@wis75, my S’s school ranks on weighted GPA. Level A is 4.0, honors or pre-AP A is 5.0, AP or dual credit A is 6.0. There is no chance that a kid taking easy classes and study halls will outrank a kid taking a bunch of AP classes. My S is a junior taking six APs, along with maybe a hundred other kids. Ranking on unweighted GPA could result in the situation you describe but it seems pretty common that schools weight the more rigorous classes for ranking purposes.