Well for me at least I was focusing more so on the main four sections to be realistic - (Personality,Acdemics, Letter of Reccs, EC’s) because the other factors are more important in my opinions and the rest is just add ons. But also you don’t have to make a patent / cure cancer to have personality rating that’s great - your character can come out in more ways . Also Im supposed to be somewhat optimistic? Because test scores are not everything but only a indicator to show test rigor and ability. Are you saying because I have a 3 in one section I can’t get accepted ? I’m kind of confused on what your getting at, like yea, my grades are on the lower end but there others things that showcase my abiites than a C and B’s in IB Calculus /Ap Chem (double period) (also my grades started slipping becasue of a very lagre family issue that impacted me so it wasn’t just me slacking off) I know its not guaranteed that I will get accepted to any of these school’s but its worth a shot ?