Tony

Regarding rec letters, there is actually some good advice in the transfer book.
I don’t remeber much but it goes like–> try to “impress” your TA and let him/her get to know you well, and then ask your TA to write […]

I think that the SAT Subject Tests are usually considerably easier than the AP Exams (which cover entry level college material), and thus getting good grades at college is far more convincing.