Why take a gap year?

Question 1

Gap year

Answer 1

To take a break from your studies to travel or gain experience before moving to university.

Before you moved from college to university, did you take a year off? Many students choose to take a break from their studies to travel or gain work experience before moving on to university.
Taking a gap year & why doing this has become more important than ever.

Gap year, we might call it a year out.

Question 2

Predicted grades

Answer 2

If sth is predicted, it’s an estimation of what is likely to happen in the future based on current information.

That way I can wait till I get my official results & apply to university with those rather than getting predicted grades & then potentially being surprised & not being able to follow the path I wanted.

Question 3

In the back of my mind

Answer 3

This means stored deep in your memory.
You had the idea but didn’t think about it frequently.

I just always had this idea in the back of my mind that I’d spend a year doing sth productive & sth that would be just good fun.

Question 4

Sth productive

Answer 4

Leading to a good or useful outcome.

I just always had this in the back of my mind that I’d spend a year doing sth productive.

Question 5

A bit of an alien concept

Answer 5

It’s sth I never I’ve never thought about it.
An idea that is strange & not familiar.

It was a bit of an alien concept to me. It’s sth I’ve never thought about, it would have been far to expensive. It’s about gaining skills & being more employable.

Question 6

Practical

Answer 6

This adj. describes the learning of real skills which can be usefully applied.

Froom an employer’s point of view, certainly, any form of experience & skill acquisition that you’ve taken/undertaken is valuable. The focus for a gap year is to be more practical.
Thank you for the practical run through of the vocabulary.