UC Berkeley Letters and Sciences AP Credit Policy

leafartaffy2 · May 17, 2018, 4:03am

Hello! I posted this same thread, but in the Berkeley Transfer discussion, so I’m simply reposting this in what seems to be a more relevant thread.

Just to quickly summarize what I asked for before, I am a member of the incoming Class of 2022 at UC Berkeley, and I was wondering if I could get some more information and insight into how AP scores transfer into credits at UC Berkeley’s College of Letters and Sciences (L&S). I’d prefer responses from current UC Berkeley students, but anyone who knows of the policies can also comment. Just trying to weight whether or not some of my AP Scores matter or not, as are many of you guys!!

ProfessorPlum168 · May 17, 2018, 4:25am

This is the general page for all UCs in terms of AP credits.

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/exam-credit/ap-credits/index.html

Since Berkeley is on semester, you would divide the numbers by 1.5. For the most part, you get credits for anything 3 and over. In general though, all the credits does is to pad your credit numbers for the purpose of graduation. In many cases, the credits will not do anything for you and from what I’ve heard, at some point you may need to withdraw the credits so that you don’t go over limits later on. None of the AP credits will help you with breadth requirements.

For L&S specifically, here are the college-specific rules for the courses that will in many cases help you by skipping classes:

Computer Science
Computer Science Principles: Score of 3, 4, or 5 satisfies CS10 and the Quantitative Reasoning requirement.

English
Literature and Composition: Score of 4 satisfies Part A of the Reading and Composition requirement; score of 5 satisfies the entire Reading and Composition requirement (Part A and Part B).

Language and Composition: Score of 4 or 5 satisfies Part A of the Reading and Composition requirement.

World Languages and Culture
Chinese Language and Culture, French Language and Culture, German Language and Culture, Italian Language and Culture, Japanese Language and Culture, Latin, Spanish Language and Culture or Spanish Literature and Culture: Score of 3, 4 or 5 satisfies the Foreign Language requirement.

Mathematics
Calculus AB: Score of 3, 4 or 5 satisfies the Quantitative Reasoning requirement.
Calculus BC: Score of 3, 4 or 5 satisfies the Quantitative Reasoning requirement.

Then you also have major-specific rules. For major-specific classes, AP credits will help you skip a class. For example, getting a 4 or 5 in both AP Macroeconomics and AP Microeconomics allows you to skip Econ 1. For CS, if you get a 5 on Calc BC, you can skip out of both Math 1A and Math 1B.

ucbalumnus · May 17, 2018, 5:11am

https://ls.berkeley.edu/advising/planning/schedule-planning says that AP credit does not count against you for the L&S unit ceiling described at https://ls.berkeley.edu/advising/planning/enrolling/unit-ceiling .

Other than the general L&S requirements that may be fulfilled with AP credit listed in reply #1, L&S students should check their major web pages to see what AP credit may or may not be used for major requirements.

AP credit policies for some common L&S majors:

Chemistry major (L&S):
https://chemistry.berkeley.edu/ugrad/degrees/chem/ba (not exactly specified, may follow CoC policies for math and physics at https://chemistry.berkeley.edu/academics/undergraduate-student-services/exam-credit-info#ap , but students should ask directly to verify)

Computer science major (L&S):
https://eecs.berkeley.edu/resources/undergrads/cs/degree-reqs-lowerdiv

Economics major:
https://www.econ.berkeley.edu/undergrad/prospective/freshmen

Integrative biology major:
http://ib.berkeley.edu/undergrad/major/freshman.php (no AP credit for integrative biology major requirements)

History major:
http://history.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/history_major_handbook_2017.pdf (page 8; no AP credit for history major requirements)

Math major:
https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/high-school-exam-credits

Molecular and cell biology major:
http://mcb.berkeley.edu/undergrad/advising/advising-office/freshmen#13

Physics major:
http://physics.berkeley.edu/academics/undergraduate-degree/the-major-and-minor-program (no AP physics credit; check department for AP credit policy on math)

Political science major:
http://polisci.berkeley.edu/undergraduate-program/requirements-major

Psychology major:
https://psychology.berkeley.edu/students/undergraduate-program/lower-division-requirements-freshmen-admitted-fall-2018-or-later-and

Public health major:
http://sph.berkeley.edu/undergraduate-major/preparing-apply