Quick English: School Idioms
After learning school vocabulary, you might want to learn some popular school idioms to boost your speaking!
Check out this list of commonly used school idioms. Do you know of any that aren't on the list? Share them with us in the comments below! Discover more school idioms in our illustration.
School Idioms
boffin (British Eng.); egghead (American Eng.) - a geek, someone who is very clever at school, but less so for non-academic pursuits
Example: "You're such a boffin, all you do is study."
to crack open a book - to open a book to study (usually used in the negative)
Example: Marc didn't crack open his biology book all semester. It's no surprise he needed to cram.
to cram (for a test) - to study very hard, very soon before an exam.
Example: Marc stayed up all night cramming for his biology final. He had to learn the material from the entire semester in one night!
to cut class (American Eng.)/to bunk (British Eng.) - to skip a lesson or day at school
Examples: Most people cut class yesterday to go to the beach. It was the first hot day of the summer after a long, cold winter.
I'm going to bunk biology class, I haven't done my homework for it.
on-campus - located on a university's property, frequently used with regards to housing and extra-curricular activities
Example: Shirley wanted on-campus housing for her last year in college, even though all her friends lived in apartments off campus.
to pass with flying colors - to easily succeed; to do very well on an exam
Example: Sheryl was confident that she passed her English exam with flying colors.
Practice Activities
Fill in the correct idiom in the following dialogue.
Lisa: I didn't need to ______ because I did all of the homework throughout the semester. I'm going to __________ (do well)!
Jermyn: Well, it was a lot more fun to ______ on Fridays (not attend class) and hang out in Roman's room.
Lisa: Did you even ________ (study) once this term?
Jermyn: Yeah, definitely once. The first day of class!
Lisa: I don't want to hear about it if you don't do well!
Jermyn: Ugh, you're such a _____.
Do you want to know if your answers are right? Check out the answer key!
To learn more of these useful phrases, check out our other posts about idioms:
Weather Idioms
Clothing Idioms
Body Idioms
UK and US Idioms
Animal Idioms