This report summarizes the findings of a two-year study on high school students' use of options that provide alternatives to the usual curriculum. Questionnaires were given to juniors and seniors as well as counselors in 29 public high schools in the San Francisco (California) Bay region in 1978. The survey posed questions about students' knowledge and use of four options that were available in all 29 schools: work experience programs, early graduation, concurrent enrollment in a college or university, and taking the California High School Proficiency Examination (CHSPE). Variables that contributed to understanding student use of a particular option, discussed in this paper, include student attitudes and experience while in school, counselors' attitudes, attributes of individual students, and students' stated reasons for using or not using options. A detailed account is given of the CHSPE alternative. The paper concludes that the main limitation of CHSPE and the other options is that they do not increase the total number of jobs available in the economy, a desired result of participation in these programs. A lengthy appendix offers a reproduction of the survey instrument and an analysis of the methodology used. (Author/LD)