An extracurricular activity is any school-sanctioned activity in which students may participate for some form of credit or recognition. Such activities are generally voluntary as opposed to mandatory, and tend to be social or philanthropic as opposed to scholastic.

Extracurricular activities exist at all levels of education. In high schools, they typically include membership in the student government, in a chess club or a math club, in the school band, or in a philanthropy like Key Club. Japanese high school students in uniform High school, or Secondary school, is the last segment of compulsory education in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan (Republic of China) (only junior high school) and the United States. ... A students union, student government, or student council is a student organization present at many colleges and universities, often with its own building on the campus, dedicated to social and organizational activities of the student body. ... Many countries claim to have invented the chess game in some incipient form. ... Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space and change. ... Band has several meanings: Musical band, a company of musicians who play parts of a musical arrangement on different musical instruments. ... Key Club is the oldest and largest service program for high school students. ...

In college, common extracurricular activities include participation in student government, on a student union board, or in an honor society. A college (Latin collegium) can be the name of any group of colleagues; originally it meant a group of people living together under a common set of rules (con-, together + leg-, law). As a consequence members of colleges were originally styled fellows and still are in some places. ... A students union, student government, or student council is a student organization present at many colleges and universities, often with its own building on the campus, dedicated to social and organizational activities of the student body. ... An honor society (or honour society) is an organization that recognizes students who have excelled academically, or as leaders among their peers, often within a specific academic discipline. ...

At higher levels of education, extracurricular activities take on more scholastic functions. For example, law school students may participate in moot court, or the publication of a law review. Law school is the term used in the United States to indicate an institution where future lawyers obtain legal degrees, mainly teaching using the Socratic method. ... Moot court (sometimes synonymous with mock trial) is an extracurricular activity in many law schools. ... A law review is a scholarly journal focusing on legal issues, published by an organization of students at a law school. ...