We are very fortunate in CA with free and often quality DE. I realized if I did enough research, there were some incredible teachers out there. But mostly it can be hit and miss here as well.
The way my child approach it is he took the course in the first semester and studied for the exam in the second half. So the year he did physics, he took mechanics in the Fall, and another science course in the spring, but prepped for mechanics on his own. The year after he took E&M in the Fall again and self studied for the test in the spring. Taking Spring courses with exam could be more problematic due to timing. We decided to take this approach because relying on just the exam was risky. He could easily wake up with a massive allergy that day and do poorly on the exam. Having CC credits was a sort of a way to hedge for that risk. If the test didn’t work out, he had credits, but if it did work out, he had good scores to support his grades. Luckily he had a lot of success.
He did however take some AP courses online through PA homeschoolers as well and enjoyed them.
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