<h2>Hi, I know this is early (REALLY early) but I just wanted how I am doing and where I need to improve upon. I'm currently a sophomore enrolled in a public high school and I want to put down what I have so far and I wanted you guys to estimate where I'll be able to go if I keep everything I just listed down up. Thanks!</h2>
<p>GRADES:</p>
<p>Straight A's throughout Freshman year
2 B's so far in Sophomore year (one in AP Calculus AB and one in AP Biology)
My AP Bio teacher is changing my B if I get a 5 on the AP test</p>
<hr>
<p>CLASSES:</p>
<p>Freshman Year:
Precalculus
PE
Spanish 2
Health/Digital Drawing
Biology Honors
English Honors</p>
<p>Sophomore Year:
PE
AP Calculus AB - taking the BC test
Spanish 3
AP Biology
English Honors
World History Honors</p>
<p>Junior Year:
AP Statistics
AP US History
AP English
AP Chemistry
Spanish 4
Concert Choir</p>
<p>Senior Year:
AP Psychology
AP Physics B/C, not sure yet
AP Computer Science
AP Spanish
AP Government
English 12 (probably not AP Lit)</p>
<hr>
<p>EXTRACURRICULARS</p>
<p>Water Polo - JV freshman and sophomore year, Varsity bound (plan to do all 4 years)
Swimming - JV freshman year, Varsity sophomore (plan to do all 4 years)
DECA (Distributive Educational Clubs of America, relates to Business) - Place 1st in California, 2nd at NorCal, current treasurer, aiming for president senior year
Mission Energy (Student run organization) - current VP and head organizer of projects, on our way to build solar panels for our school, if complete can save my school about $6.8 million in energy bills over the next 20 years, we plan to expand to additional schools and I am president junior and senior year
Class Council - fundraiser this year, treasurer next year
Stress Management Club - president last year and this year, but school administration stopped it because they began making their own stress release program, talking to admin to restart this club next year</p>
<hr>
<p>TESTING</p>
<p>I took the ACT as a sophomore in December and got a 35
SAT II Math IIC - 800
SAT II Chinese - 800
Planning to take SAT II Bio and World History</p>
<p>PLEASE LOOK IT OVER ASSUMING I KEEP THIS UP. THANK YOU SO MUCH.</p>
<p>Your test scores are good. You are taking 2 challenging courses as a sophomore, however, your GPA is going to suffer. It is good to have a rigor curriculum, but at the same time a lower GPA is going to hurt you and wipe out the benefit of course rigor. Not to mention, you have created a downward trend. Plan carefully for your next year class schedule and don’t overload yourself.</p>
<p>Thank you. My math teacher is known for being the hardest in our school so after I complete the course I will be finished. My AP Biology teacher screwed up our grades for 1st Sem so nothing I can do about that.</p>
<p>You should know this: don’t advertise about your grade being switched. That is highly unethical; your grade reflects your CLASS performance, not your performance on a single test. </p>
<p>It seems that you’re taking a lot of AP classes in your Junior and Senior years. Are you comfortable with that? 2 to 4 (then 4 to 5) may not seem a lot, but stress starts to pile up the third year of high school. Junior prom, getting a license, etc will also impact your performance. And AP Chemistry just underwent a revamp. AP Computer Science also requires a lot of rote memorization. I think that AP Physics is going to be changed too.
UCB, UCSD, and UCLA applicants have similar stats to yours. At least the ones I’ve known.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t have signed up for the classes if I didn’t think I can handle it. I have taken the courses of the harder teachers at my school (AP Calc and AP Bio) so the rest of the classes won’t be as bad.</p>
<p>And noel597, I don’t think it’s unethical. Some teachers are harder than others, and this isn’t fair. Class grade should reflect how well you know the material, and that’s shown by AP scores.</p>
<p>BUMP. I will chance back</p>
<p>Agree with Noel; we have a school in our district that changes a grade if the student gets a 5 and the universities now know this. Why bother to show up for classes if you think you can get the score on your own? That school’s students have a tougher time with their admits because the admissions counselors have labeled that school as a pass/fail school. Your arrogance is reflective in your immaturity; it is not just the material shown by the AP scores that reflects your grade in the classroom, it’s participation and being a member of the classroom. It’s gonna come back to bite you.</p>
<p>@BBTWD1885 Um… OF COURSE it’s fair. Kids at other schools have to deal with hard teachers, and we don’t get grade bumps for scoring well on the AP test. My AP language class last year was NOT a test prep class. All we did was write and THINK (ACTUALLY THINK-- not write the ridiculously 1 dimensional AP test essays). There’s a HUGE difference between taking a 3 hour test, and spending 20+ hours on one class assignment to truly demonstrate your intellectual prowess. AP scores are NOT an accurate representation of your mind at work. While they are close to an accurate representation of your KNOWLEDGE, they don’t show your ability to truly think and generate new interesting ideas. You are simply regurgitating information and repeating a task that has been drilled into your mind.
Ad coms have been on record saying that those schools that employ their policy are looked down upon, and the GPA’s that come out of these schools are looked at skeptically.
In short, yes it’s unethical. You’re cheating yourself and the other students at other schools who work far harder to actually perform well in the class, not just on a 3 hour test.
If you are looking to go to any of these schools, you need the maturity to thrive. You need to realize that what’s best for you isn’t always the right thing. This is an example, and a truly remarkable individual would fight against this sort of wrongdoing.</p>
<p>@noel597 @"aunt bea" I’m sorry if it’s unethical. Thing is that my school as well as other schools around the area have been doing this for a long time. I didn’t realize it was a wrong thing because everyone did it. Thanks for telling me, I’ll take it into consideration.</p>
<p>@BBTWD1885 It is great that you can see the wrong in the ways of those around you. I’m sorry for being so harsh, as your admittance is a sign of great maturity. There isn’t much you can do about it, just make sure schools don’t know of this practice, for it will hurt you.</p>
<p>@noel597 Will do. And this grade change thing is something the teachers do. I read online that Cornell gave its freshmen students who got 5s on the AP Psychology test the Psychology I final and 90% of them failed, which kinda shows that AP test don’t reflect much</p>
<p>@BBTWD1885 hahahahhah that’s hilarious actually. I love that statistic!</p>