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.

Provided below is a list of some of the academic programs at Austin Community College District (ACC) offering institutional course credit by examination, sorted by School.

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

School of Arts & Creative Industries:

    • Game Development, Animation, and Motion Graphics
    • Photography + Visual Media
    • Technical Communications
    • Visual Communication

School of Business:

    • Accounting
    • Culinary Arts
    • Fashion Design and Merchandising
    • Hospitality Management and Meeting & Event Planning
    • Marketing
    • Office Administration and Technology

School of Applied Technologies:

    • Automated Manufacturing Technology
    • Architectural and Engineering Computer Aided Design
    • Agricultural Sciences
    • Automotive Collision Repair and Refinishing Technology
    • Automotive Technology and Powersport Service Technology
    • Building Construction Technology
    • Electronics Engineering Technology
    • Geographic Information Systems
    • Geospatial Engineering
    • Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Technology
    • Welding Technology

School of Health Sciences:

    • Allied Health Sciences
    • Health Information Technology
    • Sonography

School of Humanities & Communications:

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

School of Public & Social Services:

    • Child Care and Development
    • Health and Kinesiology

School of Science, Engineering & Mathematics:

    • Biotechnology

Complete the Following Steps to Test and Receive Course Challenge Credit

    • Consult with your academic program advisor or department about a specific course and your eligibility to take a course challenge exam — the process may vary slightly by program.
    • Obtain a Course Challenge Form from the program advisor, department, or the campus Enrollment and Records Office.
    • Obtain the signature of the appropriate academic dean or department 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 Enrollment and Records Office.
    • Pay the course challenge examination fee.
    • Take the examination at the designated Testing Center.
    • Verify the instructor submitted passing scores to a campus Enrollment and Records 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 Enrollment and Records Office.

Institutional Credit by Examination Restrictions

Not every course or student is eligible for challenge exams. Check with your academic program 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, do not count toward scholastic achievement awards, and will receive a designation of “CR” on the college credit transcript.

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 [email protected].

Credit for Prior Learning / Credit by Exam

If you have further questions regarding Credit for Prior Learning / Credit by Exam, please email [email protected] or visit our Credit for Prior Learning Website