Lafayette College awards credit from College Board Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and Cambridge General Certificate of Education (GCE/A-levels) as outlined below.
Credit cannot be reviewed or awarded until official exam results/ transcripts are received directly from the testing organization.
Students are not eligible to receive both exam credit and institutional credit for the same course. If a student wishes to take a course at Lafayette for which exam credit was awarded, the student may request in writing to the Registrar’s Office that the credit for the exam be rescinded. Credit for the exam will not be restored if the student persists in the class through the add/drop period in the semester of enrollment, even in cases where the student does not successfully complete the course (i.e withdraws or fails). Note the following for exam credits which merit 2 institutional credits:
| TEST | SCORE | CREDIT | COURSE | NOTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Art History | 4, 5 | 1 | Elective in Art | G |
| Art: Drawing, 2-D or 3-D Art and Design | 4, 5 | 1 | Elective in Art | |
| Biology | 5 | 1 | BIOL 111 | |
| Calculus AB (test year 2020-2021) | 4, 5 | 1 | MATH 125 | K, L |
| Calculus AB (test year 2022 and beyond) | 4, 5 | 1 | MATH 161 | K, L |
| Calculus BC (test year 2020-2021) | 3, 4, 5 | 1 | MATH 125 | K, L |
| Calculus BC (test year 2022 and beyond) | 3 | 1 | MATH 161 | K, L |
| Calculus BC (test year 2022 and beyond) | 4, 5 | 2 | MATH 161, MATH 162 | K, L |
| Chemistry (test year 2020 and beyond) | 4, 5 | 1 | CHEM 107 | |
| Chinese Language and Culture | 3, 4, 5 | 1 | CHN 102 or CHN 112 | C |
| Computer Science A | 4, 5 | 1 | CS 102 | F |
| Economics (Macroeconomics + Microeconomics) | 4, 5 | 1 | ECON 101 | A |
| English Language or Literature | 4, 5 | 1 | Elective in English | B, G |
| Environmental Science | 4, 5 | 1 | Elective in Environmental Science | H, I |
| European History | 4, 5 | 1 | Elective in History | J |
| French Language and Culture | 3, 4, 5 | 1 | FREN 102 or FREN 112 | C |
| German Language and Culture | 3, 4, 5 | 1 | GERM 102 or GERM 112 | C |
| Govt. & Politics: Comparative | 4, 5 | 1 | GOVT 103 | |
| Govt. & Politics: U. S. | 4, 5 | 1 | GOVT 101 | |
| Italian Language and Culture | 3, 4, 5 | 1 | ITAL 102 or ITAL 112 | C |
| Japanese Language and Culture | 3, 4, 5 | 1 | JAPN 102 or JAPN 112 | C |
| Latin | 3 ,4, 5 | 1 | LAT 102 or LAT 112 | C |
| Music Theory | 4, 5 | 1 | MUS 121 | |
| Physics 1 | 4, 5 | 1 | PHYS 111 | B, D |
| Physics 2 | 4, 5 | 1 | PHYS 112 | B, D |
| Physics C: Mechanics | 4, 5 | 1 | PHYS 131 | B |
| Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism | 4, 5 | 1 | PHYS 133 | B |
| Psychology | 4, 5 | 1 | Elective in Psychology | E |
| Spanish Language or Literature | 3, 4, 5 | 1 | SPAN 102 or SPAN 112 | C |
| Statistics (test year 2019 or earlier; 2021 and beyond) | 4, 5 | 1 | MATH 186 | |
| Statistics (test year 2020 only) | 4, 5 | 1 | MATH 110 | |
| United States History | 4, 5 | 1 | Elective in History | J |
| World History | 4, 5 | 1 | Elective in History | J |
NOTES:
A – Must earn score of 4 or higher on both Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.
B – Same course. (Cannot receive credit for PHYS 111 & 131/151 and 112 & 133/152.) (Only one credit awarded in English.)
C – Satisfies the Elementary Proficiency in a Second Language requirement. (Maximum 1 credit per language.)
D – Engineering majors will not be awarded credit for PHYS 111, PHYS 112.
E – Course is not equivalent to PSYC 110, and does not meet the Natural Science requirement in the Common Course of Study.
F – Course is equivalent to an Intro Computer Science course (104 or 105 or 106), but does not meet Natural Science CCS requirement. Students are not eligible to take CS 104/105/106 if credit is earned for CS 102.
G – Course meets the Humanities requirement in the Common Course of Study.
H – Course does not meet the natural lab science requirement.
I – Course is not equivalent to either EVST 100 or GEOL 110.
J – Elective credit cannot be applied in major.
K – A student who wishes to place themselves in their first mathematics course without having credit earned in the necessary prerequisite course(s) (Mathematics 161 and/or Mathematics 162 and/or Mathematics 263) must first pass the credit exam(s) offered by the Department of Mathematics. Credit will NOT be awarded for such exams until the student has passed the subsequent course for which they have registered.
L – Students may not earn credit for both MATH 125 + MATH 161 through AP and/or department credit exams.
| TEST | SCORE | CREDIT | COURSE | NOTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language A Literature (Instruction in English) | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | Elective in English | 1 |
| Language A Language & Literature (Instruction in English) | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | Elective in English | 1 |
| Language B (Foreign Language) | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | [Language] 102 (5) or 112 (6, 7) | 2 |
| Biology | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | BIOL 111 | |
| Chemistry | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | CHEM 107 | |
| Classical Languages (Latin or Classical Greek) | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | [Language] 102 (5) or 112 (6, 7) | |
| Computer Science | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | CS 102 | 3 |
| Economics | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | ECON 101 | |
| Film | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | Elective in Film & Media Studies | |
| Global Politics | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | GOVT 102 | |
| History: Africa and Middle East | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | Elective in History | 4 |
| History: Americas | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | Elective in History | 4 |
| History: Asia and Oceania | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | Elective in History | 4 |
| History: Europe | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | Elective in History | 4 |
| Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | MATH 161 | |
| Mathematics: Applications and Interpretations | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | MATH 161 | |
| Music | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | Elective in Music | |
| Philosophy | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | Elective in Philosophy | |
| Physics | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | PHYS 111 | 5 |
| Psychology | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | Elective in Psychology | 6 |
| Social and Cultural Anthropology | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | Elective in Anthropology & Sociology | |
| Theatre | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | THTR 101 | |
| Visual Arts | 5, 6, 7 | 1 | Elective in Art | |
| Full IB Diploma + Knowledge of Theory + Extended Essay | 2 | Free Elective | 7 |
NOTES:
1 – Only one credit awarded in English.
2 – Satisfies the Elementary Proficiency in a Second Language requirement. (Maximum 1 credit awarded per language.)
3 – Course is equivalent to an Intro Computer Science course (104 or 105 or 106), but does not meet Natural Science requirement in the Common Course of Study. Students are not eligible to take CS 104/105/106 if credit is earned for CS102.
4 – Elective credit cannot be applied in major.
5 – Engineering majors will not be awarded credit for PHYS 111.
6 – Course is not equivalent to PSYC 110, and does not meet the Natural Science requirement in the Common Course of Study.
7 – Students awarded the full IB diploma with results of 5 or above on all higher level and subsidiary level examinations, and results of C or above on both the Theory of Knowledge course and the Extended Essay are awarded two free electives.
The Lafayette faculty determine score assignments each spring/summer. Credit is awarded based on the policy in effect the year you matriculated at Lafayette (note: some award years also have stipulations on the year you took the AP exam).