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 Exam | Score | Duke Credit | Eligible to Take * |
|---|---|---|---|
| African American Studies | 4 or 5 | AAAS 99 | Any course |
| Art History | 5 | ARTHIST 20 | 200-400-level course |
| Art: Studio Art: Drawing | 5 | ARTSVIS 21 | Advanced level course |
| Art: Studio Art: 2-D Design | 5 | ARTSVIS 21 | Advanced level course |
| Art: Studio Art: 3-D Design | 5 | ARTSVIS 21 | Advanced level course |
| Biology | 4 or 5 | BIOLOGY 20 or 21a | BIOLOGY 201L or 202L |
| Chemistry | 4 | CHEM 20b | CHEM 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 Culture | 4 or 5 | CHINESE 203 | CHINESE 204 or 200-400-level Chinese courses depending on score |
| Computer Science A | 4 or 5 | COMPSCI 101L | COMPSCI 201 |
| Computer Science: Principles | 5 | COMPSCI 20 | Any Computer Science Course |
| Economics: Macroeconomics | Not accepted | N/A | N/A |
| Economics: Microeconomics | Not accepted | N/A | N/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: World | 4 or 5 | HISTORY 21 | Any course |
| Human Geography | Not accepted | N/A | N/A |
| Italian: Language and Culture | 4 | ITALIAN 203 | ITALIAN 301 |
| Italian: Language and Culture | 5 | ITALIAN 203 | Any 300-level course |
| Japanese: Language and Culture | 4 | JAPANESE 203 | JAPANESE 204 |
| Japanese: Language and Culture | 5 | JAPANESE 203 | JPN 204, 305, or 306 depending on placement score |
| Latin: Literature | 4 | LATIN 25 | LATIN 204 |
| Latin: Literature | 5 | LATIN 25 | 300-level course |
| Math: Calculus AB | 5 | MATH 21 | MATH 122L (Fall) or 112L (Spring) |
| Math: Calculus BC | 4 | MATH 21c | MATH 122L (Fall) or 112L (Spring) |
| Math: Calculus BC | 5 | 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.
a BIOLOGY: Must have earned credit for Chem 21, 101DL or 110DL to enroll in Biology 201L. b 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.
c 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).
d 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.
e 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: