AP Calculus BC College Credit

If you have a strong foundation in Math and want to opt for an AP Mathematics course, then AP Calculus BC College Credit can be a great advantage to you. Opting for this course and passing the AP exam can be advantageous for your academics as many colleges and universities award credits and placement for AP exams.

So, with this guide, we will try to understand the AP Calculus BC credit policy, the difference between credit and placement, how many colleges in the US offer credits for AP Calculus BC, and the credit policy of the top 20 colleges in the US.

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AP Calculus BC college credit and advanced placement

Opting for AP courses and passing the AP exam shows a great deal of commitment and hard work on the student’s part. There can be many advantages to choosing AP courses, the biggest one being the college credit and placement many colleges awards.

Now, before we analyze the credit policies of different colleges for AP Calculus BC, let’s first understand the difference between AP college credits and advanced placement.

AP credits

Let’s use an example to understand AP credits. For instance, you received a 4 on your AP Calculus BC exam, and the college you were accepted to will grant you 8 credits. So that means that even before starting out college, you already earned 6 credits.

Gaining AP credits even before you begin classes will definitely help you to finish college sooner than usual as you typically need 120 credits to graduate from college.

Advanced placement

Some college offers you advanced placement which means that they are allowing you to skip some classes for scoring the required AP score. These classes can be introductory classes of your major or core courses required by the college.

Do colleges offer credits for AP Calculus BC?

Yes, of course! Colleges do offer credits for AP Calculus BC but their credit policies differ from each other. Some colleges might only be offering credits, some might offer only placement, some might offer both, and some might not offer either.

So, before applying read the college’s credit policy that you are applying to and apply accordingly.

Acceptable AP scores	No.of colleges
Total no.of colleges offering AP credits for AP Calculus BC	1944
No.of colleges accepting 5 AP scores	19
No.of colleges accepting 4 or more AP scores	378
No.of colleges accepting 3 or more AP scores	1502
No.of colleges accepting 2 or more AP scores	27
No.of colleges accepting 1 or more AP scores	18

Source: College Board

From the above table, you can clearly see that a total number of 1944 colleges offer credits for AP Calculus BC. Out of these colleges, 19 accepts only 5 AP score, 378 colleges accept 4 or more score, 1502 accepts 3 or more score, 27 colleges accepts an AP score of 2 or more, and 3 colleges accept 18 or more score.

AP Calculus BC credit policy of top 20 colleges

College	Minimum score required	Minimum credit offered	AP credit policy link	Additional notes
Princeton University Princeton, NJ	4	1	Princeton AP Calculus BC credit policy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA	5	18.01.	MIT AP Calculus BC credit policy	A score of 5 on the Calculus BC exam will grant you credit for 18.01.
Harvard University Cambridge, MA	5	8	Harvard AP Calculus BC credit policy	To be eligible for Advance Standing at Harvard University, students need 32 credits in their AP classes. This can be earned by scoring 5 in four AP exams.
Stanford University Stanford, CA	5	10	Stanford AP Calculus BC credit policy
Yale University New Haven, CT	4 and 5	1 credit for 4 on the Calculus BC test and 2 credits for 5 on the Calculus BC test.	Yale AP Calculus BC credit policy
University of Chicago Chicago, IL	4	MATH 15200	University of Chicago AP Calculus BC credit policy	UChicago offers advanced placement for AP Calculus BC.
Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD	5	8	John Hopkins AP Calculus BC credit policy
University of Pennsylvania	5	Math 1400 (1 c.u.)	University of Pennsylvania AP Calculus BC credit policy	UPenn offers advanced placement for AP Calculus BC.
California Institute of Technology	0		Caltech AP Calculus BC credit policy	Caltech doesn’t grant credit for AP exams.
Duke University Durham, NC	4 and 5	MATH 21, 22 respectively	Duke AP Calculus BC credit policy	Duke University offers advanced placement for AP Calculus BC. You are eligible to take MATH 202, 212 or 221.
Northwestern University Evanston, IL	3, 4, and 5	3, 2, and 3	Northwestern AP Calculus BC credit policy
Dartmouth College Hanover, NH	4	8	Dartmouth AP Calculus BC credit policy
Brown University Providence, RI	3, 4, and 5	Math 0090 and Math 0100	Brown University AP Calculus BC credit policy	BC Calculus 4 or 5: earns AP credit for both Math 0090 and Math 0100. BC Calculus 3: earns AP credit for Math 0090
Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN	5	8	Vanderbilt University AP Calculus BC credit policy
Rice University Houston, TX	4	6	Rice University AP Calculus BC credit policy
Washington University in St. Louis Saint Louis, MO	5	3	Washington University in St. Louis AP Calculus BC credit policy
Cornell University Ithaca, NY	4	8	Cornell AP Calculus BC credit policy
Columbia University New York, NY	4	3	Columbia AP Calculus BC credit policy
University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN	5	8	University of Notre Dame AP Calculus BC credit policy
University of California, Berkley Berkley, CA	3	5.3	University of California, Berkley AP Calculus BC credit policy

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Frequently asked questions (FAQs)