person sitting on a cozy windowsill having a productive winter break.

Winter break is here! As a student, this is your time to rest between semesters and spend time with loved ones. 

While your winter break time is well-spent celebrating the holidays or enjoying the cold weather, it’s a good idea to carry some of your school year routine through the weeks you have off. Whether you’re a middle schooler in need of ELA or math improvement or a high schooler preparing for college applications, here are some enjoyable ways to have a productive winter break.

Cozy Up with a Book

It’s human nature to want to get warm and cozy during the coldest season. Instead of pulling out your phone when you want to relax, take advantage of this perfect chance to do some reading! Snuggle up with your favorite fluffy blanket, a cup of hot cocoa or cider, and a good book.

Reading is one of the best ways to practice and improve your ELA skills. From learning new vocabulary to sharpening your critical thinking skills, there’s so much you gain from the simple act of reading. It’s even more effective if you practice active reading by using post-it flags, annotating, or taking notes about the various things you come across—from new vocabulary, to characterization that piques your interest, to thematic messaging.

Look for genres and topics that captivate you for your winter break reading! Whether you’re a sci-fi fan, someone who prefers realistic fiction, or a sucker for a good biography, you’ll be more eager to continue and finish your book if you’re genuinely interested in it. Our only advice is to aim slightly higher than your own grade/reading level—if the book you select is too simple, it won’t do much for your interest nor your ELA skills.

Practice Essay-Writing

Whatever grade you’re in, your English classes in the spring will probably have you write at least one essay. If you’re gearing up for an ELA standardized test or college admissions exam that has an essay portion, you’ll especially want to make sure your writing abilities are up to par. Reading, keeping a journal, and writing letters are some fun ways to exercise your narrative-writing skills, but most of your future essays will test your argumentative or expository writing.

Get inspired by your holiday break activities. If you go to a museum or on a trip somewhere, do some research on your destination and write a short paper informed by your experience, or an article as if you’re a journalist covering the location. Maybe you’ll watch a holiday movie with family—take that opportunity to write a few paragraphs analyzing its different themes. If you follow our first tip and read a book, write about its use of figurative language or the development of a character over the course of the story.  

This break is your chance to practice those key English skills by writing about something you enjoy! If you write during winter break in a similar way to how you would during the school year, you’re honing your skills in preparation for whatever essays come your way. Don’t forget to outline before you start if you have trouble getting your thoughts together!

Work on a New Hobby

Around the start of a new year is a perfect time for new beginnings. If you’re wondering what to do during winter break, use the time you have off to learn a new skill or hobby! Whether you want to be more physically active, develop a creative outlet, or you give back to your community, there are hundreds of potential hobbies you can start this winter break. 

Maybe you’ve always wanted to properly learn how to play a winter sport or get into competitive chess, or you think you’ll enjoy running on a daily basis. You can learn to sew and upcycle your old clothes, or start building your skills as an amateur photographer with just your phone camera. If you crave a sense of community and want to bring good into the world, the holiday season is a perfect time to volunteer at a food bank, toy drives, or tutoring centers. 

If you need help learning how to get started on your hobbies of choice, reach out to any family who have those skills or use some of the thousands of tutorials available online to help you get started! 

The Impact of Having Hobbies

Hobbies aren’t just fun ways to spend your time—they are investments in your development as a person. Creative expression is known to have a strong impact on mental health, providing an outlet to channel your emotions, and physical hobbies do the same for your physical health. Community outreach is a great way to meet people and expand your worldview, and starting a hobby that challenges you mentally (like chess or language-learning) will sharpen your mind.

Further, starting a hobby now is like planting a seed that will blossom in the future—anything you start now and nurture over time can introduce you to so many possibilities. Hobbies look great on college (and career) resumes, especially if you participate in related extracurriculars once you’re back at school, and volunteering hours can get you special recognition at graduation. Looking even further into the future, maybe one day you’ll turn your photography into a side gig or full-time job, or you find your passion in nonprofits while you’re at the food bank. 

The hardest part of starting a hobby is typically the time investment early-on to learn about and make a habit of it. That’s why this time off from school is the perfect time to get started!

A Productive Winter Break for 10th Through 12th Graders

If you’re gradually nearing the end of your high school career, it’s time to start thinking about your post-high school plans! Picking a major, college, or career of choice can be a daunting task, but this winter break will give you some time to consider your future goals without the pressure of this week’s homework or next week’s essay weighing on your conscience.

Sophomores: Research Your Ambitions

If you’re in 10th grade, your only exposure to the college admissions process so far has probably just been taking the PSAT 10 if your school offers it. Winter break of 10th grade is an excellent time to gain familiarity with what the application process for colleges looks like. This way, once you get back to school in January, you can start on the college resume aspects that’ll position you as an excellent candidate in the future. (Improving your grades, getting ready for SAT/ACT test prep, developing extracurricular and volunteer experience, etc.)

As you learn about how to apply to college, look into why you want to go to college. What kind of career do you want in the future? Don’t feel like you have to make a concrete decision, but it’s a good time to brainstorm possible fields you’d enjoy working in. For example, if you realize you want to work in healthcare, you can start volunteering to build social skills while you put extra efforts in the chemistry class you may be taking. 

Perhaps you don’t know exactly what you want as a career, but you do know you want to work at a company that, say, helps the environment. To that end, you can seek another biology-related course or AP Environmental Science if your school offers it for your junior year, and you can participate in a gardening club or start green initiatives at your school. Overall, your sophomore year is the perfect time to start thinking about your future if you haven’t already. 

Juniors: Narrow Down Majors & Colleges

If you’re a junior halfway through the school year, you should be in the midst of SAT/ACT prep! Make winter break productive this year by ramping up that practice! You’ve likely already taken an ACT practice test or the PSAT and have an understanding of your subject area strengths and weaknesses. Take a couple of hours on the days you have more free time to review the topics you struggle with and hone those critical English and math skills.

The winter break during 11th grade is a great time to explore potential majors. Hopefully you have some ideas about the types of fields you’re interested in—if you don’t, think about the subjects you’re good at, the topics you’re passionate about, and the careers you’d be happy to have. Hopefully, you’ll find some overlap that can lead you to your perfect major! Even if you can’t decide exactly what you’ll want to study, decide on a few options of prospective majors to consider for the months to come.

Choosing a College

As you consider potential fields of study, you should also start considering which colleges and universities you’re interested in around this time of your high school career. It’s likely you already have a dream university and/or a fallback local college in mind, but the winter break of your junior year gives you a great opportunity to do some real digging into those schools and discover others that fit your goals. This is also a great time to make plans for the spring to visit colleges that you’re serious about.

There are almost 3,000 4-year colleges in the US, so there are so many different institutions to choose from. When it comes to selecting the college that’s right for you, it comes down to both feasibility and preference. 

  • Will you be able to afford your attendance? On top of what your family can personally afford, consider financial aid, loans, grants, and scholarships.
  • Is it likely for you to get accepted and succeed once you’re there? Though colleges usually review applicants holistically, you’ll have a better chance with grades and test scores similar to the ones they’ve accepted in the past.
  • What are you looking for in a college? This winter break, think about your opinions on topics like the following:
    • Location: Close? Far? Climate? Urban or suburban? Domestic or abroad?
    • Public vs. Private
    • Size: Under 5,000 students, over 15,000, or somewhere in the middle?
    • Academic Programs: Do they offer the subjects you want to study? What are their academic strengths?
    • Research Opportunities: What are the undergraduate research programs like? Especially in your prospective fields.
    • Graduation Rate: Does the school set students up to succeed and complete their degree?
    • Structure: Semesters, Trimesters, or Quarters?
    • Extracurriculars: What sports, clubs, and societies do they offer?

Seniors: Find and Apply to Scholarships

You’ve finished your ACTs/SATs, you’ve sent in or nearly completed your college applications, and now you’re waiting to hear back (if you haven’t already). To stay productive and work towards reaching your goals this winter break, it’s time to look for scholarships and grants!

Some scholarship deadlines have passed already, but there are tons of others who accept applicants through the spring! You can search for scholarships based on your academic skills (merit-based), background (ethnic, income level, gender, etc.), and goals (for those looking to study certain subjects). Since many scholarships require an essay, winter break is the perfect time to write those papers without interruption from your day-to-day schoolwork.

You can find scholarships through your potential colleges’ websites, through your high school guidance counsellor (ask before the break starts or email them!), or online through scholarship finders. Here are some reliable resources for finding scholarships online:

Study for Upcoming Standardized Tests or Practice ELA and Math 

Our final suggestion for those looking to have a productive winter break is to practice for your classes and for upcoming exams! Students of any grade should set aside some time to study during winter break so that they keep their memory sharp and their learning habitual. 

Like we’ve mentioned above, juniors should be undertaking SAT or ACT test prep. Students of other grades will benefit from studying core subjects that they’ll be building on semester-after-semester. If you’re looking for fun, easy-to-use learning resources for K-12 learning and test prep, Piqosity is here to help!

Along with our full-length, online ELA and Math courses for grades 5-11, we offer full SAT, ACT, and ISEE test prep courses, each of which includes 12 practice exams, dozens of concept lessons, personalized practice software, and more. 

Our free community account allows you to try out all of Piqosity’s features—no credit card required! When you’re ready to upgrade, Piqosity’s year-long accounts start at only $89. 

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