Advanced Placement

WPI awards credit to students who score a score a "4" or "5" on the Advanced Placement Examinations. The director of Academic Advising will notify such students during Orientation via mailbox of their earned credit. More Information...

Humanities

For students who do take the examination in one or more of the WPI humanities areas and score a "4" or "5," the university will award advanced placement credit for one course per examination toward the humanities requirement. Soon after arriving on campus, students receiving such credit must speak with an appropriate humanities department advisor about how this credit may be integrated into a thematic program of studies leading to fulfillment of the WPI humanities requirement.

Computer Science

Advanced placement in computer science can be earned by scoring a "4" or "5" on the CS exam. Credit for CS 1000 is granted for the A computer science exam; credit for an additional 1000-level course is granted for a score of "4" or "5" on the AB exam.

Natural Sciences

Students who pass the advanced placement test in Biology, Chemistry or Physics B with a "4 or 5" will be awarded 1/3 unit of advanced placement credit. This credit will show on the transcript as "L". For students who score "4 or 5" in Physics C (Mechanics) will be awarded 1/3 credit in Physics 1110/ 1111. Students who score "4" or "5" in Physics C (Electricity and Magnetism) will be awarded 1/3 advanced placement credit for Physics 1120/1121. For those students who pass Physics B will be awarded 1/3 credit in Physics 1000.

Mathematics

Students who pass the AB mathematics examination with a "4" or "5" will be awarded 2/3 unit of advanced placement credit for MA 1021 and MA 1022. Students with a "4" or "5" on the advanced placement BC exam will be awarded 1 unit advanced placement credit for MA 1021, MA 1022 and MA 1023.

In the four-course 1021-1024 mathematics sequence, students who arrive at WPI with a one-year high school calculus course, prepared to start with the second (or third) course in the WPI sequence, and who successfully pass that course and the one that follows it in sequence, will be considered to have established advanced placement credit for the first one (or two) courses. To qualify for the credit, the advanced WPI courses must be passed the first time they are available in sequence to the student after matriculation. The courses credited retroactively will be listed by number without an assigned grade and will count toward the distribution requirement in mathematics.