Whether you like it or not, GPA isn’t only indicative of academic success; there’s a game to be played, and here’s how to win. 

First, you should know the purpose of this “guide.” If you’re only looking to boost your GPA for the purpose of a stronger college application, the only real advice is to take as many honors/AP classes as you can, and get the highest grades you can. However, if you don’t already know, South has a system of class ranking that appears to you in the second semester of your senior year: the honor of Summa Cum Laude, attained by being in the top 2% of your graduating class in terms of GPA accumulated in the first seven semesters of your high school career. This is a guide to achieving this title, and subsequently a guide to maximizing your Hinsdale South GPA as a whole.

South’s GPA scale is 1 point higher than what’s typically normal. An “A” in an honors or AP class is worth 6, while in a regular class it’s with 5; you’ll usually see that it’s 5 and 4 at other schools, although GPA is entirely unstandardized across school districts.

The way to achieve Summa Cum Laude is obviously to take all honors/AP classes and get straight A’s, and that’s what I’m about to tell you to do, but you’re going to have to take it to a whole new level. 

The reason a GPA of a perfect 6 is impossible is because of one class: Health, the one non-honors class you are required to take (PE does not count towards GPA). Whether it was intended or not, the requirement of taking Health makes it so that the amount of 6-weighted classes also matters. If Health didn’t exist, getting an “A” in one and only one honors/AP class would give you a GPA of 6, while doing so 100 times would also give you a GPA of 6.

So, you have to stack up as many 6-weighted classes as you can. Don’t take a single non-honors/AP class if you’re trying to be in the top 2%. If you see a “regular” class that you’re interested in, by all means take it, but realize what you’re sacrificing. Optionally, take Early-Bird PE. You can definitely attain Summa Cum Laude without this, but taking EB PE for just one year to fit in an extra 6-weighted class will give you a slight edge over the GPA of the standard no-EB, all-honors/AP (except for Health) schedule.

This is the end of the guide.

If this all sounds stupid, it’s because it is. The smartest student can choose to take some classes they enjoy that happen to be non-honors/AP, and suddenly they’re kicked out of some “elite group” that doesn’t even really mean anything. Summa Cum Laude should not be your sole focus in your four years at South. Care about your real life. Take the classes you want to take. Above all, do not let that number control your life.