As a student, taking classes in the summer may be the last thing on your summer to-do list, but even taking just one class will be beneficial in the long run for your course of study. There are many reasons why students may want to take summer classes, like fulfilling prerequisites to shift to a more rigorous pathway, getting ahead, catching up on credits, or even retaking a course for a better grade. Here is a list of 4 benefits for students who decide to take summer classes.
1. Get Ahead With Your Course Plan
If you already know what major you want to pursue in college, taking summer courses is vital for success. For example, if you want to study Computer Science, you want to be taking courses, like Intro to Java and AP Computer Science A. However, depending on your schedule and course load or availability at your public school, it may not work out in your favor. Not being able to get into a class could put you significantly behind in terms of your course plan. To combat this issue, taking courses at a school like LCP is a great alternative option to get ahead. In addition to being flexible with course availability, LCP offers courses that may not be offered in your public schools that would help you stand out, like AP Human Geography and Literature of Social Justice (Honors).
You can also add an Honors or AP class to position yourself as a confident candidate with high academic capacity or a course that you have interest in (but may not be directly related to your planned college major) to show well-roundedness and intellectual curiosity in general to make your college application stand out.
2. Receive Additional Help in Specific Subject Areas
If you are having trouble in a certain subject, taking classes in those subjects during the summer may be valuable. It allows you to focus on learning and mastering those difficult concepts because you are not juggling an additional 5-6 classes as you would during the school year. It is typical for students to take 1-2 courses during the summer to add to their course of study. Choosing to take classes in specific areas that you are having trouble in during the summer will help prepare you for the following school year, since you will have learned the fundamentals to build on top of the new material.
3. Establish a Daily Routine
Most students tend to be caught up in having so much leisure time during the summer that they start to lose their daily routines. This can lead to students feeling unmotivated and start to feel bored. Research shows that students lose over 2.5 months worth of learning over summer break, especially in math. This means teachers will need to spend additional time recuperating these losses, which takes away from students learning the material they need to successfully do well in the class. In order to prevent this from occurring, students can take a few classes in the summer to maintain a routine that will also keep them from feeling unstimulated.
4. Graduate Early
The idea of graduating early may seem so out of the norm for a lot of students because it was never discussed as being an option at public schools. With the help of summer classes, students can absolutely graduate early by earning enough credits to do so. Even taking one class every summer beginning the summer after 8th grade is helpful. LCP offers a variety of summer courses that you can choose from to fulfill any course requirements or get ahead in certain subjects and graduate early.