Equivalent Credit and Placement for AP, IB, and Advanced-Level Foreign Exams
Students with qualifying scores on the AP Calculus AB and/or BC exam, the IB Higher Level Mathematics Analysis and Approaches Exam, and/or an accepted Advanced-Level Math Foreign Exam may earn transfer equivalent coursework and/or use qualifying results to enroll in the appropriate-level calculus course at UC San Diego.
Review the information below to determine all qualifying exam results.
AP Calculus BC Exam
Score |
BC Exam |
|
4-5 |
Receive transfer equivalent credit for Math 20A and 20B. Qualified to enroll in Math 20C or Math 10C or Math 11 and Math 18. Students will not receive credit if they take Math 10A, 10B, 20A, or 20B at UCSD. |
|
3 |
Receive transfer equivalent credit for Math 20A and Math 10B Qualified to enroll in Math 10C (for 4 units) or Math 20B (for 2 units) or Math 11 and Math 18. Students will not receive credit if they take Math 10A, 10B, or 20A at UCSD. |
|
1-2 |
The AB sub-score is used for placement. Refer to the AP Calculus AB Exam for placement information. |
AP Calculus AB Exam
Score |
AB Exam |
|
4-5 |
Receive transfer equivalent credit for Math 20A. Qualified to enroll in Math 20B or Math 10B and Math 18. Students will not receive credit if they take Math 10A or 20A at UC San Diego. |
|
3 |
Receive transfer equivalent credit for Math 10A. Qualified to enroll in Math 10B (for 4 units) or Math 20A (for 2 units) and Math 18. Students will not receive credit if they take Math 10A at UC San Diego. |
|
2 |
No equivalent credit is given. Qualified* to enroll in Math 4C or Math 10A for 2 years after date of test. |
|
1 |
No equivalent credit is given. Students must take the MPE to enroll in Math at UC San Diego. |
*Only valid for 2 years when used for math placement.
AP Precalculus
Score |
Precalculus Exam |
|
5 |
Qualified* to enroll in Math 20A or Math 10A and Math 18 for 2 years after date of test. |
|
4 |
Qualified* to enroll in Math 4C or Math 10A for 2 years after date of test. |
|
1-3 |
Students must take the MPE to enroll in Math at UC San Diego. |
*Only valid for 2 years when used for math placement.
IB Higher-Level Mathematics Analysis and Approaches
Score |
IB Higher Level Mathematics Analysis and Approaches (AA) |
|
5-7 |
Receive transfer equivalent credit for Math 20A and Math 10B. Qualified to enroll in Math 10C (for 4 units) or Math 20B (for 2 units) or Math 11 and Math 18.Students will not receive credit if they take Math 10A, 10B or 20A at UCSD. |
IB Higher-Level Mathematics Applications and Interpretations
Score |
IB Higher Level Applications and Interpretations (AI) |
|
1 - 7 |
Not eligible for transfer credit and may not be used to meet placement prerequisites at UCSD. |
IB Standard-Level Mathematics
Score |
IB Standard Level (SL) Mathematics |
|
1-7 |
Not eligible for transfer credit and may not be used to meet placement prerequisites at UCSD. |
Advanced-Level Foreign Mathematics Exams
UC San Diego awards up to 12 quarter units of transfer-equivalent calculus credit for many GCE A-Level examinations (such as exams from Cambridge, Pearson Edexcel (GCE only), Singapore, AQA, and OCR) with a grade of C or better. Students who took an A-Level foreign mathematics exam should contact the Math Testing and Placement Office (mathtesting@ucsd.edu) to determine if the coursework taken is transferrable and eligible for equivalent credit.
Students must send or request to send their AP Precalculus, AP Calculus (AB and/or BC), IB HL Mathematics AA, and accepted A-Level exam scores to the UCSD Office of Admissions by July 1.
Once UCSD receives official scores, the results are posted in students' academic history which communicates to the WebReg enrollment system to verify that the course prerequisites have been satisfied allowing students to enroll or waitlist that course.
Scores that do not meet the course prerequisites are not accepted for course enrollment.
Note: AP Statistics exam results or coursework from precalculus or college algebra from high school or another college or university do not satisfy the prerequisites for enrollment for UCSD math courses.