Hi there. In this education post I have notes about summer semester for students.
Summer Semester For High School Students
In the Toronto area and in my province of Ontario, high school students have July and August off for summer break. Many students take these two months off as a break, summer work and/or vacation. There are students from grade 9, 10 and 11 who do take summer school at their high school. Summer school is used for either for catching up due to a failed course or for taking a certain course ahead of schedule. Those who take summer school to get ahead take at least one summer course to have a lighter course load in the upcoming Fall semester in September.
From what I have heard summer school courses in high school are faster. This is because a summer semester for high school is around two months compared to the regular high school semester of around four to five months. There is more content delivered at a faster pace in a summer semester course. This fast pace could scare some students from taking summer school. Those who have failed a course may choose to retake a course in the next school year instead of the summer.
University/College Students Summer Semester
In my province and maybe in Canadian universities the summer semester is four months from May to August. This length of four months is the same as a Fall semester from September to December and a Winter Semester from January to April. Enrollment in courses during the summer are not as high compared to the Fall & Winter but there can still be hundreds of students on campus.
Those who take summer semester courses are either students who are recovering from a failed course, students who wish to get ahead by taking a course to lighten their course load for next semester or those who have to take summer courses for their school program as they had co-op work terms or internships from the last semester or two.
Tradeoff In Summer Learning
Being a student in the summer does have its pros and cons. The advantages of summer learning include:
- Smaller class sizes
- Less busy campus
- Getting ahead and lighter courseload for next semester
The bad parts of summer learning would be:
- No vacation
- Can be hard to learn when there is sunshine and friends are on break
- Possible burnout from previous semester or work
The disadvantage of no vacation may not be a bad one. If a student has no vacation plans then the time might as well be spent on something productive in the form of summer school.
When I was younger I did do two courses in the summer. I did this to lighten my courseload from 5 courses in each of the two semesters into 4 courses for each semester. At the time I did feel a difference between having 4 courses versus 5 courses. Having less in-person class time for one course does feel nice and your schedule is a little more open for extra studying and free time.
