It is becoming increasingly popular to have a year off between finishing school and going to university. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this?

Nowadays, it is becoming a trend by the students to skip a

year

after completing school and before entering for higher education. The merits of

this

are that students get time to prepare for competitive exams and

also

work on their skills and interests. And the main drawback is that they can waste their precious one

year

if not planned properly. The advantages of taking a

year

off are several.

To begin

with, it gives a pupil time to plan their future. After completing school, students have a plethora of fields to choose from.

This

year

's gap gives them plenty of time to decide which area of expertise they want to pursue and they can

then

start preparing for it.

For example

: According to a survey, in India, 20% of students take a

year

off to prepare for the engineering and medical entrance exams.

Moreover

,

this

gives them an opportunity to learn and master new skills,

for instance

: communication skills, foreign language and

also

build their interest in different areas like cricket, football, tennis.

Therefore

, taking a

year

off can help an adolescent to become productive. On the flip side, there are

also

a few disadvantages of skipping a

year

.

Firstly

, students sometimes waste

this

year

by not performing their tasks. They consider

this

year

off as a vacation and sometimes get into the wrong work,

For instance

: consuming drugs and alcohol. They neither prepare for the competitive exams nor upgrade their skills.

For example

: According to a survey, 60% of students have done nothing fruitful during their

year

gap and misused their whole

year

.

Secondly

, they lose their interest in studies and

hence

are not able to perform when they enter university.

Therefore

, a

year

off will definitely lead a scholar down in performance and life if not planned properly. In conclusion, the advantages are that it helps a student to have an edge over other competitors by preparing for entrance exams and upgrading their skills,

however

, one should not keep an eye off the demerits it brings along

that is

wasting a precious

year

.