Winding Down for the Summer School Holidays

So you’ve finally finished your exams? You probably heaved a sigh of relief as you left the exam room. You almost certainly imagined the celebration and fun you were free to enjoy with your friends now. You may even have entertained fantasies of deleting and burning course notes!

Whilst all of these reactions are normal and understandable, it is worth thinking about some steps you could take before and during the summer break to make the start of next year as easy and as smooth as possible. The quieter period after exams is perfect for laying down some groundwork.

Don’t worry, I don’t recommend doing any actual work during summer unless you have a lot of catching up to do for next year. However, taking the time now to reflect on your school year, revision methods and exam performance while it’s fresh in your mind is the most effective way to learn from any recurring mistakes that are holding you back.

Don’t lose these valuable lessons by jumping headfirst into the summer celebrations prematurely!

What Can You Do Before the Summer?

1. Reflection Exercises

There are some post-exam tips which you may find helpful. It is a good idea to jot down your experience of the exams in a notebook or an online document reserved for this purpose.

These do not have to be detailed notes (you’ve probably done a lot of them during revision!). They are mainly for your eyes only, so as long as you can understand them when you look back at them, that’s all that matters. It can be useful to consider:

• Did I answer all the questions required in the time provided? Do I need to work on exam timing? 
• Did I have a strategy for the exam to maximise my marks? Did I stick to it?
• Did I have enough understanding of the questions? Did I have enough to say? 
• Did I suffer from nerves? Did I prepare physically and psychologically for the exams?
• How do I feel about the subject now? Is it likely to form part of my future studies? 
• Do I have a clear idea of the areas in which I have the most enjoyment and understanding?
• Was my revision sufficient? Did I start revising early enough to cover what I needed?
• Was my revision effective? Did I perform well in the areas I revised the most?
• Did I make a revision schedule that helped manage my time and workload?
• Had I looked at the mark schemes from previous years to get an idea of what the examiners were looking for? 
• Did I understand the Assessment Objectives and marks for each question and how they were weighted?

Your school teacher or an online tutor can help unpack your answers to these questions and suggest some steps and achievable goals to set for next year. They deal with dozens of students in your position every year and should be eager to pass on their wisdom, should you know how to ask the right questions!

2. Track Your Topic Progress

This is especially relevant if you are in a year between major exams (eg, Year 9 and 10 before GCSEs or Year 12 for A-Levels). It’s a good idea to look back through your notes from the year on what you have covered so far and what will come next year.

Compare this with the overall GCSE or A-Level specification for each of your subjects - ideally found on the website of the same exam board you will be studying next year. Asking your teacher may be the best way to do this. Ticking off each topic you know really well can feel really motivating!

This is a great habit to get into during the school year, too. As you learn new content in class next year, the teacher has to move on with the general pace of the class. If something is not quite clicking with understanding a topic, make a note in a study journal or revision plan for next year. For students in Year 11 and below, Sherpa has its own topic tracking revision planning tool that does this for you, helping you prioritise those gaps in learning.

After a revision period and exams, you will have fresh insight into what topics you don’t quite understand fully or which ones worry you most about getting in an exam. Don’t worry, it’s natural to have these learning gaps - make a note of them, so they can give them some extra attention before the final exams. Most students forget all about these gaps over the summer until they start revising just before their next exams!

3. Set Some Achievable Academic Goals

Starting next year with achievable goals that you put in place now will help get you focused and motivated when the summer comes to an end. The key to making achievable goals is using the SMART method to personalise them to the individual. It’s easier than you think to overestimate what you can and actually will be able to do, which results in frustration when you don’t achieve your goals. 

No one is suggesting that you throw yourself back into a punishing revision schedule! It might be of use, though, to consider setting SMART goals along these lines:

Task: Evaluate my exam preparation and performance.

SMART Goal: By the end of June, I will write a one-page reflection on how I revised for each subject, what worked well, what didn’t, and how I felt during each exam, so I can identify at least three specific strategies to improve next year.

Task: Seek feedback on areas for improvement.

SMART Goal: Before the end of term, I will email or speak to at least three subject teachers to ask for feedback on my exam performance and identify one key area of improvement for each subject.

Task: Prepare a list of resources with which to familiarise myself before next term.

SMART Goal: By mid-July, I will create a list of at least five textbooks, websites, or tools for each of my subjects that I can review or explore for 30 minutes a week during the summer to get ahead for the next academic year.

Task: Research subject-related events and destinations to visit during the holiday.

SMART Goal: By the start of the school holidays, I will identify and plan to visit at least one museum, exhibition, university open day, or local event related to one of my subjects to stay inspired and engaged.

Task: Organise my notes in line with what will be needed for next term.

SMART Goal: By the end of July, I will spend one day per subject sorting and filing this year’s notes, highlighting key concepts I struggled with, and creating a folder or system ready for new material next term.

Task: Find books, documentaries, podcasts, etc. that make me remember why I was interested in my chosen subjects in the first place!

SMART Goal: Over the summer holidays, I will choose at least one book, one documentary, and one podcast episode related to my favourite subject and spend an hour each week engaging with them to stay motivated and inspired.

Keep these goals in a document or app that you can keep with you to ensure they remain a priority among any other plans you may have. If they are truly achievable, they shouldn’t feel like too much of a chore!

Consider online tutoring sessions over the holidays to fill in any knowledge gaps from the previous term, or to have a sounding board for evaluation and planning and get tailored advice on how to study and revise effectively.

What Can You Do During the Summer?

Now that you have set your goals during term time, they will accurately reflect any improvements that you, yourself, have decided to make before next year begins. You can imagine how different your goals might be when setting them at the end of July!

1. Learning Around Your Subjects

The summer break can be a great time to look at your chosen subjects for future study in a different light. For example, if you have been studying and taking exams in English Literature, you may have become rather tired of your set texts and the seemingly endless dissection and analysis you have performed on them! 

The summer holidays can be a good time to rediscover the love and passion you have for books and reading. Perhaps you could read other works by the same author, works in a similar genre, critical or historical evaluations of the authors or time period studied and even books that have nothing to do with your course directly but which interest you.

If you plan on going to university, a great summer activity is to start an extracurricular blog or build a webpage where you can journal and write about your own ideas and opinions around your favourite subject. This deepens your understanding outside of school and helps draw inspiration from sources you wouldn’t learn about in school. It’s also great for standing out in your UCAS application!

Whichever you choose, the key to this is to be guided by your own pure interest and enjoyment. You never know, the book you pick up in the summer to read on holiday could unlock a whole new way of approaching your studies, a passion for a specific genre or a new favourite inspirational quote.

All of this extra knowledge could even be related to an answer you will give in future university interviews that will seal the deal for you! Even right after GCSEs, there's no harm in researching the right university for your current goals and choosing activities related to what kind of research their departments may specialise in.

For those of you who are lucky enough to be going on holiday, consider looking up what may be on in the area you are visiting that may be relevant to your subjects. Even in your home town there are likely to be cultural and educational experiences on offer. You may want to research the following:

● Theatres

● Museums

● Art galleries

● Summer courses

● University open days

● Cinemas

● TV listings

● Podcasts

● Workshops

● Lectures

● Famous landmarks

It is very likely that there will be something of interest to you even if it seems to be at a bit of a tangent to your studies. You might want to invite friends - there will probably be discounts for groups and for young people, so make the most of them. This can be a very enjoyable way to work towards your academic goals.

2. Catch up or Get Ahead

If you are clear about which topics will be studied in the year ahead, it can make sense to organise your notes into folders relating to this, ready for next year.

For example, you may have studied John Donne’s poetry in the context of poetry about love across many eras. You may know that next term you will be studying Metaphysical Poetry more generally. It would perhaps then be a good idea to isolate and prioritise your notes on John Donne under a new heading of ‘Metaphysical Poetry’. This is another area in which it can be useful to have the input of your teacher or online tutor.

Depending on your long-term academic aspirations, it could be a good idea to set yourself some clear SMART goals relating to studying over the break. If you’re earlier reflections revealed some issues in past topics - aim to start next year, having got those topics to a good level of understanding, as you won't likely revisit them until right before exams.

If you’ve just finished major exams, the curriculum next year will go into topics new and old in much greater detail. It’s important to have a core understanding of the foundations if you want to perform well at a higher level. Just ask anyone taking A-Level Maths!

Additionally, if you have high hopes for top grades next year or tend to need more time to grasp information than you get in the school classroom, consider reading ahead of next year's content (even very loosely!) to form a foundation of understanding that you can take into next year. This is an effective learning method called “flipped learning”.

Of course, the school break should be exactly that - it is hugely important that you also take time to rest, to celebrate and to relax!

3. Relax & Recover!

Whatever you do for these next few months, remember to congratulate yourself for all the hard work you have put in so far and to enjoy recharging yourself for the year ahead, to give yourself the best chance of achieving your academic goals.