Summer break is a golden time for college students: great weather, good friends, and no school!  Make sure you're prepared for the fall by following these three tips this summer.

• Think about what you can do to be prepared when school starts back up.  It'll be much less painful if you have everything planned out now, ahead of time.  For example, if you know you'll be taking a certain class, you might buy a book now to beat the rush on the campus book store.  Can you start studying in advance for a class?  You'll be way ahead of everybody else, even if all you do is read chapter one before your classmates.
• Think back to last semester some.  What did you learn?  What will you need to know next semester that you learned last semester?  How can you make sure you don't forget it?  One great way to stay on top of the material you learned last semester is to spend a little time each day reviewing it.  I don't mean a lot of time, ten or fifteen minutes is more than enough.  Do a problem, read a couple of paragraphs, or look over a homework or test question that you answered.  Make sure you remember the concepts and ideas.  Look at resources on the web, like calculus problems and solutions and chemistry discussion, to remind yourself of sections you might have forgot about.
• Talk to somebody about what you studied last semester and what you're going to study next semester.  The best way to know that you understand a subject is to be able to clearly explain it to somebody else.  It's much harder than it sounds!  Talk to a friend about something you learned in economics that you thought was cool.  Try to explain an idea from biology to your parents.  Talk to your little brother about when to use commas.  Whatever.  Just keep your mind working.  By remembering little bits of what you learned, you'll make it easier to recall the important parts next semester.

Lastly, remember to relax and  have fun this summer, since these are also an important part of doing well next semester.  Good luck, and have a great summer!