AP Credit: 2024 Policy

This page contains information about:

  • General policies for awarding AP credit
  • How AP credit may be used to satisfy Allegheny’s Distribution Requirements
  • Specific credit awarded for various AP exams

General Policies

Students may earn up to a maximum of 20 semester college credits at Allegheny by participating in the Advanced Placement (AP) Program of the Educational Testing Service. Students receiving scores of 4 or 5 on the AP examinations will receive academic credit.  Students whose scores qualify them for more than 20 AP credits may select which 20 credits to post to their Allegheny records.

In order to maintain AP credit, you should NOT enroll in the equivalent course at any time. If you take the equivalent Allegheny course, the corresponding AP credit will be removed from your Allegheny transcript.

  • Exams assigned a specific Allegheny course equivalent (e.g., PSYCH*110) may count towards a major or minor in the same way as the Allegheny course.
  • Exams assigned a course number of 0AE (e.g., ART*0AE) count as elective credit in that department and may be counted towards the major or minor in that program.
  • Exams assigned a prefix of AP (e.g., AP*ENG) do not count towards a major or minor.

All AP credit (up to the limit of 20) counts towards the minimum number of credits required for graduation.

Course placement is determined by the appropriate department as described below in the information for specific exams.

AP Credit and the Allegheny College Distribution Requirements

Students matriculating 16/FA and after:

AP credit counts towards the college Distribution Requirements if and only if credit is awarded for an exact Allegheny course equivalent. For example:

  • Art History exam: posts as ART*0AE. Counts as elective credit towards an Art major or minor, but does not satisfy any Distribution Requirements.
  • Microeconomics exam: posts as Allegheny’s ECON*100 and can be used to satisfy the ECON 100 requirement in the Economics major or minor. It also satisfies the same QR and SB Distribution Requirements as does Allegheny’s ECON*100 course (QR = Quantitative Reasoning and SB = Social Behavior and Institutions).

Credit Awarded for Specific AP Scores

Students who achieve a qualifying score (4 or 5) on any AP exam receive four semester hours of credit (up to the College limit of 20 “credits by examination”).  Exception: students who achieve scores of 4 or 5 on the BC Calculus exam receive eight credits.

AP CAPSTONE PROGRAM

  • Seminar : Credit for AP*FS (First Year/Sophomore program). Counts for credits towards graduation only.
  • Research: Credit for AP*FS (First Year/Sophomore program). Counts for credits towards graduation only.

AFRICAN AMER STDS

  • BLKST*100

ART

  • ART: STUDIO ART (Drawing/2-D Design/ 3-D Design): Credit for ART*0AE. Consult department chair  for course placement and applicability toward major requirements.
  • ART: HISTORY: Credit for ART*0AE. Consult department chair for course placement and applicability toward major requirements.

BIOLOGY

  • Score of 4: Credit for AP*BIO. Does not apply to a Biology major or minor.
  • Score of 5: Credit for BIO*220. Student may enroll in BIO 221.

CHEMISTRY

  • Score of 4: Credit for CHEM*120.Student may enroll in CHEM 122.
  • Score of 5: Credit for CHEM*122. Consult department chair for course placement.

COMPUTER SCIENCE

Computer Science “A” Exam

  • Score of 4: AP*CMP. Does not apply to a Computer Science major or minor.
  • Score of 5: Credit for CMPSC*100. Student may enroll in CMPSC*101.

Computer Science Principles Exam

  • Score of 4: AP*CMP. Does not apply to a Computer Science major or minor.
  • Score of 5: Credit for CMPSC*100. Student may enroll in CMPSC*101

ECONOMICS

  • Macroeconomics: Credit for ECON*101.
  • Microeconomics:  Credit for ECON*100.

ENGLISH

ENGLISH: LANG/COMP: Credit for AP*ENG. Counts for credits towards graduation only.

ENGLISH: LIT/COMP

  • Score of 4: Credit for ENGL*0AE (elective in English department)
  • Score of 5: Credit for ENGL*2AE. Students may use ENGL*2AE to substitute for ENGL*110 in the English major or minor but should be aware that ENGL*2AE does not count for distribution. Students may also elect to take ENGL*110 at Allegheny.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

  • Score of 4: Credit for AP*ENV. Does not apply to a major in Environmental Science.
  • Score of 5: ENVSC*0AE. Counts as elective credit for the Environmental Science major.

GOVERNMENT

  • GOVERNMENT: U.S: Credit for POLSC*0AE. Counts as elective credit for the Political Science major or minor.
  • GOVERNMENT: Comparative: Credit for POLSC*0AE. Counts as elective credit for the Political Science major or minor.

HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

Credit for AP*LS (Liberal Studies). Counts for credits towards graduation only.

HISTORY

A maximum of 2 courses (8 credits) of “credit by examination” may be applied toward requirements for the major.

  • HISTORY: American: Credit for HIST*0AE. Counts as elective credit for the History major or minor.
  • HISTORY: European: Credit for HIST*0AE. Counts as elective credit for the History major or minor.
  • HISTORY: World: Credit for HIST*0AE. Counts as elective credit for the History major or minor.

LANGUAGES: Chinese/French/German/Latin/Italian/Japanese/Spanish

CHIN*0AE, FRNCH*0AE, GERMN* 0AE, LATIN*0AE, SPAN*0AE, and/or CLC*0AE (CLC = other languages) all count as elective credit toward the corresponding major or minor (if offered). Consult the department chairperson for appropriate language placement.

MATHEMATICS

PRECALCULUS: PRERQ*MAT

MATHEMATICS: Calculus “AB” Exam: Credit for MATH*151. Credit may apply toward the major or minor.

MATHEMATICS: Calculus “BC” Exam:

  • Score of 4 or 5:  8 semester credit hours. Credit for MATH* 151 and MATH*270.  Credit may apply toward major.
  • Score of 3 with an AB subscore of 4 or 5: 4 semester credit hours. Credit for MATH*151. Credit may apply toward the major or minor.

MUSIC: Theory

  •  Score of 4: Credit for AP*MUSIC, which cannot be counted toward the minor.
  • Score of 5: Credit for MUSIC*AP, which can be countedc toward the minor if the substitution is granted by the chair

PHYSICS

  • PHYSICS 1: Credit for AP*PHY. Does not apply to a Physics major or minor.
  • PHYSICS 2: Credit for AP*PHY. Does not apply to a Physics major or minor.
  • PHYSICS C – MECH: Credit for PHYS*101. Student may enroll in PHYS*102.
  • PHYSICS C – E & M: Credit for PHYS*102. Consult department chair for course placement.

PSYCHOLOGY

Credit for PSYCH*110.

STATISTICS

Credit for PSYCH*0AE.  Counts toward a major or minor in Psychology, but does not satisfy the PSYCH*206 requirement.