which is better: class rank or course load

nvg281
Mon, 23 Apr 2007 12:40:50 +0000

I am not sure how to pick my classes.

I know class rank is very important, but I also want to take challenging courses. Unfortunately, the top kids at my school don’t care much about learning or taking challenging courses, they just want to get a near perfect GPA.

For example, I was planning on taking AP classes in slots where my competition is planning on taking required courses such as speech and health pass/fail (which means that instead of being counted as level classes they are not counted at all, so they get a boost in GPA). In order to make room for my AP classes, I was going to take these classes (such as speech and health) over the summer. This means it will be a level class in terms of GPA. This will put me at a disadvantage for several reasons.

So… I guess I have 3 or so options

1) Should I take health, speech and computer science (level courses) over the summer and take AP classes in place of them.
2) Take those classes pass/fail during school and learn the AP stuff over the summer/during the school year.
3) Take those classes not pass/fail and learn the AP stuff over summer/during the year.
4) A combination of the above