What would you do in this situation?

[cookderosa]

I am 17 and presently home schooled. Back when I was 16, last year, I took the English SAT with Critical Reading, Writing, and Essay. I scored a 690 on the CR/Writing part and a 10 on my essay. Because of this high score I am exempt from taking Freshman English at my goal 4-year prestigious state U, which I intend to enter next fall of 2011. So I have a year, more or less, to get some other, advance credits under my belt.

Already I have a CLEP exam date for Intro to Sociology. By July I will be fully ready to CLEP College Mathematics.

Here is my predicament: within the next academic year I will be allowed to take 4 classes, free and all for credit, as a dual-enrollment student at my local community college. HOWEVER, unlike my state U, the community college will NOT exempt me from taking Freshman English (despite my high score) in order to proceed onwards to any other courses, such as American Literature, Art History, Humanities, etc etc. They (the CC) says I have to CLEP Freshman Comp w/Essay to be exempt. That's okay with me (though it will cost me $87) because I am sure I will pass, but here's the big question:

Is it actually worth it for me to take the Freshman Comp w/Essay, and then spend the additional time driving to- and from- campus 2x a week for an entire 16 week period, just to earn 3 credits for American Literature or Humanities? That's a 4-month period! Could I not just as easily study for the American Lit or Humanities CLEP during that same time? Or are those exams so difficult that it would be easier to just take the Freshman Comp exam and also drive to the CC?

Which CLEP exams would you say take less than 4 months to prepare for? I average about 1 to 1.5 hours of continual study per day, per subject.

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First off, great job! Your hard work is paying off. I'm a homeschool mom, so stories like yours make me proud of my peeps High school to college questions must be answered carefully.
May I ask you some questions before offering my suggestions?

1. What degree will you seek from your university?
2. What is that university's CLEP policy?
3. Does your community college have a placement exam, if so have you taken it/is it waived due to your SAT score? (Asset, Compass, etc?)
4. Do you live close enough to a high school where taking an AP exam *not course* would be an option?
5. Are you receiving a freshman scholarship of any kind that will be lost in the event that you come in with X number of credits?