Summer Planning
Breaks are important, be it a long weekend without work or summer break in just a couple of months. Left unstructured, though, breaks can lull us into procrastinating or make it more difficult to get back into our groove when their time is inevitably up. Both our leisure and our work can benefit from clear planning. When our schedules are lighter, we have the room to be more intentional about our time.
Students may not jump for joy at the notion of summer school work, but they’ll enjoy a sigh of relief when witnessing peers scramble and stress over tasks they’ve long since started and possibly even completed.
Rising sophomores and juniors
Eyeing a particular slate of courses in their high school tenure? Summer could be that slow down that makes it possible to fit in a prerequisite and turn that vision into vantage. Consider AP course volume and demand, IB HL course selection, and balancing test preparation between the last quarter of sophomore year and the start of senior year. Unless a student is an athlete looking to be recruited, rising sophomores can typically hold off on standardized testing.
Rising juniors and seniors
Upperclassmen likely have tests and college minutiae on their minds. The entire point of enduring these tests is to efficiently execute the very skills the tests assess, which are distinct from those honed in class. Practice and preparation are key, but they take time. Plan, and your next steps become easier.
For rising seniors aiming for that last credit or course bump with summer classes, be sure to properly prioritize all of the elements in your college applications and clarify the contribution of each component.
Athletes looking to be recruited
While summer may seem packed with travel team activity, it’s easy to forget the pace of fall schedules with school work, school sports, and clubs on the agenda. Make note of when college coaches expect to recruit and score preferences that help athletics and admissions align.
Summer can be sacrosanct to students, but it can still provide a much needed break and a much needed boost.
