People who are in this only for the trophy will never 'get it'. Personally I don't care if you fly a .40-sized or 40% airplane. If you can't handle the basic building blocks of the maneuvers then you shouldn't move up. It's a simple enough process to force advancement for the guy who's sitting in a lower class just to rack up the wood collection. To be honest I've never run into that person in the 10 years I've been flying IMAC.

Until you can CONSISTENTLY get 8's on every maneuver, you're not ready for the next class. This is most important in Basic and Sportsman, but I see it all the way up to Unlimited. I see guys in Unlimited who really struggle because they didn't spend enough time learning the building blocks for the class (in advanced).

I know it's hard, but don't let your ego force you into a class you're not ready for yet. Patience grasshopper