Transfer credits/AP credits

To apply for transfer credits, please bring the following to the Physics & Astronomy department office:

• Description of your physics course, and any math pre- and/or co-requisites. In most cases you can print this out from a university's web page. If your course is already listed in Table 2.1, we don't need this information from you.
• A copy of your transcript.
• A transfer credit form. You can get them from the transfer office on campus, or from the Physics & Astronomy Department office.

Questions about transfer credits should be addressed to Professor Deane Peterson, Physics Building, Room P105, (631) 632-8758.

Biology and biochemistry students should pay particular attention to the math pre-requisites of physics courses at other institutions. Stony Brook's PHY 121/122 sequence has calculus as a pre-requisite, and the biology and biochemistry majors at Stony Brook require a year calculus-based physics including labs to meet the requirements of the major. In comparison, courses such as PHY 53/54 at Suffolk County Community College (which sounds from its course descriptions like it might be similar to Stony Brook's PHY 121/122) which do not require calculus as a pre-requisite are not regarded as transfer equivalents to Stony Brook's PHY 121/122 (see Table 2.1). To confound the situation, most but not all medical schools will accept physics with algebra; a smaller number require physics with calculus. To summarize:

• If you're planning on being a biochemistry or biology major at Stony Brook, take the PHY 121/122 sequence at Stony Brook or a calculus-prerequisite sequence at another institution (this may put you in with engineers and physics majors at another institution; again, see Table 2.1).
• If you're aiming for medical school and your major at Stony Brook does not require calculus-based physics, you will be OK for many but not all medical schools if you take a pre-med type physics course at another institution. However, physics courses without calculus at other institutions will transfer in as generic DEC E credits at Stony Brook, rather than as PHY 121/122 credits.

Biology and Biochemistry majors are advised to check with their respective undergraduate program offices if they have further questions on physics requirements for their major.

In some cases students will have had courses that are equivalents to the lecture parts of PHY 121/122 but not the labs PHY 123/124, or the lecture parts of PHY 131/132 but not the labs PHY 133/134. In those cases, students can take the courses PHY 191 and 192. Let's say you receive transfer credit for PHY 121 but not the lab PHY 123. You can then sign up for PHY 191, take the labs as if you were registered for PHY 123, and have the PHY 123 lab T.A. report the lab grade to Prof. Peterson for reporting as the grade received in PHY 191.

American students sometimes have the option to take Advanced Placement (AP) physics courses in high school. They then take an exam to demonstrate competency at the end of the semester. Note that foreign students are also able to take these exams to gain college credit based on high school courses in their home country. The Physics & Astronomy department policy on AP credit equivalencies is:

AP Physics exam	Score	Equiv. course	Credits	DEC
B	3, 4 or 5	none	3	E
C: Mechanics	4 or 5	PHY 125	4	E
	3	none	2	none
C: Electrical and Magnetic	4 or 5	PHY 127	4	E
	3	none	2	none

Note that these students must still take the laboratory classes PHY 133 and PHY 134 at Stony Brook (by registering for PHY 191 and PHY 192 as described in the previous paragraph). Further information on the AP exams, exam dates, fees, and so on is available at the College Board web page.

Students who have come to Stony Brook from countries with a British-derived education system will sometimes have taken the Cambridge A-level (``Advanced'', not ``Advanced Subsidiary'') exams. Scores of ``A'',''B'', or ''C'' on the A-level physics exam are accepted for credit for PHY 131/133, and 132/134 combined.