Don’t be fooled, summer school is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. In fact, it will really benefit you in the long run and help make your college trek as a Buff less stressful!
If you’re taking classes this summer, here’s some advice on how to prepare and make the most out of your Summer Session.
Get your more difficult classes out of the way
Many students will take more difficult courses over the summer in order to make their school years a lot less stressful. Sarah Williams, a CU junior, took Organic Chemistry 2 over the summer because she knew that the class was going to be a heavy workload and she did not want to overwhelm herself during the school year. “I took one class over the summer my sophomore year. Honestly it was the best idea that I’ve ever had. I definitely recommend saving one or two classes for the summer if you know you’d struggle with being overwhelmed,” says Williams.
Pay close attention
The Summer Session moves at a quicker pace, since it is an entire semester’s worth of material compressed into a few weeks. “My best advice is to make sure you really pay attention to what is being taught. There’s only a week or so between exams so you learn a lot of information very quickly,” says Williams.
Williams also recommends setting aside 30 minutes a day to make new friends and connect virtually with classmates to study, since the Summer Session can be difficult if you are taking a challenging course. Message your classmates through Canvas and set up a regular time to meet on a virtual meeting platform, like Zoom or Google Hangouts. You can share resources and material with Google Drive, Docs, Sheets and other Google suite tools.
Enjoy your summer
“Try to still find time to do fun things, because summer is still supposed to be a break!” says CU junior Grace Clarke. Grace is correct! Summer should still be a time to relax, destress and enjoy yourself. Even if you are taking summer classes, there is still plenty of time to soak up the sun and enjoy lots of fun-filled summer activities!
