Because there were other classes more worth my time, and so by skipping the in-person classes of subjects I needed to take but where I knew the material well I could take a higher course load and get more of the things I actually learned new material from.

By the time I started university, I'd been programming for 13 years, I'd done paid freelance development jobs, and written my first compiler, and I'd done more advanced stuff than the first several semesters worth of classes. I had gaps, and I filled them with the group work and books, but there was no value to me in the in-person lectures for the introductory computer science courses.

That's a pretty good answer but there's a few gaps in it. Like I get there's still "taking a higher course load" ie score points by jumping through hoops to impress the future. Like I did a lot of this in high school, endless jumping through flaming hoops, and good exercise in hindsight, but come on. Well I guess everyone has little choice.

Yeah and you did pay some attention, got a sampler plate, makes sense.

Plus it's fun acing courses with no effort every once in a while. It's a good sign.

Taking a higher course load was to enable me to actually learn things I wanted to. It was not about jumping hoops - didn't even finish my degree, because I had better things to do (a startup). I did finish it up years later, and that was about jumping hoops because the job market in the aftermath of the dot com crash in the UK where I moved to in 2000 meant having a degree was a lot more important.

It was also not about enjoying acing courses, but about needing to take courses that were compulsory for the programme and that you could not test out of. As I said, the option to skip most lectures felt like a reasonable middle group - if I'd run into problems with the group sessions, I could have easily gone back to the lectures at any time.

Very very good answer. No gaps.