Exemptions and Advanced Placement

Exemption with Credit

AP Credit: Converse University awards advanced placement in the form of Exemption with Credit to entering undergraduates on the basis of College Entrance Examination Board- tested Advanced Placement courses taken in high school. Students receiving a grade of 4 or higher on the AP Music Theory Examination are allowed to exempt Basic Elements of Music Theory, MUT 101. The Petrie School of Music follows University guidelines in determining the Converse courses for which this credit may be substituted. 

IB Credit: The School of Humanities, Sciences, and Business also grants exemptions from certain General Education Requirements to students who submit acceptable scores on the International Baccalaureate examination. 

Exemption Tests: In addition, the Petrie School of Music makes available the following Exemption with Credit procedure for all of its undergraduate courses except Applied Lessons and Ensembles. 

  1. Exemption with Credit procedures may not be used to make up a course previously failed by the student 
  2. Exemption tests are offered by request ONLY during regular examination periods at the ends of terms. A special examination fee of $10 must be paid to the Administrative Assistant of the Petrie School of Music prior to taking the exemption test. 
  3. The examiner turns a graded copy of the student’s test into the Music Office, where it is placed in their file. 
  4. A minimum grade of B-, as determined by the instructor, is required to achieve exemption with credit. 
  5. A student may attempt the exemption process for a given course only once. 

Exemption without Credit 

The School of Humanities, Sciences, and Business grants Advanced Placement (Exemption without Credit) on the basis of high school transcripts, SAT scores, or placement examinations in several fields, notably Modern Languages, Mathematics, and English Composition. In addition, the Petrie School of Music allows such exemptions from time to time on the basis of placement testing. When such an exemption is granted in a course specifically required in a music major’s degree program, the credit hour(s) involved are not removed from the student’s obligation: required Humanities and Sciences courses must be replaced with Humanities and Science electives; required Music courses must be replaced with music electives. 

NOTE: NO exemptions- with or without credit- are available in courses classified as Applied Lessons or Ensembles.