Advising Transfer Students with AP Advanced Placement Scores

AP Advanced Placement Test Scores are coming soon!  Students will be getting their May 2024 AP tests scores around this first week of July – and coming to us for advising with those scores soon!

The MC AP Comparison Chart for Transfer Students (also found at this link on the MC Transfer Resources for Counselors Page https://www.montgomerycollege.edu/counseling-and-advising/transferresourcesforcounselors.html shows how various transfer schools may accept AP test scores differently.

Some Maryland State schools responded to the MD State Transfer with Success Act by accepting all AP Test scores of 3 retroactively, so an AP test score of 3 is accepted regardless of the year the test was taken.  Examples of schools on the chart are UMBC and UMGC.

The University of Maryland, College Park - UM - accepts AP credits by year the test was taken.  Students may have taken AP tests in 2022 or earlier and 2023 or after, so checking both the AP score and the test date taken is important for UM hopefuls when advising.  UM has revised how they will now accept AP scores of 3 for tests taken in May 2023 and after.  What this means is that if a student has an AP Test score of 3 taken before 2023, UM may not accept the score, even if MC grants credit.  How do you know the date the test was taken?  Students may provide a copy of their unofficial score report, or you can look for the score report filed in Perceptive Content on your desktop (AKA Image Now).

Although UM is now accepting scores of 3 for tests taken May 2023 and after, you can see from the most recent Comparison Chart that UM accepts many scores of 3 as Lower Level Elective credits only; therefore, a score of 4 or 5 is still needed to earn a course equivalency credit.  Example – UM accepts AP Macroeconomics of 3 as a Lower-Level Elective; students still need a score of 4 or 5 to earn credit for ECON 201 at UM. 

For students planning to apply to UM – College Park or Shady Grove, regardless of major, a suggestion is to provide them the link to this chart and strongly advise them to meet early on (even as first-semester freshmen) with a UM Pretransfer Advisor go.umd.edu/MC2UMD to determine how their AP scores will be accepted upon transfer. 

Use the caution that each transfer school may accept AP credits differently so it’s important to check the AP Acceptance chart on every transfer school’s website to see how AP scores will be accepted.  For example, many highly competitive private and out-of-state schools may still require a minimum score of 4 for AP tests. 

Hopefully you can look over the MC AP Comparison Chart to get a feel of how AP scores are granted – and also review the policy for AP scores for Gen Ed courses for Maryland Schools, explained at the bottom of the Chart.  If a student gets Gen Ed course credit from MC for an AP score of 3, other Maryland State Public institutions should consider the Gen Ed category to be completed if the student finishes MC’s General Education Program, and even if the AP credit does not meet the transfer school’s Gen Ed Requirements.  An example is given on the Chart.  

We need to award AP credit to counselors & advisors who are patient enough to learn the basics of AP Score Interpretation!  If you make it to the bottom of this message, send me a thumbs up reaction and I’ll send you your own AP Test Score Interpreter’s Score!

Anne Schleicher, Part-Time Counselor
Montgomery College Online Advising Services