AP Credit & Scoring

One of the many benefits of taking an AP class is the possibility of earning college level credit based on the end of the year exam. Here you will find information about AP credit as well as how to send your scores to colleges. It is important to note that this information is meant as a guide, and it is imperative that students and parents check with universities to ensure that information has not changed. Specific colleges and areas of study within universities often have specific requirements that fall outside of general guidelines. Checking with universities is a MUST!

What do “credit” and “advanced placement” mean?

Most U.S. colleges offer credit or advanced placement, or both, for qualifying AP scores.

College Credit

Most colleges require that you earn a certain number of credits before you can graduate. Credits are a recognition of the academic work you’ve done—the classes you’ve taken and passed. You’ll usually need 120 credits to get a bachelor’s degree.

Many colleges offer credit for AP scores. Suppose you earn a 4 on your AP Biology Exam, and your college grants you 8 credits for that score. That means you walk into your college with 8 credits under your belt—before you even take your first class there.

Some students graduate from college early because of the credits they earn in high school through AP. This saves them money in tuition.

Advanced Placement

Many colleges recognize that your AP scores demonstrate that you already know the material in certain courses they offer. So they’ll let you skip those courses. These could be introductory courses required in your major, or core courses that the college requires all its students to take. Letting you skip these courses (so you can go right into advanced courses) is called granting you advanced placement.

Some students use the advanced placement earned through AP to free up space in their schedule so they can pursue a double major or take part in an internship or other special program.

Both Credit and Placement

In some cases, you’ll get both credit and advanced placement for a qualifying AP score. You’ll earn the credits and be able to skip a course.

Be sure to look at your colleges credit policies when considering college credit. You can also check the College Board website: https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/getting-credit-placement/search-policies

Tips For AP Sending AP Scores

• Sign in with your College Board account. Make sure it’s the same account that you used to register and enroll in your AP class sections.

• If you've forgotten your username or password, recover them. Visit Forgot Username? to have your username sent to the email address used to set up your account. If you know your username but not your password, go to Forgot Password?.

• Make sure College Board has your current email address. If you’ve changed your email address, update it in your account.

• Don’t create a new account if you already have one. Duplicate accounts can cause delays in getting your AP scores. Sign in with the same account you used to register and enroll in AP class sections.

• Visit Account Help for any other account questions. For more guidance and information, go to the help page. (https://pages.collegeboard.org/account-help)

Free Score Reports

AP students, particularly graduating seniors, can send a free score report to one college, university, or scholarship program. The deadline to indicate the recipient of their free score report through My AP occurs in late June.

To do this, students must:

1. Sign in to My AP.

2. Go to My AP Profile.

3. Click the Score Send tab.

4. Enter the college, university, or scholarship program, select it, and click Save.

Students can request a score report be sent to additional recipients for a fee. Details about sending additional score reports are in the Scores section on the AP Students website.