Advanced Placement Credit and Chart

Students who earn scores of 3, 4, or 5 on College Board Advanced Placement Examinations taken before high school graduation will receive 2, 4, or 8 units of credit toward graduation at UCSB for each such test completed with the required scores, provided official scores are submitted to the Office of Admissions.

Students should be advised that college courses taken before or after attending UC may duplicate AP, IB and/or A Level (GCE) examinations. Additionally, exams may duplicate each other (for example, AP or IB exam in the same subject area). If the student does duplicate an exam with another exam of the same subject content, and/or an exam with a college course, we will award credit only once.

Note: Advanced Placement credit earned prior to entering the university will not be counted toward maximum unit limitations either for selection of a major or for graduation.

Advanced Placement Exam with score of 3, 4, or 5	Units Awarded	General Education Credit	UCSB Course Equivalent (You may not enroll in these courses for credit at UCSB.)
*2D Art and Design	8	None	None
*3D Art and Design	8	None	None
African American Studies (beginning S25)	4	E: 1 course	None
Art History	8	F: 1 course	Art History 1
Biology	8	**C: 1 course	EEMB 22, MCDB 20
*Calculus AB (or AB subscore of BC exam)	4	**C: 1 course#	Mathematics 2A, 3A, 34A, or equivalent
*Calculus BC	8	**C: 2 courses#	Mathematics 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 34A, 34B, or equivalent
Chemistry	8	**C: 1 course#	None
Chinese Language and Culture	8	**B	See department for level placement
Comparative Government and Politics	4	D: 1 course	None
+Computer Science A (through S17)	2 or 8	None	None
+Computer Science A (beginning S18)
With score of 3	8	**C: 1 course#	None
With score of 4 or 5	8	**C: 1 course#	Computer Science 8
Computer Science Principles (effective S17 and S18)
With score of 3	8	**C: 1 course#	None
With score of 4 or 5	8	**C: 1 course#	Computer Science 8
Computer Science Principles (beginning S19)
With score of 3	8	**C: 1 course	None
With score of 4 or 5	8	**C: 1 course	Computer Science 4
*Drawing	8	None	Art 18
*English – Language and Composition or Literature and Composition
With score of 3	8	Entry Level Writing Requirement	Writing 1, 1E
With score of 4	8	A1	Writing 1, 1E, 2, 2E, 2LK
With score of 5	8	A1, A2	Writing 1, 1E, 2, 2E, 2LK, 50, 50E
Environmental Science	4	**C: 1 course	Environmental Studies 2
European History	8	E: 1 course	None
French Language and Culture
With score of 3	8	**B	French 1-3
With score of 4	8	**B	French 1-4
With score of 5	8	**B	French 1-5
German Language and Culture
With score of 3	8	**B	German 1-3
With score of 4	8	**B	German 1-4
With score of 5	8	**B	German 1-5
Human Geography	4	D	Geography 5
Italian Language and Culture
With score of 3	8	**B	Italian 1-3
With score of 4	8	**B	Italian 1-5
With score of 5	8	**B	Italian 1-6
Japanese Language and Culture	8	**B	See department for level placement
Latin	8	**B	Latin 1-3
Macroeconomics	4	D: 1 course	None
Microeconomics	4	D: 1 course	None
Music Theory	8	F: 1 course	Music 11
*Physics 1 (beginning S15)	8	**C: 1 course#	None
*Physics 2 (beginning S15)	8	**C: 1 course#	None
*Physics – B (last offered S14)	8	**C: 1 course#	Physics 10
*Physics C: Mechanics	4	**C: 1 course#	Physics 6A + 6AL
*Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism	4	**C: 1 course#	Physics 6B + 6BL
Psychology	4	D: 1 course	Psychology 1
Spanish Language and Culture
With score of 3	8	**B	Spanish 1-3
With score of 4	8	**B	Spanish 1-4
With score of 5	8	**B	Spanish 1-5
Spanish Literature and Culture
With score of 3	8	**B	Spanish 1-4
With score of 4	8	**B	Spanish 1-5
With score of 5	8	**B	Spanish 1-6
Statistics	4	**C: 1 course#	Communication 87, PSTAT 5AA-ZZ, Psychology 5
United States Government and Politics	4	D: 1 course	Political Science 12
United States History	8	D: 1 course	None
World History: Modern	8	E: 1 course	None

* A maximum of 8 units EACH in art studio, English, mathematics, and physics is allowed. (The Physics B exam is no longer offered.)
# Also satisfies the quantitative relationship requirement in Area C.
+ The change from 2 units to 8 units for AP Computer Science A was approved for students matriculating at a UC campus in fall 2018 or later. UCSB students who matriculated in fall 2018 may earn 8 units for the exam if it was taken in spring 2015 or later.
** College of Letters and Science only

While AP Research and AP Seminar do not earn units, exam scores of 3 or higher will satisfy the Entry Level Writing Requirement (ELWR) beginning Fall 2023.