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Nine free study resources for Rwandan students, from NESA past papers to PhET simulations in Kinyarwanda, each checked on its own site, and what each is for.
For a Rwandan student, the most useful free exam resource isn't an app. It's a folder on the NESA website: real national exam papers for P6, S3 and S6, sorted by year back to 2002, free to download.
This post lists free resources that are worth a Rwandan student's time, and says plainly what each one is good for. Ground rules: I run Ganzaa, which is on the list, so I have a bias. Every claim about another product was checked on that product's own website on 4 November 2026 and is linked. Where I couldn't confirm something, I left it out. This is a guide, not a ranking: most students will use two or three of these, for different jobs.
What it is: the official past papers from NESA, which runs Rwanda's national exams. On nesa.gov.rw, open Resources, then Past Papers. The folders go year by year from 2002. The PDFs download without an account.
Good for: practising the exact format, because it is the exact exam.
Know before you start: they are PDFs, with nothing marked for you. They work best timed: sit a whole paper in the real exam time, then go through it with your notes or your teacher.
If the folders are hard to search on a phone, Ganzaa's past papers page lists 449 of these NESA papers by class, subject and year, and opens the official PDF.
What it is: elearning.reb.rw. In its own words: "The resources and course materials for all subjects taught in schools, were developed by REB and other partners." It has sections for pre-primary, primary, Ordinary Level and Advanced Level, plus one called "Syllabi and Content Distribution" and a shelf of "Students' books to Read".
Good for: knowing exactly what your syllabus covers, and reading course material written for it.
Tip: find the syllabus for your class and subject and tick off each unit as you revise it. Knowing what is in the syllabus tells you what can come up.
What it is: my site. Free lessons that follow Rwanda's competence-based curriculum (CBC), organised by class, subject and unit, from P1 to S6.
Good for: learning a unit, then practising it straight away and seeing your score.
Know before you start: the screens are in English. It needs an internet connection: there is no offline mode. And coverage is uneven: P2, P3, P5 and S5 have far fewer lessons than the other classes so far.
What it is: a nonprofit whose stated mission is "a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere". Its about page lists "840+ free courses covering core academic subjects for K-12 and early college" and says it is available "in 55+ languages". It also has Khan Academy Kids, a free app for ages 2 to 8.
Good for: going back to a topic you never really understood, such as fractions or basic algebra. In its own words, its courses are "designed to help students master key concepts and fill in any learning gaps".
Tip: its courses follow their own order, not your syllabus. Search for the topic name from your syllabus instead of starting a course from the beginning.
What it is: PhET, from the University of Colorado, makes "fun, free, interactive, research-based science and mathematics simulations" for physics, chemistry, maths, earth science and biology. They "can be run online or downloaded to your computer", and there are apps.
Some simulations have Kinyarwanda versions, for example Kubaka atome (Build an Atom), Kuringaniza inganyagaciro z'ubutabire (Balancing Chemical Equations) and Kubaka sirikwi y'amashanyarazi atisubiramo (Circuit Construction Kit: DC).
Good for: science you can't see in a textbook: atoms, circuits, forces. It is also good for teachers to put on the classroom screen.
What it is: African Storybook, whose aim is "open access to picture storybooks in the languages of Africa". Its home page counts 5,517 storybooks in 262 languages, and Kinyarwanda is one of the languages you can choose. You can "download to read offline or to print". The site is under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 licence.
Good for: early readers, P1 to P3, reading with a parent at home in Kinyarwanda or English.
What it is: Duolingo describes itself as "100% free, fun and science-based". Its course list includes French for English speakers and English for French speakers. It has no Kinyarwanda course.
Good for: ten minutes a day of vocabulary and basic grammar. It is a general language course, so for exam writing and long reading passages you still need past papers and your teacher.
What it is: Kolibri, from Learning Equality, is "free to use" and open source, and "especially designed to enable quality teaching and learning with tech but without the Internet". Content can be shared "completely offline via peer-to-peer or on an external storage device". Its Android app works on Android 6 or newer, and its library has materials "in over 173 languages".
Good for: a school with computers or tablets but a weak connection. Ganzaa doesn't work offline, so if offline is what you need, this is where I would look.
What it is: 3Blue1Brown, "mathematics with a distinct visual perspective", with lessons on linear algebra, calculus and more.
Good for: S5 and S6 students who can do the calculation but want to understand why it works. It won't replace exam practice.
| If you need | Start with |
|---|---|
| The real exam format | NESA past papers |
| What your syllabus covers | REB eLearning |
| Lessons and practice by class and unit | Ganzaa |
| A foundation topic explained from scratch | Khan Academy |
| To see a science idea move | PhET |
| Kinyarwanda storybooks for a young child | African Storybook |
| Daily French or English vocabulary | Duolingo |
| Learning at a school with no internet | Kolibri |
| Intuition for calculus or vectors | 3Blue1Brown |
An earlier review on this blog recommended an SMS learning service for students with basic phones. I couldn't confirm that it works in Rwanda today, so it's out. If you know a free basic-phone service that works on Rwandan networks, tell us and we'll check it.
Open Ganzaa's past papers, pick your class and subject, and sit last year's paper this week under real exam time. Your marks will show you which of the resources above you need next.
The 2024 and 2025 P6 maths papers tested the same skills in new forms. What the five papers contain, a 12-week plan, and where to practise free.
The 2024 and 2025 S3 maths papers shared three Section B question types. Where to find NESA S3 papers free, how each is built, and how to use them.
Ganzaa is Rwanda's online learning platform — free for individual students, with REB-aligned practice and past papers. Schools get the first term free.