Course Selection FAQs

Course descriptions, graduation requirements and college entrance requirements have been prepared for you in the Vista del Lago Program Planning Guide. 

The course selection process is a request for courses, not a guarantee for courses. Students will be scheduled into chosen alternative classes if the first choice becomes unavailable or they are ineligible due to final grades. Courses are selected for the ENTIRE SCHOOL YEAR. 

There are only two scenarios that allow for high school credit for courses taken over the summer.

1. Students who enroll in a college course where they have been given prior approval on a College Course Substitution Contract.  Courses taken without an approved contract will not be given high school credit but may be used during the college admissions process.

2. Students who successfully pass a challenge exam the week prior to school starting.  The process to challenge a course is explained in the next FAQ.

IMPORTANT: FCUSD no longer recognizes coursework taken outside of the district for credit or for course placement unless in the two scenarios listed above.

Challenge tests are offered for students who are seeking to progress and self-study in math and world language. Students who earn an 80% (B) or higher will be placed in the next level course. The earned grade for the course challenged as well as ten credits will be placed on the student’s transcript. Once a student has challenged and passed the test with a B or higher they may not take the course for a higher grade or credit.

It is not necessary to notify the counseling department of coursework taken outside of FCUSD as the way and reason the student has prepared to challenge a course is not significant to the challenge process.

When will the challenge exams be given:

The 2026-2027 challenge exams will be held for Vista del Lago students only at Vista del Lago on July 31st at 1:00pm.  Exact location to be determined.

If a student is interested in taking a challenge exam, they MUST:

• Sign up on the Google form linked in the Counseling Google Classroom

• Attach a signed Course Challenge Petition to the Google form (do not turn this form into the office or your counselor) 

• This form will close one week prior to the exam date: July 31st, 2026.

Students must enroll in the course that they wish to challenge until the exam is passed.

It is assumed that preparation for challenge exams have been made independently by the students.  As such, we do not provide materials, study guides or textbooks to prepare for exams. 

Check required prerequisites before selecting a course. A comprehensive list titled Course Guide and Prerequisites is linked here.

Vista del Lago students will not have access to the FCUSD summer school program. Students should plan to repeat any necessary courses during the school year. No other out of district summer courses will be accepted for credit. Please see the Course Substitution Policy in the Vista del Lago Curriculum guide for further details regarding the completion of credits outside of the Folsom Cordova Unified School District. 

Start by visiting the AP Program home page. You will find links to all AP/Honors classes. Review the material provided on the homepage of the course you are interested in. Complete the Google form on the course home page to get credit for this mandatory task.  

11th and 12th graders are eligible to be teacher and office assistants. If you would like to be scheduled for a teacher/office assistant position, you will need to enter the teachers name into your course selection form and it will be submitted to the teacher for approval.

11 th and 12 th graders may have a max of 1 unscheduled block per term as long as they are on track for graduation. Please consult the Course Guide and Prerequisites for the correct course code number and use it for one or two of your elective choices depending on if you want 1 unscheduled period for one term or two terms. We cannot guarantee that you will be able to be unscheduled for a specific term or block. 

As of the 2026-2027 school year, there are not any online courses available at Vista.

Please see the page linked HERE for more information.

Please see the page linked HERE for more information.

In many cases there are more students interested in an elective course than for which there is room. The process for selecting who will take the course if it is over enrolled is as follows. 

Priority will be given to: 

1. Students with registration forms signed by student and guardian turned in by the due date. 

2. Students in the grade level for which the course was intended (example: AP Chemistry is designed for 11 th -12 th grade students) 

3. Highest grade level in upper level elective classes (for example: 12th graders will get priority over 11th and 10th ) 

Students interested in graduating after their junior year must submit an application during registration for their 11 th grade year. Students interested in graduating midterm of their senior year must submit an application during registration for their 12 th grade year. Application for early graduation can be found on the "Resources" tab of this website and must be submitted with your registration materials. Please see curriculum guide for early graduation policy. 

Be very careful to enter your course requests accurately into PowerSchool. If an error is made the course selection form is flagged and reviewed for correction. This may cause a delay and can cause students to not get their first choice courses. Some examples of errors are: requesting a course where the prerequisite has not been met, not selecting matching the matching 1st semester (A) and 2nd semester (B) for each course and not completing required tasks such as asking a teacher to be their TA or reviewing AP course slide decks and submitting the Google Form.

Once you have turned in your registration materials, if you have a change, you will need to request it on the course confirmation sheet given out in May. On the back side of the form you will have a place to request changes. We are unable to entertain change requests before that time.