The article is devoted to the problem of distance education, namely training and educating under conditions of the pandemic. The issue of the coronavirus epidemic, which forced the urgent restructuring of all spheres of social life of people around the world, is addressed in the article. As a result, the problem of the global transition to distance learning under severe quarantine is becoming urgent. The author analyzes domestic and foreign pedagogical experience of distance education. Among domestic authors this problem was studied by Gorbatyuk R. M, Turanov Y. O., Rak V. I., Vdovenko I. S., Bodnar S. V., Dekusar G. G., Kuznetsova O. V., Opanasenko Ya. Foreign researchers (Amanda Morin, Berman Grace, and Dubinsky Alison) are more likely to point out that distance learning is associated with many difficulties. The aim of our study was to highlight the problem of distance learning in the quarantine period, its advantages and disadvantages over traditional learning, as well as a comparative analysis of the traditional and distance forms of educational activities. In the process of solving problems, theoretical research methods were used: analysis, systematization, classification of educational and methodological literature to substantiate the theoretical and methodological foundations of research, surveys, analysis of the products of the students’ pedagogical activities. The article presents data from the study of the groups consisting of first- and fifth-year students who studied in different periods: in the first half of 2019, when the study was in classrooms, and in the first half of 2020 during the quarantine, when the study was carried out using distance education. The data according to three criteria: academic success, students’ attendance and students’ satisfaction with the learning process were analyzed by the author. A comparative analysis of the traditional and distance learning is shown in the article. Some conclusions about the ambiguity of the impact of distance learning on different contingents of students have been made.