my school allows you to skip a class if you can pass the finial exam so what is the best way to prepare for an algebra1 exam when you haven't taken the class?

I am going suggest you look at your thread about how to pass out of High School Biology as at least my advice will remain the same, and I would wager that of many others will be similar as well.

 

As an addition to my linked post I would not recommended you try and cram for these tests and pass out of them simply to get ahead in the short term. If you don't take the time to learn the basics and fundamentals well you will suffer in the long run, and end up behind those who took the time in the beginning to create a good foundation.

thanks i hadn't checked that thread to see if anyone had answered yet

and thought that algebra would require a different way of studding

Undoubtedly, your local city library has many algebra books in their stacks. If you can work through much of one of those books, you should be fine.

 

But, this is a tricky one to skip -- if you don't have the basics of algebra down, most other math courses are going to be frustrating. Because algebra is used is almost every other math class going forward. Perhaps you could take an advanced class through a summer or community college -- that way you get an instructor and a full class while still having a path to skip the class itself.