AP credit policies at 2,027 colleges
What score each AP exam needs, what it is worth in credit hours, and which course it replaces — at the college you are actually applying to.
There is no national AP credit rule; each college sets its own. Across the 84,366 published credit rules we hold for 46 AP exams at 2,027 colleges, 78% of college-and-exam pairs award credit at a score of 3; the remainder require a 4 or a 5. Pick your exam below to see the minimum score college by college, each linked to that college’s own policy page. Corpus last refreshed July 30, 2026.
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How we ranked this
Each college contributes one row per exam: the lowest score that earns actual credit under the policy that applies to all students. Placement-only policies are excluded from these counts and reported separately on each exam page — placement lets a student skip a course but adds no credit hours, and counting the two together would overstate what an AP score is worth. Where a college publishes only a major-specific rule (engineering, art), we do not promote it to a school-wide minimum. Credit-hour figures are printed exactly as the college published them; a blank means the college listed no number, and we never estimate one.
Frequently asked questions
What AP score do you need to get college credit?+
It depends entirely on the college and the exam — there is no national rule. Across the 65,181 college-and-exam combinations in our corpus, 78% award credit at a score of 3, and the rest require a 4 or a 5. Use the exam pages here to see the actual minimum score at each college, then confirm on the college's own policy page, which we link on every row.
Is AP credit the same as placement?+
No, and colleges frequently offer one without the other. Credit means the exam adds credit hours toward your degree, which can shorten time to graduation and cut cost. Placement means you may skip an introductory course but earn no hours. We count only credit-bearing policies in the figures on these pages and flag placement-only policies separately, because treating placement as credit is the most common way families overestimate what an AP score is worth.
Where does this AP credit data come from?+
Each college's own published advanced-standing or AP credit page — 2,068 of the 2,027 colleges in this corpus have that source URL recorded and linked from their row. The corpus was last refreshed on July 30, 2026. We do not republish College Board score-setting data; these are the institutions' own decisions about their own credit.
Can a college change its AP credit policy?+
Yes, and they do — usually effective for an incoming class rather than retroactively. Policies also vary by school within a university (engineering colleges commonly set higher bars than arts and sciences). The tables here show the rule that applies to all students; where a college publishes a major-specific rule instead, we do not convert it into a school-wide minimum. Always confirm on the linked policy page before counting on credit.
Keep exploring
Data sources: Each college's own published AP / advanced-standing credit page · IPEDS institution directory (names, control, location). Figures are the most recent values published in each federal dataset; cells with no published value are shown as “—” and never estimated. CertiHomes Education does not sell rankings or accept placement fees.