Get college credit for what you already know! UA Little Rock accepts seven different types of Credit-by-Examination tests for a variety of courses. High School Students can earn credit through the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs at their schools. Both the CLEP and DSST examinations are available for current students or those wanting to transfer prior experiences into college credit.
An official score report must be requested from and sent by the testing company to UA Little Rock Testing Services per UA Little Rock Credit by Exam Policy, Number: 503.5, Effective Date: April 1, 2010
Program Overview
Students who wish to obtain credit through examination may do so in select courses. There are seven sources of examination credit:
- The Advanced Placement Program (AP) of the College Board;
- The College Level Examination Program (CLEP) of the College Board;
- The Excelsior College Examinations (ECE) of the Excelsior College in New York;
- The UA Little Rock Departmental Examination Program (DEPT) that includes other standardized tests as well as locally constructed examinations.
- DSST (formerly the DANTES Subject Standardized Tests exams)
- Foreign Language Placement Exams (FCAPE, SCAPE)
- The International Baccalaureate (IB) program from the International Baccalaureate Organization.
Score Report
Score reports must be requested from the testing company and an official score report/transcript sent from the company directly to UA Little Rock Testing Services. We do not accept photocopies, high school or college transcripts, faxes, student copies, etc.
Official CLEP, AP, ECE, DANTES, DSST and IB score reports must be sent directly to the Office of Testing Services from the national testing company.
After your score report has been evaluated by Testing Services, you may refer to your UA Little Rock BOSS account to view your earned credits. You will need your UA Little Rock “T” number (ID) and pin number to access Boss.
Departmental exams are generally graded in the department, and the related reports are released from the department. The procedure for documenting credit is the same as above.
Credit by Exam, Your GPA, and Your Academic Records
Credit obtained through examination is recorded as approved hours on the official permanent record without grade or grade points after the student is enrolled at UA Little Rock. In other words, classes you obtain by examination do not affect your grade point average.
This means you can’t use credit-by-exam to raise a grade in a course. For example, if you earned a D in Introduction to Sociology, you can only remove the D from your GPA by retaking the course and making a higher grade. Taking the CLEP test in Sociology won’t help — and you can’t get credit twice for the same course. If you made an F in Introduction to Sociology, you could take the CLEP test to try to earn the hours, but the F would remain on your transcript.
There is no limit on the number of hours you may earn through examination. Schedules for examinations vary. It is your responsibility to know registration deadlines and score reporting dates for each program and to plan accordingly.
Transferring Credits
Credit by exam policies vary considerably from campus to campus. Receiving credit at one school does not guarantee that you will receive credit at another school.
If you are transferring into UA Little Rock and you tested-out of courses at another school, check UA Little Rock’s policies to determine if you (a) took tests that are accepted at UA Little Rock, and (b) made a passing score according to UA Little Rock policy. If you did, contact the national testing company (for example, CLEP) to have an official score report sent to UA Little Rock Testing Services for evaluation. Photocopies, student copies, college and high school transcripts are unofficial and will not be accepted.
If you earn credits by examination at UA Little Rock and you decide to transfer to another university, you will need to check with that university to determine their policy. Earning credit for a class at UA Little Rock is not a guarantee that you will be able to transfer that class elsewhere. That is determined by that university’s cut-off scores for the particular examination.
Policy Review
Only examinations that have been approved by the faculty of the appropriate department are included in the credit-by-examination program.
UA Little Rock faculty members of the respective department make all decisions regarding which test we accept and the minimum score required.
Credit-by-examination satisfies degree requirements in the same way as credit earned by passing a course. Unsuccessful attempts on examinations will not be reflected on the academic record.
Special Accommodations
We will provide testing accommodations for students with documented disabilities. If you need accommodations, contact Testing Services at least three weeks in advance prior to registering for a CLEP or DEPT exam. Registration information for AP and ECE exams includes directions for those tests. Please see our Accommodations for Students with Disabilities section for more information.