I Broke the School System (Genius Strategy)

Summary

In this video, the speaker shares their journey of graduating college in just one year, focusing on how they leveraged AP courses, CLEP, DSST exams, and the Postsecondary Enrollment Option (PSO) to earn college credits while still in high school. Driven by a fear of student debt, they meticulously planned their education to save both time and money. The speaker emphasizes the importance of using tools like Transferology to ensure credits transfer, offers study tips, and reflects on the pros and cons of traditional education versus alternative paths.

Takeaways

• 🎓 The speaker graduated college in one year, which gained attention from LinkedIn and raised questions on how they achieved this.
• 💡 They discovered that college credits could be earned in high school through programs like Advanced Placement (AP), College Level Examination Program (CLEP), and DSST exams.
• 🕵️‍♂️ The speaker self-studied for many of these exams to save both time and money, realizing it was a more efficient route than traditional college classes.
• 📊 A key tool in their process was Transferology, a website that helps determine if credits transfer between institutions, which helped them avoid taking non-transferable courses.
• 🗂️ They meticulously planned their credits, ensuring every exam or course would count toward their degree, using a spreadsheet to organize AP, CLEP, DSST, and PSO (Postsecondary Enrollment Options) credits.
• 🔍 Some exams, like AP tests, require structured preparation, while others, like CLEP and DSST, can be scheduled more flexibly, allowing the speaker to balance their schedule effectively.
• 🧑‍🏫 The speaker used resources like teachers, tutors, and free online tools (e.g., Quizlet, Modern States) to study for difficult subjects, particularly in STEM areas.
• 💪 The speaker emphasized that they were not a genius but were strategic in using efficient learning methods, including focusing on practice questions before diving into study materials.
• ⏳ By earning both high school and college credits simultaneously, the speaker freed up time for extracurricular activities and felt less stressed overall.
• 💭 The speaker believes education should be more flexible, allowing students to progress at their own pace, and that there are alternative paths to success outside of traditional schooling.

Q & A

How did the speaker plan to graduate from college in one year?

The speaker used a combination of AP exams, CLEP (College Level Examination Program), DSST exams, and the Postsecondary Enrollment Option (PSO) to earn college credits while still in high school. This allowed them to test out of many required classes and fast-track their degree.

What inspired the speaker to graduate from college so quickly?

The speaker was primarily motivated by the fear of student debt and the rising costs of higher education. They wanted to save both time and money by completing their degree as quickly as possible.

What are AP exams and how did they help the speaker?

AP exams are college-level exams offered to high school students by the College Board. By scoring 3 or higher on these exams, students can earn college credits. The speaker used AP exams to earn credits and reduce the number of classes they needed to take in college.

What is CLEP, and how did the speaker use it to earn credits?

CLEP (College Level Examination Program) allows students to earn college credits by passing exams in various subjects. The speaker used CLEP exams to test out of certain courses and earn credits without having to take the actual classes.

What is PSO, and how did it factor into the speaker's strategy?

PSO (Postsecondary Enrollment Option) allows high school students to take college courses for free. The speaker used PSO to take additional courses at a local community college while still in high school, further accelerating their progress.

How did the speaker ensure their credits would transfer to their chosen university?

The speaker used a tool called Transferology, which shows if courses and exam scores will transfer to specific universities. They double-checked their credits using this tool to make sure everything would count toward their degree.

What major did the speaker choose, and why?

The speaker chose a major in Organizational Management. This program aligned with their goals and allowed them to use many of the credits they had earned through AP, CLEP, DSST, and PSO to satisfy the degree requirements.

What study strategy did the speaker use to prepare for exams?

The speaker focused on practice questions from free resources like Quizlet before diving into the study material. This allowed them to familiarize themselves with the exam format and focus on the most important content.

Why does the speaker believe that the current education system is inefficient?

The speaker feels that schools condition students to memorize information rather than truly learn it. They believe that much of the time spent in school is wasted and that it's possible to achieve the desired outcomes more efficiently by focusing on the essential content.

What did the speaker gain from their college experience, and what do they think about alternative paths?

The speaker appreciated the benefits of networking, mentorship programs, and the social experiences of college. However, they also believe that alternative paths, such as starting a business, traveling, or pursuing online education, could provide equal or greater value for some people.

Outlines

00:00

🎓 How I Graduated College in One Year

The speaker shares their journey of graduating college in one year, sparked by concerns over student debt. They explain how they formulated a plan after discovering opportunities like Advanced Placement (AP) credits and other credit-granting programs while still in high school. They discuss the challenges of their ambitious goal and how they tackled uncertainties along the way.

05:00

📚 Discovering AP, CLEP, and DSST Exams

The speaker delves into how they used AP exams, College-Level Examination Program (CLEP), and DSST exams to earn college credits while still in high school. They highlight the importance of self-study for AP exams, the flexibility of CLEP and DSST exams, and their strategy for maximizing these opportunities to save time and money on college tuition.

10:02

🔍 How Transferology Helped Me Maximize College Credits

The speaker introduces Transferology, a website they used to ensure their earned credits would transfer to their chosen university. They emphasize the importance of double-checking credit transferability to avoid wasting time and effort on courses or exams that wouldn't count toward their degree.

📝 Crafting a Plan and Choosing the Right Program

The speaker explains how they used a spreadsheet to track courses they needed for their major, organizational management, and matched those with credits earned from AP, CLEP, and DSST exams. They also talk about their decision to attend the University of Minnesota, where they ensured their scores were transferred properly.

⏳ Why I Chose an Unorthodox Path

The speaker reflects on their motivation to follow a unique path by self-studying for college exams and pursuing early graduation. They highlight the benefits of studying on their own, especially for subjects like economics, where they sought help from high school teachers. They also provide tips on how to balance exams and high school requirements simultaneously.

💡 Testing Strategies and Study Tips

The speaker shares their strategies for efficiently studying for exams, including using Quizlet and other free online resources. They advise focusing on practice questions to get familiar with the type of material likely to appear on exams, which allowed them to streamline their study efforts. They also mention how this approach freed up time for extracurricular activities.

🎯 The Benefits and Challenges of Fast-Tracking Graduation

The speaker recounts the stress and challenges they faced while pursuing this accelerated path, such as the need to over-communicate with schools and navigate various administrative hurdles. They express relief at successfully completing their plan and reflect on how this choice freed them from potential student debt while allowing them to graduate early.

🌍 The Value of Learning Beyond College

The speaker offers a broader perspective on education, suggesting that much of their most valuable learning came from experiences outside of traditional academics, such as audiobooks, online courses, travel, and entrepreneurship. They argue that college may not be the best option for everyone and encourage others to explore alternative paths.

👍 Like and Subscribe for More Insights

The speaker concludes the video by asking viewers to like and subscribe to support their YouTube channel, suggesting that the content may help others considering similar academic paths. They also reflect on the non-academic benefits of college, such as networking and mentorship opportunities, while reiterating that the value of a degree may not always justify the costs.

Keywords

💡Student debt

Student debt refers to the money borrowed by students to finance their education, which they must repay after graduation. In the video, the speaker expresses concern about accumulating debt, stating that the average private university student borrows $35,000, and this fear of debt motivated the speaker to graduate early.

💡AP (Advanced Placement)

AP stands for Advanced Placement, a program by the College Board offering college-level courses and exams to high school students. In the video, AP courses allowed the speaker to earn college credits while still in high school, saving both time and money. The speaker highlights how scoring 3 or higher on AP exams can fulfill college credit requirements.

💡Self-study

Self-study refers to the act of independently preparing for exams without formal instruction. In the video, the speaker discovered they could self-study for AP exams and other credit-earning tests, like CLEP and DSST, without taking the associated classes. This strategy was essential in accumulating credits efficiently.

💡College credits

College credits are units that count toward completing a degree, typically earned through coursework or examinations. The speaker discusses earning college credits through various exams (AP, CLEP, DSST) and programs like PSO to fulfill university degree requirements in a short time frame.

💡CLEP (College-Level Examination Program)

CLEP is a credit-by-exam program administered by the College Board, allowing students to earn college credit by passing exams in specific subjects. The speaker utilized CLEP exams to bypass certain college courses, speeding up the path to graduation by earning credits through testing.

💡Transferology

Transferology is an online tool that helps students determine how their courses and exam scores transfer between institutions. The speaker used this tool to ensure that the credits they earned through AP, CLEP, and DSST would be accepted by the University of Minnesota, preventing wasted effort on untransferable credits.

💡DSST (DANTES Subject Standardized Tests)

DSST exams are another set of credit-by-exam tests similar to CLEP but often used by military personnel. The speaker used DSST exams to earn additional college credits while still in high school, contributing to their goal of graduating early.

💡PSO (Postsecondary Enrollment Option)

PSO allows high school students to take college courses for free and earn both high school and college credits simultaneously. The speaker used this program to complete college courses at a local community college, which further accelerated their path to graduation.

💡Graduating early

Graduating early refers to completing all the requirements for a college degree in less time than usual. The speaker’s goal was to graduate college in one year, which they achieved by leveraging AP, CLEP, DSST, and PSO programs. This strategy saved them both time and money, avoiding significant student debt.

💡Time management

Time management is the process of organizing and planning how to divide one's time between specific activities. The speaker emphasizes how they managed their time to self-study for multiple exams, balance high school and college work, and navigate the requirements of various programs. Effective time management was key to their success in graduating early.

Highlights

Graduated college in one year, receiving attention on LinkedIn from students and teachers.

Goal to avoid student debt after learning the average private nonprofit university student borrows $35,000.

Discovered AP (Advanced Placement) in high school to earn college credits early.

Learned about AP self-study, allowing students to take AP exams without taking the corresponding class.

Utilized multiple credit-earning programs like CLEP (College Level Examination Program) and DSST (DANTES Subject Standardized Tests).

Took advantage of PSO (Postsecondary Enrollment Options) for free college courses in high school.

Used Transferology to ensure that all earned credits would transfer to the intended university.

Strategized by listing AP, CLEP, DSST, and PSO credits and matched them with university requirements to accelerate degree completion.

Graduated from the University of Minnesota system with a major in Organizational Management.

Self-studied for exams by finding free resources online like Quizlet and practicing with exam questions.

Saved both time and money by using alternative pathways to earn college credits quickly.

Finished high school requirements while earning college credits, reducing overall stress and freeing up time for extracurriculars.

Graduated college in 2020 instead of the originally planned 2023, freeing up 3 years.

Realized that education could be more efficient if paced individually, especially with modern technology.

Reflected on learning more from online courses, audiobooks, and networking events than traditional undergrad and grad programs.

Transcripts

I graduated college in one year got

attention from LinkedIn and received

many messages from students and teachers

on the one question how and here's how I

did it I figured out how to take 17

classes a semester just kidding Let's

rewind back on how this actually came to

be as a freshman in high school I had an

idea that college was going to be the

path for me though there's one thing I

was super worried about and that was

student debt the average private

nonprofit University student borrows

$35,000 after they graduate as you see

these Trends it continues to go up so

after finishing freshman year I made it

a goal to graduate college in one year

after crafting The elusive plan which

I'll jump into in a moment though I

faced a number of challenges ahead with

the skull and here are some questions I

had in my head how the heck was I even

going to do this can this actually work

what happens if it doesn't so backing up

a bit while registering for classes for

sophomore year I found out you could

earn college credits while you're in

high school through this thing called

called AP which is huge at the time I

was like what are college credits and

with ap advanced placement it's a

program in United States and Canada

created by the college board and it

offers undergraduate University level

curricula and examinations to high

school students and with a score of

three or higher typically most

universities will accept that and

they'll take it as if you took the class

at that college and these are

administered at the end of the year then

as I was researching all this something

clicked me I can save both time and

money and so I thought well this has

really no downsides let me sign up for

some more though most teachers really

push to only take one AP class because

they are difficult and not going to lie

they are as I'm going through this

Rabbit Hole of finding more about

college credits I've discovered that you

can self-study these AP exams so AP

self-study is when you study for an AP

exam on your own then you take the test

test without needing to take the class

and this is possible because College

Board doesn't actually require you to

take the class in order to take the exam

then I went into this Rabbit Hole of

finding other college credit granting

programs based off of passing

examinations one of which is the college

level examination program also

administered by the college board and

these are tests which you can take in

high school even if you're in college

there's this other group of exams called

dsst which is just like Kap and and each

has a catalog of their own exams and

there are many other programs out there

but for this these are the three core I

used in order to get most of my credits

knocked out and for credits I couldn't

test out of I did PSO which is

essentially free college while in high

school it's called the postsecondary

enrollment option and it's available in

Minnesota Ohio Washington and in other

states it's probably called something

else so I found a local community

College I can take courses from and it's

all free again the super important part

I made sure that if I can get the

credits through those group of exams I

would take it at PSO or through my local

college and I'll explain that in a

second why so on to the next question

can this actually work a college friend

of mine at the time told me about this

website called transferology and it's a

tool that tells you if the courses and

exam scores you've earned transfer to

that University also a great tool if

you're in college looking to transfer to

another one and here's where many people

get it wrong while they're taking

courses in PSO or they're taking AP

classes they take all these things and

it doesn't transfer which is the worst

case scenario I had in my head and why I

double triple quadruple checked

everything to make sure that it

transferred and so here's how I went

about this I crafted this plan of just

doing all the college credits I could

get put that information on

transferology then list at all the

universities and programs I could do to

complete in record time typically you

need to have 120 credits to graduate and

there's this huge bucket which is called

your generals and in your liberal arts

and these are all the classes that

students have to take to be more

well-rounded now this will work with

certain programs like if you're leaning

to more of a rigorous degree path like

engineering biomed things like that

they're going to need a little bit more

actual classes that you you need to be

taking aside from that business classes

or maybe even some liberal arts this is

easy to pull off After figuring out

which classes to take I decided on a

program in a university which sort of

fell into everything I was doing through

the University of Minnesota system and

whenever I did these KP or dsst exams I

just had the option to select University

or college and that was one I defaulted

to send my scores to I took the program

list of my major which was

organizational man management made a

spreadsheet one column with classes I I

can take and one column with transfer

credits I could satisfy them with with

ap club dsst or PSO now you might be

thinking why John why would you go

through all this The self-studying

Carving this unorthodox path probably

some sleepless nights and there might

have been a lot of that and here's why I

realized most of these exams I could

study in 2 to 3 weeks then take the test

and mind you depending on the difficulty

of subject let's say it's calculus

chemistry or biology I recommend that

you actually take the classes for or

have a tutor or you find a teacher at

the high school where you can run

questions by and that's what I did when

I was self-studying some of these exams

I would run some questions by our

economics teacher that we had at the

high school and then she would be

willing to help out with some resources

or answer any other questions with clap

and dsst exams you can take them

whenever you schedule it you find a

testing location near you and it's as

easy as that they do cost money and I

think when I took them they were around

$50 to $75 but it's probably more than

that now there's also this program

called modern states where they'll

reimburse you the cost of the clap exams

and I'll link it in the description and

they also have free courses and study

material that you can also use however

with AP exams because they like to

structure it towards the end of the year

with all the exams I had to coordinate

three of them the first year of doing

this and it was uh quite the juggle and

by the way you can take AP exams your

school doesn't offer my school didn't

offer many but they still facilitate

them so they'll have a proctor you just

go into a testing room or just an empty

classroom and they'll sit there and

watch you to make sure that you're doing

everything right now you might be

wondering John I'm not a superhuman how

did you study and good news I'm not a

genius either if you've ever been in a

high school classroom you know how much

time is wasted and you're not really

learning the school conditions you to be

a memorization machine it's incredibly

inefficient most teachers will pack

their lessons with so much fat that they

typically over complicate it with exams

tests projects group projects

assignments homework and you get it it's

not their fault unfortunately it's how

our education system is set up in

reality you just need probably 20 to 33%

of that to accomplish your desired

outcome it's like the Paro principle the

8020 rule where 20% of the inputs

actually derive 80% of the outputs not

to say teachers are classes are bad

though versus a YouTube video that can

explain a subject in 10 minutes for me

and I can watch it over and over until

it clicks just makes more sense and here

are some testing tips whenever I

approached a new exam I would find all

the practice questions I would go on

Quizlet and any resource that's free

that was out there I would just do all

those practice questions before I

actually study the material so I get

familiar with everything before doing a

really deep dive into it and I know what

to look for if you focus on the

questions and you get familiar with what

you're most likely going to be tested on

it just works out and that was

essentially a cheat code for me so after

earning college credits I learned that

you could also satisfy High School

requirements which is a double whammy

and the crazy thing was that I was less

stressed this freed up more time for

high school and extracurricular

activities I felt like I cracked open a

system which freed up time on an easier

path and it didn't make sense for me not

to do it however this wasn't easy it was

incredibly stress in its own way I had

many back and forth emails with the

school just to double check things

overthinking if it would actually work

if I just missed a few classes it would

have pushed my graduation year to

another year fortunately I accomplished

my goal it was supposed to be a

graduating class of 2023 this year

actually I finished in 2020 freeing up 3

years and since I knew my freshman year

was going to be my senior year I made

the most out of it again this was driven

by two things a fear of student debt and

a goal of doing something out of the

ordinary with Co lockdowns and

everything else I decided to get a

graduate degree so I didn't accomplish

my goal I also think maybe education

should be designed in a way where you

can get through it at your own pace

rather than a rigid structure Society

puts on you with technology this is more

possible than ever and in conclusion you

know this was a unique path it's not

meant for everyone but I have I did have

a lot of people asking me about it on

what I did and how I did it again I do

think there are other paths which are

better especially now College isn't for

everyone and by then you could use the

same amount of time and energy that you

could dedicate to something else which

could result in in more outcomes like

traveling the world starting your own

Ventures and I'm not saying that school

is bad I am enjoying a lot of the

benefits from what I gained in terms of

Alumni network and mentorship programs

and everything else though the financial

and time costs may not necessarily

equate to the benefits it once had this

doesn't mean it has to be the default

path and here's another interesting

comment I've learned more from Audi

books online courses travel starting my

own businesses and networking events

than I have for most of undergrad and

part of grad school the most value is

really just the community of people and

social activities that you get to be a

part of and that's essentially what

you're paying for and universities have

capital I ized on this lastly if you can

do me a favor and hit that like button

it will tell the algorithm to push my

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potentially help someone else out and

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