Crash Course Biology: study plan and how long it takes
The CrashCourse playlist is 51 videos and 10.8 hours long. Here's how long it takes at different paces, a week-by-week schedule built from the real videos, and a planner that turns it into your own daily plan.
51 videos · 10.8 hours · CrashCourse
The newer Crash Course Biology series covers ecology and conservation, evolution and speciation, biological molecules, cells and cell communication, genetics, meiosis, DNA, RNA and protein synthesis, bioinformatics, and the human body's systems and defences.
Each episode is around 12 to 15 minutes, which makes it easy to fit one or two into a day.
Who it's for: High-school students and anyone revising introductory biology.
How long does it take?
The full playlist is 10.8 hours across 51 videos. Here's roughly how many days that is at different daily watch times and speeds, counting video time only:
| Daily time | At 1x | At 1.5x | At 2x |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 min a day | 22 days | 15 days | 11 days |
| 1 h a day | 11 days | 8 days | 6 days |
| 2 h a day | 6 days | 4 days | 3 days |
Make your own schedule
The playlist link is already filled in. Press Plan, set how much time you have each day and your speed, and you'll get a day-by-day schedule with a finish date and a calendar file. It reads the live playlist, so new videos are included.
Week-by-week schedule
A sample plan at 1 hour a day and normal speed, using whole videos so none is split across days. That's 2 weeks in total. For a different pace, start date or speed, use the planner above.
Week 1Videos 1–29 · 6h 19m
Day 1 · 1h
- 1Crash Course Biology Preview4m
- 2Introduction to Biology: Crash Course Biology #113m
- 3The Scientific Method: Crash Course Biology #215m
- 4What Biologists Do: Crash Course Biology #313m
- 5How Life is Organized: Crash Course Biology #414m
Day 2 · 57m
- 6Intro to Ecology: Why Did All These Elephants Die?: Crash Course Biology #514m
- 7Community Ecology: Interspecies Interactions: Crash Course Biology #615m
- 8Population Ecology: How We Saved the Bald Eagle: Crash Course Biology #714m
- 9What is Climate Change?: Crash Course Biology #814m
Day 3 · 53m
- 10The Effects of Climate Change: Crash Course Biology #912m
- 11Conservation Biology: Sixth Mass Extinction?: Crash Course Biology #1014m
- 12Intro to Evolution: What We Can Learn From a Giraffe's Neck: Crash Course Biology #1114m
- 13Microevolution: What's An Allele Got to Do With It?: Crash Course Biology #1213m
Day 4 · 52m
- 14Natural Selection: Life's Way of Stayin' Alive: Crash Course Biology #1313m
- 15Population Genetics: Why do we have different skin colors?: Crash Course Biology #1413m
- 16Speciation: Where Do Species Come From?: Crash Course Biology #1513m
- 17Evolutionary History: The Timeline of Life: Crash Course Biology #1613m
Day 5 · 54m
- 18Phylogeny: How We're All Related: Crash Course Biology #1714m
- 19Biological Diversity, Butts, and the Tree of Life: Crash Course Biology #1813m
- 20Human Evolution: We Didn't Evolve From Chimps: Crash Course Biology #1913m
- 21Carbon & Biological Molecules: What is Life Made Of?: Crash Course Biology #2014m
Day 6 · 53m
- 22The Unexpected Truth About Water: Crash Course Biology #2113m
- 23Microscopes: How We See What We Can't See: Crash Course Biology #2213m
- 24A Tour of the Cell: Crash Course Biology #2314m
- 25Cell Membranes: How Does Stuff Get Into Your Cells?: Crash Course Biology #2413m
Day 7 · 52m
- 26Why Do Cells Need to Communicate?: Crash Course Biology #2511m
- 27Chemical Reactions in Biology: Crash Course Biology #2613m
- 28Cellular Respiration: Do Cells Breathe?: Crash Course Biology #2714m
- 29Photosynthesis: The Original Solar Power: Crash Course Biology #2813m
Week 2Videos 30–51 · 4h 29m
Day 8 · 48m
- 30Mitosis & the Cell Cycle: How Cells Clone Themselves: Crash Course Biology #2911m
- 31Meiosis: Why Are All Humans Unique?: Crash Course Biology #3013m
- 32Intro to Genetics: Why Your Cat Looks Like That: Crash Course Biology #3112m
- 33Genetic Traits: Nature? Nurture? Not That Simple: Crash Course Biology #3213m
Day 9 · 50m
- 34DNA Structure & Replication: Our Instruction Manual for Existing: Crash Course Biology #3313m
- 35Transcription: How mRNA Helped Save Lives: Crash Course Biology #3412m
- 36Translation: How RNA Gets Translated into Protein Power: Crash Course Biology #3513m
- 37How Genes Express Themselves: Crash Course Biology #3612m
Day 10 · 48m
- 38Genetic Mutations: Is Drinking Milk a Super Power?: Crash Course Biology #3713m
- 39Bacterial DNA & Genetics: Crash Course Biology #3810m
- 40Viruses & Vaccines: How Do Vaccines Work?: Crash Course Biology 3913m
- 41Bioinformatics: How Data Saves Lives: Crash Course Biology #4011m
Day 11 · 51m
- 42Multicellular Function: Why We Aren’t Just One Big Cell: Crash Course Biology #4113m
- 43Plant Anatomy & Physiology: Plants Are Hardcore: Crash Course Biology #4213m
- 44How Animals Turn Resources Into Waste: The Poop Episode: Crash Course Biology #4312m
- 45Animal Infrastructure: Why You’re More Than Goo: Crash Course Biology #4412m
Day 12 · 1h
- 46Animal Defense Systems: How Skin, Snot, and Cells Keep Us Healthy: Crash Course Biology #4512m
- 47Nervous & Endocrine Systems: What Really Happens When You Step on a Lego: Crash Course Biology #4610m
- 48Sexual & Asexual Reproduction: How Animals Do It: Crash Course Biology #4712m
- 49Gender, Sex, & Sexuality: What’s the Difference?: Crash Course Biology #4814m
- 50Animal Behavior: Why This Toad Is Bad at Jumping: Crash Course Biology #4912m
Day 13 · 12m
- 51Biology and You: The Dr. Sammy Show: Crash Course Biology #5012m
Tips for finishing
- Match episodes to your syllabus with the planner's From and To fields.
- Draw the processes yourself (meiosis, transcription, translation) after each related episode.