Can I get in trouble for this?

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I'm planning to audit classes and do all the work at my own pace. Later I'll return as a regular student. I'll copy from the work I did before and adapt it to assignments accordingly. Can I get in trouble for self plagiarism? None of this work will be handed in. It will just be in my private files for me to use later.

I'm mainly doing this because I'm slow at abstract thinking. I need way more time to respond to stuff on an abstract level. I think my abstract thinking is actually above average, but delayed. I think this is the only way I can deal with my delayed abstract thinking. I'll be able to keep up with way more classes if I can do this.

I'd consider it to be cheating, not plagiarism. It's giving yourself more time to work on assignments than others will have in those classes. It's an unfair advantage.

If you have trouble with learning because of slower abstract thinking, you should ask for accommodations at the disability center. In that way it's not cheating. It's accommodations for learning difficulties.

How about if I do my assignment during auditing, but not directly copy it from my documents? I'll just copy it from my long-term memory.

Do you think the assignments will the the same the second time around? A good teacher would change them (although the general subject matter would be the same).

I don't think that you could get in trouble for it, but it still may be helpful to register for supportive services. You may not have to waste time auditing classes if you are given more time because of learning difficulties. You just need more time to process certain things. Usually colleges will try to work with those who have disabilities or learning difficulties. And the information is kept confidential. Even the instructor usually will only know that you are registered as needing accommodations, but not what it's for.

I know that I myself often need more time to write papers and do projects, because I have to take time to think things through very thoroughly. Not having enough time causes extreme anxiety and causes me to shut down and turn in projects late. I know that I don't actually need to put so much thought into my assignments, but I'm unable to help myself.

They probably won't, but you never know. I usually go way more in depth than the average student, so whatever I think of the year before could still apply for the next year. I can quickly write down my abstract thoughts that took a year to think of and quickly fill in the concrete details. There's also a lot of incredibly lazy teachers. Especially at the undergrad level.

There is absolutely nothing wrong, illegal, or unethical about auditing and then taking a class. Do it twenty times if you need it. Write twenty papers and choose to get credit for your favorite two years later. Its all good. You did your own work. Repetition is the key to learning. If you audit you do not get credit. When you take it for real and it counts for a grade you get credit. Nothing sketchy about it. I would consider this as one of the purposes of auditing. You cannot plagiarize yourself as in it is not possible. Google the definition. The only way it might be cheating is if you used the same assignment for multiple credit classes.

In general, I think what you're proposing is OK, and even admirable. There can be local details that you'd need to check however (and you appear to be in Canada rather than US). Sometimes "audit" just means sitting in the back of a giant lecture hall and no one even knows you're there. But some universities also have a type of official "audit" of a course under which you register and your presence is noted in attendance and you get an "AUD" on your transcript showing you were an official auditor. If that's the practice in your university, then retaking the course later for credit may specifically be forbidden.

If it's a small course, so the professor will certainly know you're there, then proper courtesy would be to ask if you can sit in, and then ask if you would be able to take it a year later for credit if you sit in now. (You could even say that you want to build up your background knowledge before trying for credit, if that would be a fair statement.)

Alternatively, you could skip the audit and just study the textbook(s) a term in advance.

I'll figure out the details later. There's actually an auditing program specifically for disabled students. It's 2k per year and I can audit all the classes I want. I'm already reading an introductory anthropology text book on my own. I found it in the public library. The text book also gave me good ideas for academic books to read later. I already have a university library card.

You'll be fine if you audit the class, take notes, then use the notes in your subsequent class IF YOU DON'T BRING THE NOTES TO CLASS. Study them in the privacy of your home. As others said, I don't see anything unethical about this.

I believe what you'd be doing is akin to taking the class again after you didn't do so well the first time. It's not self-plagiarism or any kind of plagiarism.

What you'd be doing, though, is extending the time needed for you to graduate.

The problem I have is that I haven't completed high school yet. I'll be auditing courses before I can finish high school. It won't really extend the time I need to graduate.

I think it is fine for you to do this.
On most class topics, there is lots of info in books and online that anyone can find, including doing practice problems that are similar to class assignment problems, so someone who learns some topic on their own this way can still take the class later for credit.

No, no. Please talk to the disability office and learn the rules. Sometimes it's okay and sometimes it's not. I have seen jerk professors decide they don't like a particular student and have things fished up from long ago in order to "prosecute" them on an honor board.

I have personally recycled papers myself in undergrad school. Everyone does it, but don't risk it at that mass level. You're too likely to get in trouble if you run up on a jerk professor. There's probably an accommodation where you can put it in your records and do it on the books.

You should check into what the institution's policies are in regards to what qualifies as cheating, plagiarism, academic dishonesty

I have to agree, maybe just double check the rules of the college first, even triple check. I work as a receptionist at a university, and I can tell you, some of the professors are snotty jerks who disregard the wellbeing of their students.

Ethically, I don't think there is anything wrong with it, but cover your butt as much as possible, just in case.

She wasn't thinking of plagiarizing. She was thinking of auditing a class, taking notes, then taking the class again for credit and making use of the previous notes and other material from the audited class.

She shouldn't bring the previous notes to class; this is so she could cover herself. Otherwise, there's no academic dishonesty in what she's doing. She's just learning something twice.