You may want to dual boot, especially if your classes are online. I've seen issue after issue using a Windows VM for online exams. But, for me it'd be worth asking a buddy or using the computer lab to get around an invasive OS as your daily driver.
For sure, but online exams for college see VM's as a cheating option since the base OS isn't accessible by the exam software to restrict. I've seen on going workarounds, but these exam programs always adapt, making more settings changes required for a VM to work on a test. As if a difficult exam wasn't tough enough. Windows provides the exam software's the lockdown capabilities they desire, so alt OS options aren't allowed.
For those purposes yes you need dual boot. However, of you're learning a new OS, dual boot is often just too inconvenient the rest of the time. It's way easier to spool a VM because you can't get your phone to connect and troubleshoot that problem later (compared to log out and restart to get a picture off you need) for example.