“My spring semester is done! The school year is finally over! Yay!”
Your celebration might be somewhat less celebratory if your spring semester wasn’t great. Maybe your spring report card was downright depressing; maybe you entered AP exam season totally under-prepared; or maybe the entire semester was Just. Too. Hard.
Summer is a great time to take a breather and regroup. We’ve got some summer tips to help you make sure that your next school year goes better than this one!
Review Your Upcoming Course Schedule
For a lot of students, the semester can really stink if the course load is just too heavy. There’s a lot of pressure to take umpteen bajillion AP classes every semester because, hey, that’s what colleges want, right? It’s true that top colleges expect students to take a full load of rigorous courses. But overloading yourself can have repercussions. If your grades suffer, you have no life, and you forget what the inside of your eyelids look like, it isn’t going to do you any good in the long run.
Your course load should be about balance. You need to find the right balance between rigorous AP courses, maintaining high grades, and still having a life that includes adequate sleep. Striking this balance can sometimes require a bit of trial and error. If last semester was awful because you overloaded on AP courses, that was your trial and error. Don’t make the same mistake this fall.
Prepare for Tough Classes Ahead of Time
AP classes are undeniably difficult, but they certainly aren’t impossible, especially if you prepare ahead of time. The most successful AP students are those who take advantage of the summer to review for those upcoming AP classes. You can do this on your own with the help of a good AP prep book, or you can come to C2 Education where we’ve developed our Summer Boot Camp, a four-week intensive review of an upcoming AP subject. If you start the school year ahead, it’s a lot easier to keep up throughout the rest of the class.
Get Test Prep Out of the Way
Balancing tough classes, good grades, extracurricular activities, social obligations, and sleep is hard enough. Now throw SAT or ACT prep into the mix. Get your SAT or ACT prep out of the way during the summer. That way you have one less thing to worry about during the school year. Plenty of students do their own test prep, and we’ve got plenty of advice to help you design your own SAT or ACT prep program at home. If you think you need more structure, visit your local C2 Education center to design a fully customized program or inquire about our Summer SAT Camps or our Summer ACT Camps. These summer boot camps are 4-week intensive test prep programs designed to help you maximize your scores in a short period of time.
Plan Ahead
A good school year requires a good plan. By planning ahead, you can make sure to set realistic goals for each step of your high school career so that you can earn admission at your dream college. We’ll be releasing some great resources to help you plan out each semester. Be sure to sign up for the C2 newsletter so you know when they’re available. Our local C2 Education centers off free one-hour college planning sessions to help you build a customized strategic path to college.
