If you feel your background, education, and experience provide sufficient knowledge in a subject area, you can earn course credits through institutional credit by examination or course challenges. Earning credit through challenge examinations is equivalent to passing a cumulative, end-of-the-term examination.

Below is a list of some of the instructional programs at Austin Community College (ACC) offering institutional course credit by examination, sorted by Area of Study.

Note: Not all courses in a program are necessarily eligible for credit by examination. Contact the instructional department directly to find out if credit by examination is an option for your major and for more information.

Arts, Digital Media & Communications:

    • Business, Government, & Technical Communications
    • Game Development, Animation, and Motion Graphics
    • Professional Photography
    • Visual Communication

Business:

    • Accounting
    • Business Office Technology

Design, Manufacturing, Construction & Applied Technologies:

    • Architectural and Engineering Computer Aided Design
    • Agricultural Sciences
    • Automotive Collision Repair & Refinishing Technology
    • Automotive Technology & Outdoor Powered Equipment
    • Building Construction Technology
    • Engineering Technology
    • Geographic Information Systems
    • Geospatial Engineering
    • Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Technology
    • Welding Technology

Education:

    • Child Care & Development
    • Health & Kinesiology

Health Sciences:

    • Allied Health Sciences
    • Health Information Technology
    • Sonography

Liberal Arts – Humanities & Communications:

    • English
    • World Languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Russian, and Spanish)

Science, Engineering & Math:

    • Biotechnology

Complete the Following Steps to Test and Receive Course Challenge Credit

    • Consult with your instructional program or area about a specific course and your eligibility to take a course challenge exam.
    • Obtain a Course Challenge Form from a campus Admissions and Enrollment Office.
    • Obtain the signature of the appropriate instructional dean or program chair who approves the testing and assigns an instructor to administer the test.
    • Obtain the signature of the professor who previously taught the course at Austin Community College (ACC) and has agreed to administer and grade the challenge examination.
    • Return the signed Course Challenge Form to a campus Admissions and Enrollment Office.
    • Pay the course challenge fee.
    • Take the examination at the designated Testing Center.
    • Verify the instructor submitted passing scores to a campus Admissions and Enrollment Office.

How to Receive Credit

To receive credit, you must earn at least a B on the course challenge exam, enroll at ACC and complete at least one college course, and have the instructor submit your course challenge results to an ACC campus Admissions and Enrollment Office.

Institutional Credit by Examination Restrictions

Not every course or student is eligible for challenge exams. Check with your instructional program or area for available classes and eligibility requirements.

    • International students may not apply course challenges toward their 12-credit enrollment requirement.
    • You must meet the course prerequisites and institutional enrollment requirements in order to receive credit.
    • You may challenge a course only once. Additional challenges are not permitted.
    • You may not challenge a course in which you currently are enrolled or previously earned a grade of A, B, C, D, F, I, W, or AU.
    • Grades earned through course challenges are not calculated in your GPA and do not count toward scholastic achievement awards.

Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential

Prospective students who have a current CDA (Child Development Associate) Credential from the Council for Professional Recognition may have the course requirements for CDEC 1311, CDEC 1318, and CDEC 1354 waived (up to 9 hours). For additional information, contact the Child Care and Development Department at childdev@austincc.edu.