There’s only about one month left till classes start back up, and if you have been sitting around doing a whole bunch of nothing over the past few months, you may consider getting a jump start on your classes.

Order Your Books Now

Now is the time to order your books.  Your school should have some way of telling you the ISBN’s for the books; but if you can’t find them, start asking.  You can call the school, email a professor, or ask a friend who is in the class.  But if you don’t order your books now it may be hard to find them at a good price on either Amazon.com or Half.com (There are other stores and websites, but those are the two sites I use.)

Wikipedia Your Course Topic

While you need to go ahead and get your books, you don’t have to read them yet.  Instead, go to Wikipedia and search your course topic.  If you are taking physics, just search physics.  Read through it and then follow the links.  Spend about 3-6 hours sometime before your course starts just following the various links on Wikipedia.  This will allow you to learn new things and review things you may already know.

Read a Book

After you read Wikipedia for a while, try and find a book on the topic.  You don’t have to read this before class starts just read it through out the course of the semester.  Taking the initiative to read material outside of the course requirements enhances your understanding of the topic.  Also, you may be able to use the book for an end of the semester project.