But some 56 students will get a jump on the school year when they spend July learning high school mathematics. They'll be in class 33 hours a week -- and love it.

These students will attend the 2005 Summer Math Institute at the University of North Texas. The program, which begins July 10 (Sunday) and ends July 30 (Saturday) this year, provides accelerated instruction for students who are particularly talented in mathematics.

SMI is sponsored by UNT's Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, a two-year residential program that allows talented students to enroll at UNT at the time they would normally be juniors and seniors in high school. At the end of two years, TAMS students receive at least 60 hours of college credit and the equivalent of a high school diploma.

SMI began in 2000 with 28 students learning Algebra I or Algebra II. Today, students may choose from geometry and precalculus as well as Algebra I or Algebra II, but can only study one subject during the institute.

The program is designed to allow each student to progress at his or her own pace, with classes limited to no more than 20 students so that each receives individual help, said SMI director Wendy Boyd-Brown, a TAMS academic counselor.

"Many parents have told me that their students are bored in regular classrooms because teachers design classes around other students who aren't accelerated in math. And smaller school districts often don't have classes just for accelerated students," she said.

Of the 35 boys and 21 girls enrolled in this year's SMI, 12 are returning for a second or third summer to be in a different math class, Boyd-Brown said.

While more than half of this year's participants live in and around the Dallas-Fort Worth area, several are from the Houston area, Austin/San Antonio and East Texas, with one student coming from Charlotte, N.C.  This year's group also has three sets of siblings.

SMI classes are taught by public and private school teachers in Texas. This year's teachers are from high schools in Brownsville, Arlington, Frisco and Denton, and include a 1994 TAMS graduate.

On their first day at SMI, the students are tested to determine their levels of competency in the subject they will be studying, then assigned to do certain chapters in textbooks. Once a student completes a chapter, he or she will take a test, and must score at least 90 to go on to the next chapter. Before starting a new chapter, the student will take a pretest.

SMI students are in class for six hours Mondays through Fridays and for three hours on Saturday mornings. They also attend mandatory evening study hall, led by teaching assistants who are current TAMS students or recent graduates.

At the end of three weeks, the students take comprehensive exams in their subjects. The teachers complete evaluations of each student and write recommendations to the students' school districts, noting if a student should receive academic credit for the subject.

Besides the accelerated learning and the experience of being on a college campus, SMI provides friendships, Boyd-Brown said.

"The students meet kids with different backgrounds and cultures, who are just as excited about learning math as they are," she said.