<p>celebrian: if everyone in your class is like that, wouldn't it be easier to move up a rank...? i mean if the next person was a whole point above you, you could work as hard as you wanted and not catch him. At your school, if #1 slips up in one class and #2 gets an A+... things could change more easily? maybe i misunderstood your point</p>
<p>everyone in the top5% is taking 3 AP's (most possible) and nobody in the top 30 has fallen out of the top 30ever (i'm a junior now) The chances of someone slipping up are pretty minimal, so therefore, no matter how well I do, I'm basically assured to never move into the top 5%</p>
<p>I think my current school has a good system... Each academic class has a level and is weighted differently (there are three different levels) and electives without a level (ex. band, gym, art, typing) are not part of the weighted G.P.A. It seems to work out that the person who qualititatively seems to be the best student is valedictorian. In reports to colleges, the counselor lists you as 1st percentile, 5th percentile, 1st decile, 2nd decile, 1st quartile, top half, or bottom half.</p>