• Snapz@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    TL/DR: I tested out of almost 3 years of High School classes in a week to graduate. The next year the canceled the program to test out of subjects you knew.

    Wow, I came here to say basically the same thing thinking I would be unique :)

    I had a very unstable home life that made school difficult. Mid senior year, I basically had all of high school credits to make up for and enrolled at an alternative school. I’d always tested well with little to no prep, problems in my life were bigger than the school work, as mentioned. I started with a typical slate of classes, very slow pace, but making progress. Then, they showed me this magic room. They had file cabinets with tests for all of the credits in high school. You could basically go in during any free time or ask to leave a class to take a related test. It was simple, pass the test, get the full credit as if you’d attended the entire class. This also meant you’d graduate with an actual high school diploma and not a GED or other equivalent certificate FWIW.

    There was also a sheet I was given that listed credits I’d attained to date, and all categories of what was still needed with basically a 1/5 completed style. This then became a video game that I could complete. For the first test, I studied the questions slowly and carefully, then apprehensively handed it in and called it a day. I passed! Next day, encouraged, I did a couple more “low hanging fruit” tests. It then set in, I could just do this and nobody really cared.

    As I started to complete categories on the printout, I began to challenge myself on how many I could finish in a day. I’d almost immediately completed about 3/4 of what was needed (in about a week) and then someone decided they needed to step in. A new rule was introduced, max of one of these tests per day, per student. A blow to be sure, but I basically cruised around school for the remaining time and actually graduated a few months early compared to my friends that stayed in traditional high school (with a functionally equivalent high school diploma).