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Credit by Exam
Credit by Exam allows students the opportunity to earn credit in a course that they have not taken.
High school students can earn credit for a course without having formal instruction through a Credit by Exam (CBE) or Advanced Placement (AP) exam. CBE exams are made by Texas Tech University HS, while AP exams are distributed through College Board. Registered Garland ISD students can take CBE exams at no cost.
Students must meet the qualifications and requirements and be enrolled in a Garland ISD school to test. Students must make an application request to their home campus counseling office.
Note: Under certain circumstances, students may earn credit for a course that they took, but did not receive the credit due to absences or grade failure.
Students need to apply for a CBE as soon as they know they intend to test, because the results may affect schedule plans for the next semester or school year. Students are strongly encouraged to begin preparing for the exams as early as possible. Additional information and review sheets for CBE exams can be found on the Texas Tech CBE Review sheet website.
Applying to test
Students must submit an application for CBE through the home campus counselor. The application for CBE may be made at any time of the year but must meet the application deadlines established for each testing session (below).
| Testing window | Application deadline | Administration window | Testing location |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 1 - Sept. 30 | July 1 | TBD | TBD |
| Oct. 1 - Dec. 31 | Oct. 31 | TBD | TBD |
| Jan. 1 - March 31 | Jan. 31 | TBD | TBD |
| April 1 - June 30 | May 1 | TBD | TBD |
| AP exams* | May 2-13 | TBD | TBD |
*AP exam dates are established by College Board AP Services
Testing guidelines
- Students must earn a passing score in the prerequisite course before attempting the next course in the pathway.
- Students can only take a CBE during the four testing windows.
- The student may only attempt to accelerate two times for the same course before they no longer can test.
- A student’s placement in a new course will only occur at the start of the school year or semester (for semester courses), no matter what time the test was taken.
Requirements to earn credit
- To earn credit for a CBE, the student must demonstrate mastery of the subject by earning a score of 80% or higher.
- For AP credit, the student must earn a score of 3 or higher on the AP course exam.
If a student makes the required score on the CBE, the grade will be recorded on the transcript. The results will be mailed to the parents, counselor and registrar after the scoring is completed.
Available courses for credit
See the courses in which a student may test to earn credit.
High school courses
Expand AllEnglish Language Arts
- English I
- English II
- English III
- English IV
- Communications Applications
Math
- Algebra 1
- Algebra II
- Geometry
- Precalculus
- Math Models
Science
- Astronomy
- Biology
- Chemistry
- IPC
- Physics
Social Studies
- World Geography
- World History
- US History
- Economics
- Government
Health & Physical Education
- Foundations of Personal Fitness
- Health Education
- Physical Education- Individual Sports
Fine Arts
- Art 1
- Music Appreciation
- Theater Arts
Electives
- Banking & Financial Services
- Business Information Management
- Child Development
- Computer Programming
- Digital & Interactive Media
- Dollars and Sense
- Forensic Science
- Game Design
- Interpersonal Studies
- Lifetime Nutrition & Wellness
- Money Matters
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Web Design
Languages other than English
Credit by exams for languages other than English are available through an online computer-adaptive platform called Avant. If your student is interested in taking a credit by exam for a language other than English and Garland ISD does not offer that language as a course, the student will have to score high enough in order to receive at least two credits of the language. Texas requires that each student receive two credits (two years) in the same language.
Available exams for languages other than English
Expand AllAvant WS Exams
The exam is computer-adaptive, meaning that the difficulty level of each question automatically changes to each student's level as the student progresses through the exam. This allows students to demonstrate their actual proficiency level in the language.
Exam languages
- Amharic*
- Armenian*
- Cabo Verdean
- Chin (Hakha)
- Chuukese
- Czech
- Filipino (Tagalog)
- Jaotoam-Creole (Haitian)
- Kannada
- Hmong
- Ilocano
- Marathi*
- Marshallese
- Samoan
- Spanish**
- Somali Maay Maay
- Somali Maxaa
- Tamil*
- Telugu*
- Turkish
- Urdu*
- Vietnamese*
- Yoruba
- Yup'ik
- Zomi
*Requires touchscreen Chromebook for specialty keyboard
American Sign Language and Latin coming soon.
Avant Stamp Exams
The exam is computer-adaptive, meaning that the difficulty level of each question automatically changes to each student’s level as the student progresses through the exam. This allows students to demonstrate their actual proficiency in the language. We recommend students read the Stamp Benchmark and Rubric Guide and the Sample Test before taking an exam.
Exam languages
- Arabic
- Cantonese
- French
- German
- Hebrew
- Hindi
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Mandarin (Simplified and Traditional)
- Polish
- Portuguese (Brazilian)
- Russian
- Spanish, Spanish Monolingual
- Yup'ik
Credit by Examination with prior instruction
To take a Credit by Exam (CBE) with prior instruction, the student must have been enrolled in a formal course and have a transcript from an accredited or non-accredited institution. The student must score at least a 70% or above on the CBE assessment to earn credit for the course. These assessments are provided by Edgenuity's computer testing platform and can be taken at the student's home campus. These exams are provided at least four times during the year. The date and times of testing are at the discretion of the home campus.
Discover more on testing programs
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