Credit: AP Credit by Department

Departments have different criteria for whether to accept AP courses toward the major. General equivalences for international placement exams (such as IB) can be found here. If you have questions about specific exams, please contact the relevant department here at Duke.

AP ExamScoreDuke CreditEligible to Take *
African American Studies4 or 5AAAS 99Any course
Art History5ARTHIST 20200-400-level course
Art: Studio Art: Drawing
5
ARTSVIS 21
Advanced level course
Art: Studio Art: 2-D Design
5
ARTSVIS 21Advanced level course
Art: Studio Art: 3-D Design
5
ARTSVIS 21Advanced level course
Biology
4 or 5
BIOLOGY 20 or 21a
BIOLOGY 201L or 202L
Chemistry4CHEM 20bCHEM 110DL (fall only) or 101DL (all terms)
Chemistry
5
CHEM 21b
CHEM 201DL.002 or 110DL (fall only), 201DL or 101DL  (all terms)
Chinese: Language and Culture4 or 5CHINESE 203CHINESE 204 or 200-400-level Chinese courses depending on score
Computer Science A
4 or 5
COMPSCI 101L
COMPSCI 201
Computer Science: Principles5COMPSCI 20Any Computer Science Course
Economics: Macroeconomics
Not accepted
N/A
N/A
Economics: Microeconomics
Not accepted
N/AN/A
English: Literature and Composition
4 or 5
ENGLISH 20
Any course except ENGLISH 20
English: Language and Composition
4 or 5
ENGLISH 22
Any course except ENGLISH 22
Environmental Science
4 or 5
ENVIRON 20
ENVIRON 201
French: Language and Culture
5
FRENCH 20
FRENCH 204 or 300-level French courses depending on placement score
German: Language and Culture
4
GERMAN 29
GERMAN 204 or 305S
German: Language and Culture
5
GERMAN 29
GERMAN 305S or above
History: European
4 or 5
HIST 25 and 26
Any course
History: United States
4 or 5
HIST 23 and 24
Any course
History: World4 or 5HISTORY 21Any course
Human GeographyNot acceptedN/AN/A
Italian: Language and Culture4ITALIAN 203ITALIAN 301
Italian: Language and Culture5ITALIAN 203Any 300-level course
Japanese: Language and Culture
4
JAPANESE 203JAPANESE 204
Japanese: Language and Culture
5
JAPANESE 203JPN 204, 305, or 306 depending on placement score
Latin: Literature
4
LATIN 25
LATIN 204
Latin: Literature
5
LATIN 25300-level course
Math: Calculus AB
5
MATH 21
MATH 122L (Fall) or 112L (Spring)
Math: Calculus BC4
MATH 21c
MATH 122L (Fall) or 112L (Spring)
Math: Calculus BC5
MATH 21 & 22c
MATH 202, 212, 218, or 221
Music: Theory
4 or 5
MUSIC 161
Any course 
Physics C: Mechanics
4 or 5
PHYSICS 25d
Consult department
Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism
4 or 5
PHYSICS 26d
Consult department
Physics 1: Algebra-Based
Not accepted
N/A
N/A
Physics 2: Algebra-Based
Not accepted
N/A
N/A
Political Science: United States Government and Politics
4 or 5
POLSCI 20
200-400-level course
Political Science: Comparative Government and Politics
4 or 5
POLSCI 21
200-400-level course
Psychology
5
PSYCHOLOGY 11
Any course 
Spanish: Language and Culture
5
SPANISH 204
300-level course
Spanish: Literature and Culture
4 or 5
SPANISH 204
300-level course
Statistical Science
5
STA 20e
STA 101, 102, 198 or 199

* A few notes:  Some courses (for example Biology 201L, Econ 201D, Math 202, 212, 221 and Physics) have additional pre-requisites that you will need to have before you can enroll; pre-requisites are listed on the class detail page for each course.  AP credit in English does not exempt any student from WRITING 101.  History majors may count one AP credit in History toward the major.
            
BIOLOGY: Must have earned credit for Chem 21, 101DL or 110DL to enroll in Biology 201L. CHEMISTRY: CHEM 110DL is only offered in the fall.  There is a section of CHEM 201DL (002) that is for first-year students and that is offered only in the fall.  In the Pratt School of Engineering, CHEM 20 will not satisfy the Biomedical Engineering chemistry requirement.  Biomedical Engineering students are required to take CHEM 110DL and 210DL, or CHEM 110DL and CHEM 201DL.
 For discussion of placement, see https://chem.duke.edu/undergraduate/placement-guidelines.

MATHEMATICS: Students who are interested in economics and social sciences and who are confident they will not pursue math, physics, chemistry, or engineering may take MATH 202 instead of MATH 212.  See https://math.duke.edu/undergraduate/course-placement for discussion of placement. Note that AP credit in MATH was changed for the class entering in fall 2016 (a score of 3 on the Calculus BC exam no longer provides credit and a score of 4 gives credit for only MATH 21). 

PHYSICS: In Trinity College, prospective Physics and Biophysics majors are strongly encouraged to take at least PHYSICS 162L independent of their AP course credit. In Pratt School of Engineering, at least ONE Physics course must be taken post-matriculation to satisfy the Physics requirement in the Engineering curriculum. Students receiving AP credits for PHY 25 and 26, must: a) take a Duke Physics course at or above PHY 153L; b) decline the AP credit for PHY 26 and take PHY 152L; or c) decline both AP credits and take PHY 151L and 152L.

STATISTICS:  AP credit only applies to students in Trinity College.  No credit is awarded for Engineering students and will not count toward the Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree.

In order to have your AP credits placed on your Duke record/transcript, you must have the AP Service send your scores to the Office of the Registrar at Duke.  To send AP scores to Duke, contact AP Exams, CN6671, Princeton, NJ 08541-6671; http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/exgrd_rep.html ; 609-771-7300 or 888-225-5427.  Duke's CEEB number is 5156.

See also:

Registrar AP credit