The purpose of advanced placement credit is designed to enable you to begin your college studies at an appropriate level in each subject. Students generally profit from this option, but you must judge your own ability to handle a demanding academic program. The advisability of accepting AP credit depends on many personal factors, such as the extent of your study skills, the activities you wish to engage in during your first year, and the thoroughness of your preparation. Whether to accept AP credit—or take the corresponding course—is a decision for which you, alone, are responsible.
- By taking a College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) examination
- By successfully completing a General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced (A-Level) examination
- By successfully completing an International Baccalaureate (IB) Higher Level examination, or
- By taking a Cornell departmental examination, given during Orientation Week before the beginning of the fall term
If your performance on one of these exams is satisfactory, college credit will be offered.
Whether you choose to accept AP credit will depend, in part, on whether the course in question is a technical course that will be a prerequisite for other courses in your academic program. If it is not a technical prerequisite, there is no reason you should not accept credit. If it is a technical prerequisite, however, you should make sure that you are really prepared to take the next course in the sequence.
Departmental examinations test your technical preparedness, and in this sense, they are better than CEEB AP exams which may not test you for what Cornell expects you to know. The departmental exam is designed to test the depth of your knowledge in the entire range of material customarily covered in a particular course offered at Cornell. Satisfactory performance on such an exam indicates that you already know what you would have learned if you had taken the Cornell course. Satisfactory performance on the CEEB AP exam is not as good an indication that you have mastered the entire range of material. When in doubt, you should feel free to take a departmental exam, even if you have already passed the CEEB AP exam.
Because the amount of AP or transfer credit awarded can affect the degree of difficulty of the first year and your subsequent success as an engineering student, you should consider your options carefully. Seek counseling from your faculty advisor during Orientation Week and talk with the undergrad coordinator (listed in the Engineering Undergraduate Handbook) in the Majors you are interested in. The first year at Cornell is crucial to the development of your undergraduate program; wise use of AP and transfer credit can make a positive difference.
