College Challenge Versus Advanced Placement (AP) Credit

Advanced Placement (AP) and College Challenge vary in one significant way.

Students can earn an "A", for instance, in an AP course, but they still must take an exam - and earn (in most cases) at least a 3 (out of 5) on that exam for it to be considered for college credit. In some instances, the college or university to which a student eventually enrolls may not accept the student's AP exam for credit. Colleges and universities vary in their criteria on which exams they will accept for credit and then how that particular course fits its curriculum. Some highly selective colleges and universities don't accept AP credit.

With College Challenge, if a student earns a "C" or better in the course, they earn college credit - and it is reflected on their official ISU transcript. Although, there are still some highly selective colleges and universities that will not accept any transfer credit from any institution, more colleges and universities will accept the transfer credit from ISU than not, and within Indiana there is a "library" of courses that all public institutions must accept from each other. All College Challenge courses are chosen from this list of agreed upon courses. For details, visit the Indiana Core Transfer Library.