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 Exam

 Score

 Duke Credit

 Eligible to Take *

African American Studies 4/5 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 (fall, spring, summer)
Chemistry
5
CHEM 21b
CHEM 201DL.002 or 110DL (fall only), 201DL or 101DL  (spring, summer)
Chinese: Language and Culture 5 CHINESE 203 204 or 200-400-level course depending on score
Computer Science A
4/5
COMPSCI 101L
COMPSCI 201
Computer Science: Principles 5 COMPSCI 20 Any Computer Science Course
Economics: Macroeconomics
4/5
N/A
N/A
Economics: Microeconomics
4/5
N/A N/A
English: Literature and Composition
4/5
ENGLISH 20
Any course except ENGLISH 20
English: Language and Composition
4/5
ENGLISH 22
Any course except ENGLISH 22
Environmental Science
4/5
ENVIRON 20
ENVIRON 201
French: Language and Culture
5
FRENCH 204
300-level course
German: Language and Culture
4
GERMAN 29
GERMAN 204 or 305S
German: Language and Culture
5
GERMAN 29
GERMAN 305S or above
History: European
4/5
HIST 25 and 26
Any course
History: United States
4/5
HIST 23 and 24
Any course
History: World 4/5 HISTORY 21 Any course
Human Geography No Credit N/A N/A
Italian: Language and Culture 4 ITALIAN 204 ITALIAN 301
Italian: Language and Culture 5 ITALIAN 204 Any 300-level course
Japanese: Language and Culture
4
JAPANESE 203 JAPANESE 204
Japanese: Language and Culture
5
JAPANESE 203 200-400-level course depending on 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 or 221
Music: Theory
4/5
MUSIC 161-1
Any course except MUSIC 161-1
Physics C: Mechanics
4/5
PHYSICS 25d
Consult department
Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism
4/5
PHYSICS 26d
Consult department
Physics 1: Algebra-Based
No Credit
N/A
N/A
Physics 2: Algebra-Based
No Credit
N/A
N/A
Political Science: United States Government and Politics
4/5
POLSCI 20
200-400-level course
Political Science: Comparative Government and Politics
4/5
POLSCI 21
200-400-level course
Psychology
5
PSYCHOLOGY 11
Any course (AP credit cannot be used toward major requirements)
Spanish: Language and Culture
5
SPANISH 204
300-level course
Spanish: Literature and Culture
4/5
SPANISH 204
300-level course
Statistical Science
5
STA 20e
STA 101, 102, 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.