For many of us, summer school is either the best way to make sure you get out in four years or the best way to get ahead. However, it can be difficult to take classes in such a condensed period of time. Most schools have summer sessions that only last 4-6 weeks! That means that you’re either doing a quarter or a semester’s worth of work in a short time period. While it’s not always easy, it’s definitely doable. We’ve collected seven excellent tips to ace summer school below.
#1: Look on Rate My Professors First
Sometimes you don’t have the choice regarding which class you’ll take. Whether it’s because of what they’re offering or what your degree requires, it happens. However, if there are two professors teaching the same class, you definitely want to get ahead of it and make sure you have the easier/better professor. There’s no better way to do this than Rate My Professors. Like I mention in this article, your professor can make or break your experience with the class (and your grade). It’s best to do this either before you choose the class in the first place or before the add/drop deadline so that you can still switch.
As a personal anecdote, I once had to take a summer school class for my teaching credential program. SDSU (my college) offered the course once each summer session with two different teachers. One had a high difficulty rating on Rate My Professors. One didn’t. I chose the latter, and my summer school experience got a lot easier.
#2: Read Your Syllabus Thoroughly
If you have the means, I suggest printing your syllabus out and highlighting it. What I like to do is go through all of the important dates and assignments and make those super apparent to myself. As I mention in #4, it also helps to write these down in a planner or on a calendar. If you only have your syllabus online, I still suggest downloading it and highlighting those important pieces.
This is important for a few reasons. First, you know what you got into. You’re able to mentally prepare ahead of time and budget your time. Second, you’re able to drop before the add/drop deadline if it looks like it’s going to be too much. Sometimes, it’s just not the right time for a class due to other commitments. That’s fine, and it’s best to know sooner rather than later. Third, you can get a feel for the professor’s style. Are they straightforward? Do they seem like they’ll be easy, or do they seem like they have crazy high expectations? This can help you to frame your writing going forward. Finally, you won’t get blindsided by anything. You’ll know exactly how many points each assignment is worth and which assignments will fall on busy weeks for you. This will be great help for you, especially as the grades come in.
#3: Make a Group Chat ASAP
In college, group chats save your life. Whether it’s getting info on what people are doing academically or simply having people to rant with, group chats are fantastic. Most importantly, group chats allow you to connect with other people and understand if they’re going through the same things that you are. Are you struggling on that one stats problem? Maybe someone in your group chat is a stats master, or maybe everyone else is struggling and it’s the perfect opportunity to make a study group. Whatever the case, group chats help to build community and create resources for you to easily access. Especially with asynchronous summer school classes, this could end up saving you.
#4: Get Organized!
Do you have a binder? Folders dedicated to your work? Some sort of system to keep track of what goes where?
It might sound elementary, but it helps significantly. If you organize into different sections like your syllabus, projects, and homework, or various weeks, it can help you to get everything on track. By doing this, it’ll make it easier to find everything and know when everything is due. You won’t have to go through the hassle of finding which project is where. Instead, it’ll all be in one system.
If you’re a printed-out sort of person, it’s easy to physically organize all of your papers and projects into various compartments. My favorite idea is using a color-coding system to determine what type of assignment each paper is and when it is due. For example, I would put all homework (dated) in one section, projects in another, and papers or tests in a third. If I was taking two summer classes, I would then put those in another section. If I was doing it online, I would do the same thing with virtual folders, organizing it based off of class and type of assignment. This might sound straightforward, but it definitely helps you ace summer school.
#5: Make Due Dates for Yourself (and stick to them!)
While the course and the professor will likely assign you due dates, it helps to assign yourself dates to complete assignments as well. They don’t know what works for you, and you’re the only one who truly does.
For this reason, it helps to pull out a calendar and pencil in some dates you want things done by. If you have an assignment that’s due on June 20th but you know that you have a vacation planned from the 18th to the 20th, give yourself a due date of the 17th. By writing this down, seeing it on paper with all of your other commitments, and visualizing how your time will be spent, you’ll be much more efficient. It’s also a great opportunity to practice willpower!
#6: Start on Big Projects Early
This is the bane of everyone’s existence when it comes to summer school projects. Professors love to assign big projects. From their perspective, it’s much easier and more efficient to grade projects (aka summative learning) than more smaller assignments throughout the course (aka formative learning). However, these assignments aren’t always created equally. For this reason, after you review your syllabus, it’s important to plan out your big assignments.
First, you should read over the requirements. What is it asking you to do? Are you going to need to team up with other people, or is it an individual project? Will you need to collect data or perform a task over a period of time? Can it be done in a few days, or does it need to be done in increments? Are there check-in points that you’ll have to meet? These are just a few of the questions you should ask yourself to be prepared and have less stress on you toward the end of the summer session.
The same holds true for midterms and finals. Don’t wait until the end to cram! Be organized and start preparing materials early. Your future self will thank you.
#7: Don’t Be Afraid to Reach Out to Professors
While many of us have a natural inclination to avoid conflict or to let others enjoy their summer, the fact is that professors are there to help you. As a teacher, even when I don’t particularly feel like responding to an email, I know that it’s my job to assist others, and that’s why I got into education. Professors have the same obligation, and if they don’t feel like responding to something, they will simply do it at a later time.
With that being said, it is incredibly important to reach out to professors when you’re struggling or when there’s a shadow of doubt about something. In summer school, many classes are out of fewer points, which means that each point is worth a bit more. You want to salvage every point that you can! Professors are people too, which means that they make mistakes on grading/creating assignments every now and then. If you keep your eyes open and you’re not afraid to advocate for yourself, you can usually get some of those precious points back.
A Final Word
Summer school is rarely fun, and it’s often a ton of work. With these tips, however, you’re sure to succeed, achieve your goals, and shoot for your dreams!
