When a student earns credit from Advanced Placement (or International Baccalaureate) exams and sends the transcript to Illinois, the credit will be automatically posted to that student's academic record. The credit comes in as a credit for a specific course. View a complete the list of campus AP credit

For biology students, we group our advice on utilizing AP credit into three main areas:

BIOLOGY

  • Students with a score of 3 or 4 will receive credit for IB 100. This course will be an elective for students in biology.
  • Students with a score of 5 will receive credit for IB 150 and MCB 150. These courses are the first-year biology sequence.
  • Biology advisors strongly encourage students who receive AP credit for IB 150 and MCB 150 to still take those two courses on our campus. Taking the courses allows students to experience the difference between the two majors before choosing which major is right for them. In the past, students who have not taken the courses on this campus and moved to the 200-level courses have performed very poorly.
  • Many professional schools do not accept test-based credit for prerequisite courses.

CHEMISTRY

  • Students with a score of 3 will receive credit for CHEM 102. This course is the General Chemistry I lecture course required for biology students.
  • Students with a score of 4 or 5 will receive credit for CHEM 102 and CHEM 104. These courses are the General Chemistry I and General Chemistry II lecture courses required for biology students.
  • Biology advisors strongly encourage students who have received AP credit for a chemistry course to take these courses on our campus. AP credit for chemistry does not award credit for the required labs associated with both lectures. Those labs are required for biology students. In the past, students who have not taken the courses on this campus and moved on to organic chemistry have performed very poorly.
  • Many professional schools do not accept test-based credit for prerequisite courses.

OTHER COURSES

For the most part, any other credit received from AP is welcomed to be used toward a degree for biology students.

There is an exception when it comes to physics. Although biology advisors are not opposed to a student in biology using AP credit to fulfill the physics requirement for a biology degree, if a student is planning on going to a professional school that requires physics, they will probably need to take the courses.