Testing Out of Classes for College Credit
This is typically called credit by exam. That may be a useful search term.
This would have required me to come in an hour before school usually started in order to participate. I have serious health problems that weren't yet properly diagnosed and was already missing the maximum number of days I could miss without being automatically failed for it, so that wasn't going to happen.
I started college and my first quarter enrolled in Calculus because it was the next class offered after all the college level math I already had. Having not done math in fifteen months, I was in over my head and withdrew from the class.
I started college and my first quarter enrolled in Calculus because it was the next class offered after all the college level math I already had. Having not done math in fifteen months, I was in over my head and withdrew from the class.
I already knew more college level math than many people with Bachelor's degrees and was being told I needed TWO more classes to graduate. This made me feel burned for having tried so hard to prep for college.
More than a decade later, I tested out of Algebra and took Statistics, ending up with a 107 for the class after they curved the grade for everyone else.
If you live in a remote area or have a demanding job or already took that class in high school, testing out of classes where you already confidently know the material may be a way to get a leg up on completing a degree. It can help reduce the demands on both your time and your budget because the tests are typically a lot less expensive than a comparable college class.