Credit by Examination

Credit by examination is a process that allows students who can demonstrate achievement of course competencies to receive credit for a course. Students interested in credit by examination should confer with their respective academic advisors and the Registration and Records Office to ensure that credit earned through examination will apply toward graduation requirements.  There are two options for currently enrolled students to earn credit by exam: 

1.  New or currently enrolled students who wish to gain college-level credit for a course for which a CLEP exam is available will need to register for the exam on the College Board website at http://clep.collegeboard.org/register/exam. Students should make sure to select Athens Technical College as their testing site if they wish to take the exam at the college. Once registered through Collegeboard.org, students should contact Testing Services at Athens Technical College to schedule their exam.  Courses for which credit may be earned are listed on the college’s Testing Services website. To receive CLEP credit, the scores earned must be at the 50th percentile or higher. Students must have official test scores mailed directly from the College Board to Athens Technical College. Students should direct questions to registration@athenstech.edu about CLEP credits. This credit is designated on the transcript as TR, is included in a student’s earned hours, and is not calculated into the student’s grade point average. CLEP credits are transferable to most colleges and universities nationwide.

2.  Students who present evidence of prior knowledge of a particular subject for which no CLEP exam exists may receive credit by passing a course-specific examination. Appropriate evidence may include, but is not necessarily limited to, work experience, non-credit coursework, equivalent coursework taken at non-accredited institutions, and courses offered by the military. Students may not take credit-by-examination tests for courses previously taken at Athens Technical College, including courses in which they earned grades of W, WP, WF, or AU. Students may not take the same test more than once. Students must have the permission of the instructional program chair or course coordinator offering the courses before seeking credit by examination. The nonrefundable testing fee is 25 percent of tuition normally charged for the course.  The instructional department is responsible for reporting results to the Registration and Records Office. Students who achieve grades of C (70) or higher on exams receive credit for the courses. Academic transcripts list the grade EXE for credit earned by examination. Students should verify they received credit by checking their transcripts on the college website. EXE grades are not calculated into a student’s grade point average.

To seek credit by examination, students must complete the following steps:

• Obtain Credit by Examination Request form on the college website.
• Obtain signatures of the instructional program chairs offering the courses for which students seek credit through this examination process. Departments may ask for documentation of prior knowledge in certain subject areas before allowing students to seek credit by examination.
• Pay a nonrefundable testing fee to the college's cashier once program chairs and/or course coordinators approve students to take examinations. 
• At the scheduled time, give the exam proctor the Credit by Examination form, testing fee receipt, and photo identification to gain admission to the testing session.

Institutional credit-by-exam credits are generally not transferable outside of Athens Technical College. Students do not have the option of attempting to earn credit by exam for FSSE 1000 – First, the college’s first semester seminar course.