When colleges and universities are setting or reviewing their credit-granting or Advanced Placement policies, it's worth considering that the AP Program received the American Council on Education's approval for a five-year period in March 2000. The ACE recommended, as a general rule, that colleges and universities award credit for AP grades of 3 or better on any AP Examination.

ACE further noted that the practice of granting provisional credit for a grade of 2 is becoming more frequent because comparability studies have shown that many of these students are possibly qualified. The credit is made permanent if the student satisfies another criterion, such as successfully completing the next course in the discipline.

The recommended minimum number of semester hours from ACE corresponds to the status of the corresponding AP course: 3 semester hours are recommended in the case of a half-year course; 6 semester hours for most full-year courses; and 8 semester hours for some of the mathematics, sciences, and foreign languages.

If you have questions about these data or how to interpret them, please contact your College Board regional office or the national office. Note: the first administration of the exams in AP Human Geography and AP World History occurred after the most recent ACE review and so are not included in the list below. ACE's next comprehensive evaluation will occur in 2005.