My kiddo just graduated suma cum laude. He wasn’t on scholarship and entered hoping to graduate with a 3.0. As others have said, good study habits and focus are key. He used A+ tutoring in physics and felt it made those first 2 classes clear when the class instruction was confusing. I will say he wasn’t in honors and I have seen threads where parents said students in honors classes were held to what they thought was an unfair standard. I have no first hand experience with this. I know my son has no regrets about not doing honors and he has some great opportunities now after graduation. In short a 3.5 is never a sure thing but is very doable for a good student with good study habits. Along the way there was still time for research, organizational involvement and many other things. Time management is key.