for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB DP), the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP), Cambridge IGCSE and science aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). It sits between a school product and a learner product: schools buy it, teachers assign and track work in it, and students use it as their textbook and practice space in class and at home. The homepage says it is "trusted by 2,000+ schools," present in more than 130 countries, and has helped more than 1,000,000 teachers and students.

The IB connection

The IB DP product page calls Kognity "the IB's only digital-first publishing partner," trusted by "1 in 3 IB schools worldwide." Kognity says it has co-published resources with the IB for the latest DP Psychology, Environmental Systems and Societies, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Business Management syllabuses, and that materials in those subjects carry the IB's own review and approval. For an IB coordinator, that is the main selling point: alignment with the current subject guide is built into how the content is written.

What teachers and students get

Every subscription bundles the same core pieces, which the pricing page lists as:

• Expert-authored content. Ready-to-use resources written by subject specialists. The DP page introduces a panel of contributors, many of them IB examiners and workshop leaders, including lead authors for DP Biology and English A. Kognity says its authors use AI-assisted authoring workflows, with human subject-expert review a mandatory step at every stage.
• Real-time insights. Teachers track engagement and performance as it happens, at student and class level, so they know where to step in. Coordinators and department heads can use the same data to follow program-wide patterns, and analytics are included rather than sold as an add-on.
• Auto-graded assignments. Teachers build differentiated, auto-correcting assignments "in a few clicks," and students get instant feedback.
• Built-in accessibility tools. The homepage mentions built-in translation, text-to-speech and reading assistance, so students can adapt the material to their needs.
• Partnership. Support and professional development for teachers whenever a team needs them.

For students, the DP product adds a Practice Centre for independent study and exam practice. The FAQ argues that "Genuine IB DP exam readiness requires students to practice retrieving, applying, and structuring knowledge under exam conditions," and the Practice Centre is built for that, with IB-aligned exam practice and auto-corrected questions in the IB's assessment format. Teachers can draw on a bank of more than 10,000 IB-aligned questions. The interactive textbook, a student notebook, highlighter tools and the Practice Centre are self-paced and work on any device, which Kognity pitches at international schools whose students study from home, go on exchange or miss school through illness.

Because the content is digital, it changes when the syllabus does. The FAQ says updates during the subscription period come at no additional cost, so a school does not buy new textbooks when the IB revises a subject guide.

Curricula covered

• IB Diploma Programme. Interactive textbooks across the subject groups, from the Theory of Knowledge core through Language and Literature, Language Acquisition, Individuals and Societies, Sciences and Mathematics. The FAQ says Kognity gives "full coverage of the latest syllabuses for the most popular IB DP subjects, across all subject groups." Subjects shown include Biology, Business Management, Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics and English A.
• IB Middle Years Programme. The newest product, "Available from August 2026, starting with Integrated Sciences for years 4 and 5." It gives MYP teachers a curriculum-aligned starting point with units scoped, concepts mapped and assessments structured. ATL (approaches to learning) skills are tagged to activities and tied to assessment criteria, assessments are mapped to MYP criteria and build toward summative evaluation, and the content is written for students to use on their own. Kognity presents it as a smoother path into the DP.
• Cambridge IGCSE. Interactive content with real-time progress insights.
• NGSS science. Interactive, NGSS-aligned content with embedded teacher guidance and blended learning resources, sold as Kognity for High School Science.

Integrations and setup

Kognity integrates directly with ManageBac, Google Classroom and Toddle, so teachers can fold it into the class management and planning tools they already use. It also partners with Edlink, which the DP page says enables integrations with more than 50 learning management systems and other tools. Classes and student accounts are set up through those integrations or a simple Excel upload.

Pricing and trial

Kognity sells only to schools, school groups and districts. The pricing FAQ answers "No" to selling to individual students or parents, and says tutors should ask whether it suits a larger group. Kognity is "priced per student, per year, with teacher access always included at no additional cost." One subscription covers the full library of IB DP subjects, and all features, from the interactive textbooks and Practice Centre to assessment, analytics and the ManageBac, Google Classroom and Toddle integrations, are included. The site publishes no price list; a school requests a demo, and the team discusses its context and gives tailored pricing that scales with enrollment.

There is a 30-day free trial of each of three products: Kognity for IB DP, for Cambridge IGCSE and for High School Science. A free product demo with a Kognity expert is also available. The FAQ confirms that Kognity works with US schools and districts as well as international schools.

What teachers report

The homepage quotes survey figures from its users: 90% of students would recommend Kognity, 86% of teachers report saving at least 5 hours a week on lesson preparation and grading, 92% of teachers believe it improves student achievement, 9 out of 10 say students are better prepared for end-of-year exams, and 90% say it reduces work-related stress. The DP FAQ says IB DP teachers save up to 10 hours a week on lesson preparation.

Teacher testimonials echo this. A history teacher and IB coordinator in Japan writes that "Kognity does much more than a textbook. It's a hugely powerful resource." An IB coordinator in the US says "The fact that the books update when a curriculum changes saves a great deal of time and money." A biology teacher at Taunton School in the UK, looking back on 40 years of teaching, rates it as the finest teaching aid he has used, and a district curriculum specialist at Rapides High School reports that "The teachers who utilized Kognity's resources saw an improvement in student engagement, understanding, and assessments."

Who it suits

Kognity suits IB World Schools above all, particularly those teaching the DP sciences, psychology or business management, where its resources are co-published with the IB, and schools that want every teacher in a department working from the same up-to-date material. MYP schools teaching Integrated Sciences in years 4 and 5 get a structured starting point from August 2026. Cambridge IGCSE schools and US high schools teaching NGSS science are covered too, and schools that already run ManageBac, Google Classroom or Toddle can plug it in.

It fits less well outside those frameworks, for a family looking to buy a course for one child, since Kognity sells only to schools and districts, or for a tutor working alone. MYP coverage is starting with one subject area, so a school wanting the full MYP range will be adopting it as it grows.