The First Month of School Is Over: What Should a Bac Student Do Now?

The first month of the school year has already passed. For many Bac students, this may not seem like a big deal. September feels like it was only yesterday, and June still seems very far away. Some students are already working seriously, while others are still telling themselves that they have plenty of time to catch up later.

But this is exactly where I would advise students to stop and think.

The Moroccan 2026–2027 school year officially began in September, with Bac 1 students returning on September 4 and Bac 2 students on September 5, followed by the effective start of classes on September 7. Now that the first month has passed, students have already started building the habits that will follow them through the rest of the year.

The important question is not whether you are already perfectly prepared for the Bac. You are not supposed to have finished everything after one month. The real question is whether you have started preparing in the right way.

“I Still Have Time”

One of the things I notice with some students at the beginning of the school year is that they are not particularly worried. They attend classes, take some notes, prepare for tests when they get close, and continue with their normal lives. When the subject of the Bac comes up, they think about June and tell themselves that there is still plenty of time.

The problem is that students do not always have a good understanding of time.

Think about the beginning of last school year. Do you remember how long ago it feels? For many students, it probably feels surprisingly recent. September came, then October, then the first tests, the holidays, the second term, Ramadan, spring, and suddenly the end of the school year was there.

Time does not normally feel fast when you are living through it. It feels fast when you look back.

That is why telling yourself, “I will start later,” can be dangerous. You may think you are postponing your preparation for a few weeks, but those weeks quickly become months. Then you may suddenly find yourself close to the final exam with a large amount of work that you should have done gradually.

The point is not to make students afraid of June. It is to help them understand that June will arrive whether they are ready or not.

What Should You Have Started Doing?

After the first month, I would not expect a Bac student to have finished a huge revision programme. That would not be realistic. You still have your normal classes, homework, tests and other responsibilities.

However, by this stage, serious students should already be developing good working habits.

For subjects such as philosophy, history and geography, students should have started thinking about how they will organize and write their summaries. These subjects contain a considerable amount of information, and leaving everything until the final months can create an enormous workload.

The same principle applies differently to subjects such as English, mathematics, physics and the sciences. You cannot prepare properly for these subjects simply by reading your lessons again and again. You need to practise. You need to solve exercises, make mistakes, discover what you do not understand, and try again.

This is particularly important because understanding something while the teacher is explaining it is not always the same as being able to do it alone.

If you studied a mathematical rule in class but cannot use it when you are sitting at home with an exercise in front of you, your preparation is not complete. If you understand an English lesson but cannot write a paragraph using what you have learned, you still need more practice. The same idea applies to physics and the sciences.

Preparation is not only about knowing the lesson. It is about being able to use what you know.

Do Not Wait Until You “Start Preparing for the Bac”

There is another misunderstanding that I often see among students. They imagine that there is a special moment when Bac preparation begins.

They think that normal school lessons are one thing and “Bac preparation” is something that will happen later.

In reality, the two are connected.

When you study today's lesson seriously, do the exercises, ask your teacher about what you do not understand, correct your mistakes and prepare properly for a test, you are already preparing for the Bac.

You do not need to spend every evening solving national exam papers. That would not necessarily be the best use of your time at this stage. Your first responsibility is to understand and master the programme you are currently studying.

Your current lessons are the foundation. Build that foundation well, and later revision becomes much easier.

From time to time, you can also check some material from previous years, especially if you notice that you have forgotten an important concept. But your main focus should remain on the current programme. There is little benefit in constantly jumping between old and new lessons while failing to understand what you are currently studying.

What If You Are Already Behind?

Perhaps you are reading this and thinking, “I have already wasted the first month.”

Do not spend another month worrying about the first one.

If you discover that you are weak in a subject, the solution is not to complain about how difficult the year will be. Start working.

For subjects that require practice, do many exercises at home. Do not stop after one exercise because you understood the correction. Try another one. Then another. You will gradually discover the parts of the lesson that you really understand and the parts that only seemed clear when the teacher was explaining them.

And use your teacher.

If you have tried an exercise and cannot solve it, ask for help. If you have written something and are not sure whether it is correct, ask your teacher to explain or correct it. A teacher is not only there to present the lesson and give you a mark. One of the most useful things you can do is take your work to your teacher and ask for feedback.

There is nothing embarrassing about asking questions. In fact, refusing to ask when you do not understand is much more dangerous.

Pay Attention to the Warning Signs

Sometimes a student is already falling behind without realizing it.

There are simple signs.

A student who regularly comes to class late, skips classes, does not write the lesson, shows no interest in the subject, or spends the lesson doing something unrelated should not be surprised later when the subject becomes difficult.

These things may look small individually. Missing one lesson may not seem important. Arriving late once is not a disaster. Forgetting to write something down one day is not the end of the world.

But repeated behaviour becomes a habit.

And habits become difficult to change when the pressure of exams becomes stronger.

This is why the first month matters. It gives you an opportunity to look honestly at your habits before the workload becomes much heavier.

Ask yourself a simple question: if I continue studying in exactly the same way until June, will I be ready?

If the answer is no, then you already know what needs to change.

Be Realistic About Your Time

Another mistake is creating an unrealistic study schedule.

A student who spends a full day at school, for example from 8:00 to 12:00 and from 14:00 to 18:00, cannot realistically expect to come home and study for another six or seven hours every day. Such a schedule may look impressive on paper, but it is difficult to maintain.

For a student with a very full school day, one hour to one and a half hours of serious work at home can already be valuable if that time is used properly. On days when the school schedule is lighter, you may be able to study for longer.

The important word is realistic.

The goal is not to study for an enormous number of hours for three days and then become exhausted and stop. The goal is to create a routine that you can continue.

A student who studies seriously for a reasonable amount of time every day can achieve much more than a student who studies for ten hours once every two weeks.

Consistency is more important than making impressive promises to yourself.

The First Holiday Is an Opportunity

The first school holiday is also a good opportunity to look at what you have done so far and organize yourself. But do not wait for the holiday to begin working.

The holiday should help you consolidate what you have already studied, catch up on exercises, organize your notes and strengthen weak areas. It should not be the moment when you finally decide to start the school year.

In other words, the holiday should be part of your preparation, not the beginning of it.

You should enter the holiday knowing what you need to work on. That is much better than reaching the first day of the holiday and asking yourself, “What should I study?”

Think of Every Test as Training for the Exam

There is one idea I would particularly like Bac students to adopt: do not separate your school tests from the final exam too much.

Think of every test as preparation.

When a teacher gives you a test, do not study only because you want a good mark. Study because the test gives you an opportunity to discover what you know and what you do not know.

If you make mistakes, learn from them.

If you get a good mark, do not simply forget about the test. Ask yourself why you succeeded and whether you can reproduce that performance later.

This way of thinking changes the purpose of tests. They become training sessions rather than isolated events that you prepare for and immediately forget.

Do Not Treat June as a Distant Place

If I could give Bac students one piece of advice at this point in the year, it would be this: never tell yourself that the exams are far away because they are in June.

Instead, imagine that the exam is next week.

This does not mean that you should panic or study all day. It means that you should ask yourself whether your current level would be enough if the exam were suddenly much closer.

And then there is another useful habit: treat every test as preparation for that future exam.

You have time, but time is not something you should waste simply because you have it.

The beginning of the year is actually one of the best moments to start. You are not yet under the enormous pressure of the final months. You can make mistakes, change your routine, ask questions, strengthen weak areas and gradually build your knowledge.

So, if you have not taken your studies seriously yet, do not wait for another “perfect moment.”

Start now.

The first month has passed. That is not a reason to panic. It is a reminder that the year has already begun.

And if you remember how quickly the beginning of last school year disappeared, you already know what will happen if you keep saying, “I still have time.”

You do have time.

Use it well.

Do your best.