How do AP Credits at Michigan work?

Hey,

University of Michigan’s website says a 5 in AP Physics Mechanics/E and M will get u “5 credit hours” in one of the corresponding classes. It also says 5 credit hours for many of the other subjects as well.

My question is what exactly is 5 credit hours? Is that a whole class or literally 5 hours, or something else?

Thanks

If you’re not familiar with the credit hour system, all classes are the University have a credit value attached to them. The # of hours per week that you spend in that class is that assigned credit value (for example, if you have lecture 3 hours a week + 1 hour of discussion, then that course would be a 4 credit class). This is a general rule though, and it can get kind of funky for some classes (for example, in lab courses you tend to spend 2-4 hours a week in that class but they are generally between 1-2 credit classes).

So for the 5 that you’re getting for AP Physics, you will be getting credit for two courses (Physics 140 and 141). Physics 140 is a 4 credit class, and Physics 141 is a 1 credit class.

They also give “departmental credit”. This was the case when I went there. I just had 6 hours of ECON listed on my transcripts. It didn’t specify which courses they were. Check the website or the course guide, they will spell it out for you in full detail.