While many students would love to spend the ten weeks of summer out on the pool deck, tubing in the lake or road-tripping across the country, there is an increasing pressure to use this time with a much more challenging activity: studying.

After June 14, the term ‘studying’ is far from what students are thinking about; for some, the idea of studying may have disappeared months before June. While the idea of spending summer vacation enjoying the nice weather and free time, there is also the option to take advantage of this time and study for standardized tests or involve yourself in other studies.

It is important to enjoy summer because students have endured 9 months of waking up early and staying at school for seven hours, five times a week. A break is essential to keep the mind rested and every student is deserving of this much-needed vacation. Summer vacation is intended for students get a break from the books. It is not healthy to pull out the study books on June 15 and live in the library during the best season of the year.  

However, there is also the option to capitalize on this time doing something that will benefit your future. ACT and SAT preparation classes are popular over the summer and they are offered almost every week at different locations around the community. In addition to preparing for standardized tests, taking the tests are also a good way to stay educationally involved over the summer.

Many classes also have summer assignments. In my experience, it is best not to leave all of these assignments for the night before the first day of school, but rather to do a few tasks over the duration of break. Though they can be time-consuming and feel useless, these assignments make sure we are prepared to dive back into school in September.

As a rising senior, it is crucial to have your future on your mind over break. It is the last chance to take the ACT or SAT again and improve your score. Studying for a few hours a week and increasing your score by a few points could be the determining factor of getting accepted into your dream school. The beginning of the school year will be overloaded with getting everything together for college applications. The time will be much more difficult if there is no planning that occurs over the summer. College application time is difficult enough so I suggest planning in advance to make this time easier for yourself.

Studying is indeed a good use of time over the summer. After all, you can only go swimming, tanning and boating so many times before it starts to get boring over the duration of 10 weeks. Like everything in life, a balance is essential. Spending every waking hour in the library is not beneficial, but neither is not opening a single book over the summer.