Hello everyone!
Today I am going to be talking about the best ways to keep yourself in the best learning mindset possible during summer. This can be helpful if you are taking summer school (especially online classes like me!), studying for standardized tests like the SAT or ACT, doing some other academic activity, or just trying to maintain all your knowledge from the previous school year. There’s too much misinformation about how you should be spending your summer out there- yes, it’s recommended you do something productive such as classes or programs or volunteering, and yes, it’s important for you to relax and have fun. Therefore, there needs to be a balance achieved; by staying motivated and being positive, you can get all of your work done and still have time to have an amazing summer!
The first couple things I’ll mention I’ve talked about in other school and advice related posts before, and that’s just because they’re so important and applicable to different situations: make lists/schedules for yourself and start working earlier in the day! Making to-do lists and organizing your time will hold you responsible for completing certain tasks within a timeframe and it will also help you remember what actually needs to get done. Block out certain amounts of time to work on whatever schoolwork or other necessary tasks you have and stick to that schedule unless something else important that can’t be rescheduled comes up. Factor in time for hanging out with friends, sports practices, and other random things like orthodontist appointments (for example!) or whatever you may have on your plate additionally. If you’re a morning person and/or your mornings are free, START YOUR WORK THEN! I cannot stress this enough; as long as it’s not too early, your brain functions better earlier in the day. Also, if you complete your work for the day or fulfill the time you scheduled to spend on it before the afternoon, you have the entire rest of the day to do whatever you want!
Another way to keep your brain in good shape while not burning yourself out is to use phone apps that teach you something while keeping it fun and interesting. I take Spanish in school (and really enjoy it!) and I wanted to keep my skills consistent throughout summer, so I’ve been using Duolingo from time to time. It’s super easy and it’s free so I would really recommend it for anyone trying to brush up on a language or wanting to learn a new language casually/for fun. Beyond language-learning apps, there are tons of brain games apps that are meant to strengthen your brain or other apps that are geared towards different subjects. Just check out the App Store in the Education section and you’ll find something stimulating!
If you have required summer work for school, try your best not to leave it until the last few days of summer. This will end up stressing you out so much more in the end. Especially with summer reading, you may even find yourself enjoying it if you start early and have plenty of time to relax and really understand the story. Try rewarding yourself for amounts of work you’ve accomplished, like going to get your favorite food after you finish a certain amount of chapters. I once saw something on Instagram where a girl placed individual pieces of candy at different paragraphs in a textbook; when she read up to that point, she could eat the piece of candy. If you’re disciplined enough to stick to something like that, it can be a sweet reward (literally!) and keep you going just as well.
Studying for standardized tests can be grueling and stressful; I haven’t fully experienced it myself yet, but I still understand the process based on my AP test, talking to people at my school who have already taken the SAT/ACT, and watching tons of videos/doing lots of research on studying for the dreaded tests. If you’re trying to raise your score and studying over summer, it definitely might be hard for you to keep working at it when you could easily be out having fun. However, there are still ways to make it a bit easier and turn it into a sort of game; if you stay positive and view studying like this, you will be much more motivated and you will most likely see better results! My first suggestion would be to again use apps- there are some that can give you a couple practice questions a day on the go. I use the official Daily Practice for the SAT app by the College Board, and the SAT: Practice, Prep, Flashcards app by Varsity Tutors. Both have quite a few features that can help you get quick studying in no matter where you are, but I’ve only used them for their daily questions.
My second suggestion for standardized test studying would be to do it with friends and form some sort of game (a competitive one would be great!) to measure results and keep engagement levels high. You’re most likely not going through this alone- hundreds of thousands of other high schoolers are in your position right now. You’d probably rather be with your friends than studying, so why not combine the two? You could form a Jeopardy game or something fun of that nature, but if you’re not feeling creative just quizzing each other works wonders as well. Bring lots of good snacks and have a full on study session- once you’re done, you guys can reward yourselves with a fun activity of your choosing.
I hope you enjoyed these tips and ideas on how to stay motivated and keep up the hard work during summer! To sum it all up: plan your time well, utilize apps and technology, and study with friends to stay engaged and as productive as possible. Let me know if you have any other ideas or if you would like more content similar to this- I’m definitely open to exploring tons of different topics on this blog.
-Brooke
adventures of a typical high school student 