Credit towards the bachelor’s degree may be established by examination under the following conditions:
The applicant must have completed at least 12 semester credits at UMES with an average grade of “C” or better before making application for an examination to establish credit. The Department Chair and Dean may waive this regulation for entering freshmen who wish to pursue the examination to establish credit based on previous training.
The total number of credits that may be established by examination cannot exceed 60 semester credits. “Credit by Examination” cannot be used for a course in which the student has previously earned a letter grade (A, B, C, D, or F); or in which the student received a W or I grade. Additionally, credit by examination cannot be awarded for a course which was audited during a previous semester. Usually credit by examination will not be accepted for any part of the final thirty (30) semester credits, which must be completed in residence. However, if permission is granted by the Vice President for Academic Affairs, six (6) semester hours of the final thirty (3) may be established by examination. However, in no case does this permission waive the minimum residence requirement of 30 semester credits.
The fee for credit by examination is $30.00 per credit hour for full-time students. A grade of “C” or higher must be obtained in order to establish credit by examination.
Applications for examination to establish credit by examination must be approved on an individual course basis. Approval will not be granted at the same time for examination in a sequence of courses. Approval to take an examination in any course will depend upon the student having established credit in all prerequisites or having received the approval of the Department Chair, the Dean and the Vice President for Academic Affairs. Application for credit by examination is equivalent to registration for a course with the following conditions:
1. A student may cancel an application at any time prior to completion of the examination with no entry on the permanent record .The examination instructor will make the results of the examination available to the student prior to formal submission of the grade. A student may elect not to have the grade recorded. In this case, the grade of “W” will be recorded. No course may be attempted again in this manner.
2. Grades earned on examination to establish credit will be posted on the student’s transcript and used in computing the student’s grade point average. Such credits shall be accompanied by the phrase, “Test Credit”,“By Exam” or “By CLEP,” whichever is applicable.
3. The instructor must certify on the report of the examination that copies of the examination questions and the student’s answers have been filed in the Office of the Registrar.
