Credit & Placement Policy
How an AP policy can help your institution and its students
A clearly stated AP policy—one that allows students who perform well on AP Exams to earn credit, place out of introductory courses, or both—helps students move directly to material at their level and identify their academic interests. Earning credit for qualifying AP Exam scores allows students more flexibility in their college curriculum, making it possible to pursue honors programs, double majors, and study-abroad programs while still graduating on time.
Each college and university determines its own policies regarding AP Exam scores, which may include granting credit, advanced placement, or both. The AP Program defines these policies as the following:
- Granting credit reduces the number of credit hours required for graduation.
- Awarding advanced placement allows a student to place out of the introductory course that is comparable to the AP course and move directly into the next, higher-level course.
In many cases, taking an AP course fuels a student's appetite for further studies in that subject and often increases the likelihood that they will major or minor in that subject in college.
What kind of AP policy is right for your institution?
Different institutions will set different policies based upon factors unique to them. Accordingly, each college or university must decide what evidence is sufficient to demonstrate that a student has satisfied one or more of its course requirements. Some colleges and universities appoint special committees to set an AP policy for the entire institution; others leave the credit and placement policies up to individual academic departments.
As a starting point, here are four commonly used guidelines for establishing or refining your institution's AP policies:
- Understand what an AP Exam score represents. The AP Program takes steps to verify that AP courses are similar in curricular content to introductory-level college courses and that AP Exam scores correspond to specific levels of college achievement. AP conducts college comparability studies that help align the AP Exam-scoring rubric to actual grades received by students in introductory-level college courses. To learn more about these comparability studies, visit Course & Exam Development.
- Use data on the performance of AP students in college. Consider recent research correlating success on the AP Exams with success in college, or conduct your own validity research study at your institution.
- Base your policy on external recommendations. The American Council on Education (ACE), a national organization, provides recommendations for awarding credit for AP Exam scores.
- Understand the expectations of each AP course. Review AP course descriptions and exam questions to gauge the level of content mastery required and its relation to your institution's requirements.
Publicize your policy on the College Board's website
Information about AP credit and placement policies at more than 1,000 colleges and universities is available through the College Board's AP Credit Policy Information tool. Colleges and universities can use the search as a recruitment tool, as it leads student users directly to their websites. The College Board collects policy information from higher education institutions with the Annual Survey of Colleges.
Download AP and Higher Education publications
AP and Higher Education (.pdf/802K) provides information and resources to the higher education community as they establish their institution's AP credit and placement policies. Requires Adobe Reader (latest version recommended). The publication discusses how to set an AP policy, presents research on AP student performance, and describes the process of exam development and scoring, emphasizing the role of higher education in all aspects of the AP Program.
The AP Program has produced AP Policy Guides for specific AP subjects. Each brochure provides discipline-specific information about the AP curriculum and policy setting:
- Setting a Policy for AP Art History (.pdf/225KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Biology (.pdf/193KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Calculus (.pdf/279KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Chemistry (.pdf/255KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Chinese (.pdf/206KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Computer Science1 (.pdf/301KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Economics (.pdf/290KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP English (.pdf/169KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Environmental Science (.pdf/568KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP European History (.pdf/742KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP French2 (.pdf/213KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP German (.pdf/315KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Government and Politics: Comparative (.pdf/181KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Government and Politics: U.S . (.pdf/228KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Human Geography (.pdf/295KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Italian3 (.pdf/459KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Japanese (.pdf/531KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Latin4 (.pdf/222KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Music Theory (.pdf/159KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Physics (.pdf/425KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Psychology (.pdf/176KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Spanish (.pdf/401KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Statistics (.pdf/397KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP Studio Art (.pdf/2.29MB)
- Setting a Policy for AP U.S. History (.pdf/249KB)
- Setting a Policy for AP World History (.pdf/233KB)
1 Computer Science AB was discontinued following the May 2009 exam administration.
2 French Literature was discontinued following the May 2009 exam administration.
3 Italian Language and Culture was suspended following the May 2009 exam administration. It will be reinstated in fall 2011.
4 Latin Literature was discontinued following the May 2009 exam administration.