I’m currently about to enter my sophomore year in high school, but I didn’t do so well freshmen year.
The majority of my grades were As, but I received two Bs… classes + grades below. I also had 2 academic classes.
English Honors - 87
Spanish Academic - 84
Science Honors - 93
History Honors - 97
Geometry Academic - 94
Band - 96
PE/Health - 91
Next year, I taking all honors classes except for 1 (Spanish). School does not offer AP classes to sophomores, nor has much to begin with.
What should I do to improve my chances in getting into a competitive university?
Thanks!
Looks good to me, as long as the rest of your stats are on par! A couple of B’s aren’t the end of the world… especially freshman year.
Thanks! Hopefully this won’t bring down my overall grades in the long run…
I got my only 2 A minuses freshman year and I thought it was the end of the world. After that though I buckled down and have maintained 4.0s since. Sometimes it takes a year to figure out the ins and outs of high school!
You will be fine - these are not bad grades. One piece of advice that I can give is to go into tests with confidence. Instead of dreading the test, tell yourself that you are going to do well, and you will probably do better. If you aren’t confident about a test, review the material until you are.
Honestly, your freshman year grades don’t look that bad at all. I think that the transition from middle school to high school may have factored into your grades (possibly?). What classes are you taking next year? I know this is obvious, but make sure you avoid procrastinating. As you become more and more used to the environment of high school, school work gets more difficult, obviously. Because of this, I would not put off any essays or long-term assignments until the night before they are due. This holds true for all classes, but especially English. Spend adequate time preparing/studying for tests. An easy way to help bring your Spanish grade up is to just study! There were two different types of Spanish tests that my high school gives students- vocabulary and grammar. If you have a study guide, make sure to review it. Another tip for memorizing Spanish vocab is to make flash cards- put the Spanish word on the front, and the English definition on the back. Other than that, I think that your freshman year went really well. Sophomore year is better because you’ll know what teachers expect of you, and you’ll be used to the schedule, procedures, etc. The only difference between freshman and sophomore year is that there is more homework in sophomore, and you’ll have to try harder, but it’s not unbearable. In fact, there was barely a difference between freshman and sophomore year. You can do really well, just don’t lose focus!! I’m not sure if my tips are helpful at all, but I hope this somewhat helps.
Thanks, everyone! I also calculated my unweighted GPA… it’s a 3.7.
Any chances I could raise it to a 3.9 by senior year?
That’s definatley doable if you work hard!
@aeonian Yes, that’s definitely possible. All you need to do is work as hard as possible and get as many A’s as you can. Good luck!! 
@aeonian those grades are pretty good! I agree with @iubaccounting in the sense be confident when you take tests. I remember my last English (honors) test… I was so nervous I totally psyched myself out! But then I took the test and calmed down, and ended up getting a 115, highest out of my grade. Good luck!