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this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2023
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Asklemmy
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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.
I went to an alternative style high school and spent my sophomore and junior years doing no real work. I spent most of my time managing the business computer lab and doing special projects with the Physics and Chemistry teacher.
A lot of learning IT was what I learned by doing in those computer labs. I even was part of a group that created a PowerPoint Presentation with manual animation to help secure some funding for the school.
I also showed them their flaws in the grading system when I hacked into their electronic database system showing how easily it was trying to help my friend out when he was accused of changing his grades. Because of that, they banned me from using any computer unsupervised and moved everything in the labs back to Windows 3.1, after I had moved everything to Windows 95.
The problem was that all testing was done on their computer systems, and I was effectively banned from being able to finish the 2+ years I was missing. I ended up dropping out to work tech support at a local dial-up ISP that was at a computer store. When that fell through, because I was unprepared to manage the entire tech support group at 17 I signed up to join the Army.
The Army needed me to have a High School diploma, so I needed to go back to the school with only a month
I found out that they allowed you to test out of each module if you believed you knew the subject. If you passed the final exams, you got to have that grade in the .125 credit module. 8 tests per semester class. If you failed the test, you had to redo all the actual work.
I ended up doing 8 hours a day of supervised testing, since I was still banned from touching a computer without a teacher watching. It took about a week to take every test for 3 years of High School so I could graduate. I missed graduation because I shipped out once I secured the paperwork saying I was going to graduate.
The next school year they didn't allow people to test out of classes. You were required to do all of the homework before taking the exams.
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).