<p>The student is a sophomore? Hard to say what the next couple years will hold. I used the rule of thumb with my laid back #1 to tell him to take the hardest classes he thought he could handle and aim for a B or better and pass the AP tests. He would always prefer to take easier classes and excel than take harder classes and work harder while in high school and like someone said an easy class is no guarantee of an A, teachers can be brutal if they think a student is skating. However with my son, pushing himself, having to dig himself out of a hole now and then in high school paid off when he went to college. He did not have huge adjustment issues and is now graduated. His college GPA was better than his high school GPA. I’m sure it could have nicked him in college admissions if he were “into” being competitive about acceptances, but ultimately he chose his colleges and was accepted to the ones where he applied with nice merit money because he was a solid kid. Personality plays a huge part and personality is one thing that parents can’t change greatly.</p>
<p>Whether or not your student will have any interest in engineering in a couple years is a crap shoot. I’d simply focus on helping your student put a manageable schedule together that is challenging but won’t sink him/her and let the rest happen in the future.</p>