<p>I'm entering sophomore year and I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to get ahead academically. My school's Sophomore math course is typically geometry. I'm taking Geo over the summer right now to advance into Pre-Calculus. I'm planning on taking AP Chem junior year, so I'll be taking chem at BYU online.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can get ahead?</p>
<p>What’s the point of getting ahead? </p>
<p>@halcyonheather My dream school is UCLA. I go to a high school where a very small amount of students get sent to the top UC’s. I feel like if I get ahead academically, I’ll have a better chance at my dream school (or any competitive school). By taking rigorous courses, I hope to show college admissions officers that I’ve done everything possible to take that extra step, you know? </p>
<p>I’m also not the TOP of my class. I’m probably nudged into the 30’s or 40’s. When I have my mind set, I feel like I can accomplish anything. </p>
<p>Hey, I am in the same situation as you. </p>
<p>
I’m saying, what classes will you be able to take if you “get ahead” that you wouldn’t have been able to take otherwise? It could be a good idea if you have the option to dual-enroll at a local college or something like that, but there’s nothing particularly impressive about about taking all the advanced classes in your school a few years early if you’re just going to take a bunch of random easy classes senior year because you don’t have any other options. If you take all (or most) of the advanced classes your school offers and get mostly As in them, you’ll be fine as far as academics goes, and you should starting working more on your test scores and ECs. </p>
<p>I live in a UC town, why UCLA in particular?</p>
<p>Take courses related to your future college major. As many (useful) APs as possible. Get work experience.
The road ahead is still a long one that you can speed up your driving a little.</p>
<p>Don’t advance your math if you risk your GPA in the end; many of my peers skipped Algebra 2, which most people took in freshman year, to take Pre-Calculus, but most ended up with B’s or even C’s. If you have to risk your GPA to get into a higher math, I would advise against it.</p>
<p>I tried to take geometry over the summer 2 years ago. It didn’t work- I was too lazy to do anything past the first week. But if you think you can do it, by all means shoot for it!</p>
<p>What I’m gonna do now is order the calc BC (I’m taking it next year) book to maybe review some simpler stuff. Hopefully I will get around to that before the end of the year, lol.</p>
<p>Also I wouldn’t recommend taking AP chem online. It’s one of the hardest APs, speaking from experience. A good teacher can mean so much.</p>