Credit by Examination – Advanced Standing

All advanced standing scores as defined below should be submitted to the MTSU Undergraduate Admissions Office. Test results are evaluated and recorded on a student’s transcript if credit is earned. Semester hours of credit toward graduation are earned on the basis of these tests, but no grades or quality points are given. These credits will not affect a student’s academic GPA. A student may receive no more than 60 semester hours of credit by means of credit by examination, credit by special examination, College Dual Credit and Tennessee Statewide Dual Credit, credit for service-related experience, and flight training. All requests for credit must be submitted to the MTSU Undergraduate Admissions Office for review no later than the final day of classes during the term for which credits are requested. If a student elects to take a course rather than receive Advanced Standing credit, then the student forgoes all credit related to that specific exam. Credit will be removed from the transcript and will not be re-posted regardless of outcome (withdrawals, passes, or fails) which includes MTSU and transfer coursework.

Advanced Placement (AP) Program

MTSU participates in the Advanced Placement (AP) Program of the College Entrance Examination Board and grants appropriate semester hours credit to qualified students presenting official record of a grade of 3 or above (unless noted otherwise) on the appropriate CEEB examination. Semester hours credit in the amount carried by the course or courses from which the student is exempted by CEEB advanced placement examination will be awarded.  

AP EXAM	AP EXAM SCORE	MTSU COURSE	MTSU CREDITS
Art History	3 or above	ART 1030	3
Biology	3 or above	BIOL1030/ BIOL 1031 (Science major may receive credit for BIOL 1110/BIOL 1111, BIOL 1120/BIOL 1121 upon recommendation of chair, Department of Biology.)	4
Calculus AB	3 or above	MATH 1910	4
Calculus BC	3 or above	Math 1920	4
Chemistry	3 or 4 5	CHEM 1110/ CHEM 1111 OR CHEM 1010/ CHEM 1011 CHEM 1110/ CHEM 1111, CHEM 1120/ CHEM 1121	4  8
Comparative Government and Politics	3 or above	PS 1010	3
Computer Science A	3 or above	CSCI 1170	4
Computer Science AB	4 or above	CSCI 2170*	4
English Language and Composition	3 or above	ENGL 1010	3
English Literature and Composition	3 or above	ENGL1010	3
Environmental Science	3 or above	ENVS 2810	3
European History	3 or above	HIST 1020	3
Human Geography	3 or above	GS 2010	3
Macroeconomics	3 or above	ECON 2410	3
Microeconomics	3 or above	ECON 2420	3
Music Theory	3 or above	MUTH 1000	3
Physics 1	4 or above	PHYS 2010/2011*	4
Physics 2	4 or above	PHYS 2020/2021*	4
Physics B	4 or above	PHYS 2010/2011*	4
Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism Physics C: Mechanics	4 or above 4 or above	PHYS 2110/2111 PHYS 2120/2121*	4 4
Psychology	3 or above	PSY 1410	3
Statistics	3 or above	MATH 1530	3
Studio Art: Drawing Portfolio	3 or above	ART 1620	3
Studio Art: 2-D Design Portfolio	3 or above	ART 1610	3
Studio Art: 3-D Design Portfolio	3 or above	ART 1630	3
U.S. Government and Politics	3 or above	PS 1005	3
U.S. History	3 or above	HIST 2010, HIST 2020	6
World History	3 or above	HIST 1110, HIST 1120	6
World Languages and Cultures	3 or above	SPAN 1010 and SPAN 1020, FREN 1010 and FREN 1020, GERM 1010 and GERM1020, LATN 1010 and LATN 1020	6
World Languages and Cultures	3	CHIN 1010 and 1020 and 2010, ITAL 1010 and 1020 and 2010, JAPN 1010 and 1020 and 2010	9
World Languages and Cultures	4 or 5	CHIN 1010 and 1020 and 2010 and 2020, ITAL 1010 and 1020 and 2010 and 2020, JAPN 1010 and 1020 and 2010 and 2020	12

 * NOTE: A grade of 4 or above is required to receive credits
# NOTE: Test has been discontinued by AP

Cambridge International Examinations

MTSU grants appropriate semester hours credit to qualified students presenting official record of acceptable grades on Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) examinations. Credit will be awarded for A (Advanced) level and AS (Advanced Subsidiary) level. The following courses have been approved for award of credits. Other AICE examinations may be approved for award of university credits following institutional review.

CAMBRIDGE COURSE	CAMBRIDGE EXAM	CAMBRIDGE GRADE	MTSU COURSE	MTSU CREDITS
CIE 9704	Art and Design (A Level)	C or better	ART ELLD	6
CIE 9704	Art and Design (AS Level)	C or better	ART ELLD	3
CIE 9608	Computer Science (A Level)	C or better	CSCI 1170	4
CIE 9618	Computer Science (A Level)	C or better	CSCI 1170	4
CIE 9691	Computing (A Level)	C or better	CSCI 1170	4
CIE 9011	Divinity (A or AS Level)	C or better	RS ELLD	3
CIE 8287	English-Language (A Level)	B or better	ENGL 1010	3
CIE 9276	English-Literature (A Level)	B or better	ENGL 2030	3
CIE 9278	Geography (A Level)	C or better	GEOG 2000 (3), PGEO1030 (4)	7
CIE 9278	Geography (AS Level)	C or better	GEOG 2000	3
CIE 9014	Hinduism (A or AS Level)	C or better	RS ELLD	3
CIE 9279	History (A Level)	C or better	HIST ELLD	6
CIE 9489	History (A Level)	C or better	HIST ELLD	6
CIE 9013	Islamic Studies (A or AS Level)	C or better	RS ELLD	3
CIE 9280	Mathematics (A Level)	C or better	MATH ELLD	6
CIE 9280	Mathematics (AS Level)	C or better	MATH ELLD	3
CIE 9231	Mathematics – Further (A Level)	C or better	MATH ELLD	6
CIE 9231	Mathematics – Further (AS Level)	C or better	MATH ELLD	3
CIE 9396	Physical Education	C or better	PHED 2800	2
CIE 9699	Sociology (A or AS Level)	C or better	SOC 1010	3
CIE 9694	Thinking Skills	C or better	UNIV ELLD	3

College Dual Credit and Tennessee Statewide Dual Credit

Students may earn college credit for acceptable scores on examinations administered through college dual credit programs and the Tennessee Statewide Dual Credit program. Following are the credits available through Statewide Dual Credit based on the historical minimum cut scores required for credit:

DUAL CREDIT EXAM	MTSU COURSE	MTSU CREDITS
American History II	HIST 2020	3
Criminal Justice II	CJA 1100	3
Intro to Agriculture Business	AGBS 1201	3
Intro to Business	BCED 1400	3
Intro to Education	EESE 2010	3
Intro to Plant Science	PLSO 1101	3
Pre-Calculus	MATH 1730	3
Principles of Marketing	MKT ELLD	3
Probability and Statistics	MATH 1530	3
Psychology	PSY 1410	3
Speech & Communications	COMM 2200	3
World History	HIST 1120	3

College Level Examination Program (CLEP)

Students may earn college credit for the following examinations administered by the College Level Examination Program:

CLEP EXAM	CLEP EXAM SCORE	MTSU COURSE	MTSU CREDITS
American Government	50 or greater	PS 1005	3
Biology	50 or greater	BIOL 1030/1031	4
Business Law, Introductory	50 or greater	BLAW 3430	3
Calculus	50 or greater	MATH 1910	4
Chemistry	50 or greater	CHEM 1110/CHEM 1111, CHEM 1120/CHEM 1121	8
College Algebra	50 or greater	MATH 1710	3
College Mathematics	50 or greater	MATH 1010	3
Financial Accounting	50 or greater	ACTG 2110	3
History of the United States I: Early Colonization to 1877	50 or greater	HIST 2010	3
History of the United States II: 1865 to Present	50 or greater	HIST 2020	3
Macroeconomics, Principles of	50 or greater	ECON 2410	3
Management, Principles of	50 or greater	MGMT 3610	3
Marketing, Principles of	50 or greater	MKT 3820	3
Microeconomics, Principles of	50 or greater	ECON 2420	3
Precalculus	50 or greater	MATH 1730	4
Psychology, Introductory	50 or greater	PSY 1410	3
Sociology, Introductory	50 or greater	SOC 1010	3
Western Civilization I: Ancient Near East to 1648	50 or greater	HIST 1010	3
Western Civilization II: 1648 to Present	50 or greater	HIST 1020	3

DANTES Subject Standardized Test (DSST)

Students may earn college credit for acceptable scores on the DANTES Subject Standardized Test (DSST) as follows: 

NOTE: Due to accreditation requirements, the Jennings A. Jones College of Business will not allow DSST upper-division credit to count toward graduation.

EXAM	EXAM SCORE	MTSU COURSE	MTSU CREDITS
A History of the Vietnam War	400	HIST 3130	3
Art of the Western World	400	ART 1930	3
Astronomy	420	ASTR 1030	3
Business Mathematics	400	MATH 1630	3
Criminal Justice	400	CJA 1100	3
Ethics in America	400	PHIL 3150	3
Ethics in Technology	400	PHIL 3170	3
Foundations of Education	400	EESE 2010	3
Fundamentals of College Algebra	400	MATH 1710	3
History of the Soviet Union	420	HIST 4340	3
Introduction to Geography	400	GEOG 2000	3
Introduction to Law Enforcement	400	CJA 2200	3
Introduction to World Religions	400	RS 1030	3
Lifespan Developmental Psychology	420	PSY 2300	3
Math for Liberal Arts	400	MATH 1010	3
Personal Finance	400	FIN 2010	3
Principles of Statistics	400	MATH 1530	3
The Civil War and Reconstruction	420	HIST 4040	3

English Credit Based on ACT or SAT Scores

Students may earn college credit in ENGL 1010 and 1020 for acceptable scores on the ACT or SAT college entrance exams. 

NOTE: If the student has already completed ENGL 1010 or ENGL 1020, the transcript will reflect three hours credit for the remaining course.

EXAM	EXAM SCORE	MTSU COURSE	MTSU CREDITS
ACT English Section	32 or higher	ENGL 1010 and 1020	6
SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Section (March 2016 or after)	700 or higher	ENGL 1010 and 1020	6
SAT Verbal Section (before March 2016)	720 or higher	ENGL 1010 and 1020	6

 

International Baccalaureate Program

Students may earn college credit for acceptable scores on examinations administered by the International Baccalaureate Organization.

IB EXAM	IB EXAM SCORE	MTSU COURSE	MTSU CREDITS
Biology (higher level)	5 or higher	BIOL 1110/ BIOL 1111 and BIOL 1120/BIOL 1121	8
Business and Management (standard or higher level)	5 or higher (SL) 4 or higher (HL)	BCED 1400	3
Chemistry (higher level)	5 or higher	CHEM 1110/1111 and 1120/1121	8
Chemistry (standard level)	5 or higher	CHEM 1110/1111	4
Computer Science (standard or higher level)	6 or higher (SL) 5 or higher (HL)	CSCI 1170	4
Dance (standard or higher level)	5 or higher	DANC 1000	3
Economics (standard or higher level)	5 or higher (SL) 5 or higher (HL)	ECON 2410 ECON 2410 and 2420	3 6
English Language A Literature (standard or higher level)	6 or higher (SL) 5 or higher (HL)	ENGL 2030	3
English Language A: Language and Literature (standard or higher level)	6 or higher (SL) 5 or higher (HL)	ENGL 1010	3
Environmental Systems or Societies (standard or higher level)	4 or higher	ENVS 2810	3
Foreign Languages		MTSU credit in foreign languages is granted after analysis by the department of the IB transcript submitted by the student
Geography (standard or higher level)	5 or higher (SL) 4 or higher (HL)	GEOG 2000	3
History (higher level)	5 or higher	HIST 1120 and depending on higher level option (Paper #3)Europe: HIST 1020; Americas: either HIST 2010 or 2020 to be determined at CUSTOMS (orientation) advising; Africa and the Middle East or Asia and Ocean – 3 hours lower-division history credit	6
Mathematics (higher level exam)	4 or higher	MATH 1910, MATH 1920 plus three hours lower-division mathematics elective credit	11
Philosophy (standard level)	5 or higher	3 hours lower-division philosophy credit	3
Philosophy (higher level)	5 or higher	PHIL 1030	3
Physics (standard or higher level)	5 or higher	PHYS 2010/PHYS 2011	4
Physics (standard or higher level)	6 or higher	PHYS 2010/PHYS 2011 and PHYS 2020/PHYS 2021	8
Psychology (higher level)	4 or higher	3 hours lower-division psychology credit	3
Social and Cultural Anthropology (standard)	4 or higher	ANTH 2010	3
Social and Cultural Anthropology (higher level)	4 or higher	ANTH 2010 plus 3 hours ANTH lower division elective	6
Theatre (standard or higher level)	5 or higher	THEA 1030	3
World Politics (standard or higher level)	5 or higher (SL) 4 or higher (HL)	PS 1010	3
World Religions (standard level)	5 or higher	3 hours lower-division religious studies credit	3