Credit by Exam (CBE)

Option for:

Current students

Credit by Exam consists of Ohio State-specific tests that allow students to earn EM (examination mark) credit toward graduation by successfully completing tests in subject areas. Two types of tests created by The Ohio State University are used to measure content knowledge for specific courses: EM tests and departmental exams.

Restrictions

You must be a currently enrolled undergraduate student at The Ohio State University to receive credit for EM tests.
EM credit will not be awarded for courses that are prerequisites to those for which credit already has been earned.
EM credit will not be awarded for any course in which a student has received either a mark at Ohio State or transfer credit from another institution.
Examination credit awarded by another higher education institution is evaluated as part of Ohio State’s transfer credit evaluation process.
Students currently enrolled in a course may take an EM test for that course only during the first week of the term. (For autumn semester only, students can take the test and be enrolled in the course during the first two weeks of the term.)
Students are advised to check their individual major requirements for exclusion information that would prevent the awarding of EM credit for any particular course, program or subject area.
EM tests cannot be repeated.

EM tests

See what courses have an EM test.

To take an EM exam at the Testing Center:

Register online for an EM exam at: testing.osu.edu.
An administration fee of $60 is paid during the registration process. Administration fees (not exam fees) are waived for active-duty and reserve military personnel.
Students must present a BuckID when they arrive for testing at the Testing Center.
If a prerequisite is listed for an EM test, students may be asked to provide written evidence of having met that requirement.

To take an EM test at a regional campus, contact your campus advising office.

EM Tests are not repeatable.

Departmental exams

See which courses have a Departmental Exam option.

To take a Departmental Exam:

Contact the department as indicated in the Departmental Exam list of courses.

To take a Departmental Exam at a regional campus, contact your campus advising office.

Departmental Exams are not repeatable.

Foreign language exams

All students who have taken two or more years of the same foreign language in high school must take the language placement test in that language for unconditional admission to Ohio State, whether or not they plan to continue language study. Requirements for continuing a foreign language are dependent on your academic program or major.

The Center for Languages, Literatures and Cultures coordinates and administers online placement tests in French, German, Italian and Spanish, and serves as a clearinghouse for placement tests in other languages. When preliminary results indicate eligibility for EM credit above the 1103 level, you may be asked to take a supplementary proficiency exam.

French, German, Italian, Latin and Spanish placement tests are scheduled as part of new student orientation programs. Transfer students without language transfer credit also take placement tests during orientation. Students who did not take a placement test during orientation should contact the Center for Languages, Literatures and Cultures at 614-292-4361. Students of Latin may schedule the placement exam with the Testing Center or contact the Department of Classics at 614-292-2744 for more information.

Note: It is advised to have a level of knowledge or experience comparable to students who have successfully completed the course you are attempting to test out of.
The number appearing in parentheses after each course indicates semester credit hours awarded.

Foreign language validation

If you are a native (or near-native) speaker of a language other than English and graduated from high school in the United States, you may request a foreign language validation test through the Testing Center. If you reach the appropriate level on this test, your foreign language requirement will be validated. This means that you will be allowed to substitute 12 hours of approved courses to fulfill the foreign language requirement. You should then meet with your academic adviser to find out which courses can be used in lieu of the foreign language requirement. You will NOT be awarded EM credit hours for a validation.

You can only complete a validation test ONCE. You may not enroll in any language course for which you received a validation.

The Testing Center offers the Certified ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and the Certified ACTFL Written Proficiency Test (WPT) for foreign languag validation. Haitian Creole, Pashto, Urdu, and Vietnamese require both the OPI and WPT. All other languages require the OPI only.