<p>I am currently a sophomore at a public hs in Minnesota that was a blue ribbon school of excellence a few years ago. I take all the hard classes and succeed, but this first semester was rough because I got every one of my core classes put in this semester (Our school has "block" scheduling where we only have 4 classes a day and get a year's worth of classes done in 1/2 a year). I had a 3.96 freshman year, but first quarter I got a B in enriched Pre-Calc, a B+ in enriched bio (terrible teacher, would have gotten an A or A- had the teacher known the material), an A in concert orchestra, and we have a "combo" enriched english/enriched ss class where we switch off every day between the two for the whole year, so a quarter grade is posted at the end of first semester. The enriched ss class is actually hader than APUSH and the kids that take it generally do better on the AP test (best teacher in the school teaches it). I will probably get an A- or B+ this quarter in enr. bio, a pass in enr. pre-calc (It got really hard and with all of the other hard core classes I didn't want to kill my GPA with a B- or something), an A in enr. ss, and an A- or B+ in enr. english. My school doesn't give A+'s. I will probably Ace second semester because my workload and stress level will decrease dramatically, so I predict my GPA after this year to be around the mid to high 3.8's. I am just really nervous about this pass/fail class killing my transcript when I'm a senior. Because of the way classes are arranged, sophomore year is notoriously the hardest at my hs, so I hope my GPA will be in the 3.9's when I'm done. I took the ACT last year and got a 24, but I was above or at 26 in everything except reading, which I got a 19 on (I ran out of time and lost focus). I think I can get my ACT in the 30's with good prep and focus when I take it for real. I jus want some feedback on what I should improve on to better my chances of getting into competitive schools. Honest, constructive criticism would be great. I play two sports, as well, and will be in NHS and log volunteer hours in the fllowing two years. Thanks so much in advance.</p>
<p>bumppppppp</p>
<p>tl;dr. need sparknotes.</p>
<p>Lemme try to summarize:
B- to A student at a tough and recognized high school, 24 ACT but can get 30+, plays two sports, what should he do or keep doing.</p>
<p>24 ACT as a freshman. I generally get all A’s or A-'s, but this last semester was very hard.</p>
<p>I’ll get the obvious out of the way.</p>
<p>Keep your GPA up, retake the ACT or try the SAT sometime. Subject tests if you recently took a similar course. You’re only a soph, plenty of time. If you are in EC’s that interest you, stay with those, and you should be in good shape.</p>
<p>Since you’re just a sophomore, I’ll tell you something that I would have done in HS if I knew I could. If you really like an activity and there isn’t a club for it, start one. </p>
<p>I found out that I really like cooking, but now that it’s my senior year, it feels pointless to start a culinary club.</p>
<p>Also, don’t get distracted by silly stuff.</p>