CREDIT BY EXAMINATION IN BIOLOGY

Policies Effective for the Academic Year 2005-2006

UT Austin provides you with the opportunity to earn course credit by examination. Such credit will satisfy degree requirements in the same way as credit earned by passing a course, except that it will not count as credit earned in residence. Although you may take tests before you enroll in UT Austin, you must be a currently or previously enrolled student in order to receive credit. Unsuccessful attempts to earn credit by examination will not become part of your official transcript.

Faculty members in the School of Biological Sciences select the tests, set the levels of performance required for credit, and specify who is eligible to earn credit by examination. Such credit is awarded to students who demonstrate adequate knowledge of college-level biology. This assumes knowledge beyond what is covered in a typical high school biology course. The Measurement and Evaluation Center (MEC) assists the school by communicating policies, giving the tests, and reporting the credit.

You may receive credit on the basis of three testing programs:

• UT Austin Test for Credit in Biology:
  (1) BIO 211 and/or 212
  (2) BIO 213 and/or 214
• College Board Advanced Placement Examination in Biology
• International Baccalaureate Higher-Level Examination in Biology.

UT AUSTIN TEST FOR CREDIT IN BIOLOGY

UT Austin offers two tests that may be used as bases for credit by examination in introductory biology

1. Biology 211 and/or Biology 212. This is a two-hour objective test in two sections, with each section covering one of the major biology subdivisions addressed by the corresponding UT Austin course: cells and molecules studies (BIO 211) and genetics and evolution (BIO 212). You may choose to take one or both sections when you sit for the test, but you may not repeat the test.
2. Biology 213 and/or Biology 214. This is a two-hour test in two sections, with each section covering one of the major biology subdivisions addressed by the corresponding UT Austin course: diversity and ecology (BIO 213) and structure and function (BIO 214). You may choose to take one or both sections when you sit for the test, but you may not repeat the test.

Each section of each test yields a separate score. Because you may choose to take one or both sections of each of the two UT Austin Tests for Credit in Biology, you may earn as few as one or as many as four separate scores--one for each course BIO 211, 212, 213, or 214--that may be used as a basis for receiving credit by examination in as few as one or as many as all four introductory biology courses. UT Austin faculty in the School of Biological Sciences establish the criteria for credit-qualifying scores from the four sections, and based on these scores you may qualify for separate grades of A, B, or C in each course for which you have earned a section score.

ELIGIBILITY FOR CREDIT BY EXAMINATION IN BIOLOGY
To be eligible for credit by examination for BIO 211, 212, 213, or 214, you may not have attempted more than three semester hours of college credit (not including credit by examination) for courses in the life sciences (biology, botany, microbiology, zoology, and biochemistry) with either a passing or failing grade. If you have been enrolled in BIO 211, 212, 213, or 214 for as long as the date on which the official enrollment count is taken (twelfth class day for long semesters and fourth class day for summer school sessions), then you cannot receive credit by examination for that course. You cannot earn credit by examination for a course if you have already received a passing or failing grade for that course or its equivalent.

TEST ADMINISTRATION

Test Periods: The UT Austin Test for Credit in Biology is offered on campus several days before class registration periods in August, January, and May.

Test Registration: You must register for a test online.

Test Registration for Students with Disabilities: If you require academic accommodations or assistance due to a documented disability, you should contact these two offices at least five business days before the day of the test:

• Services for Students with Disabilities, in the Office of the Dean of Students at ssd@uts.cc.utexas.edu,  http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/ssd/, or (512) 471-6259 to seek approval for authorized accommodations;
• MEC at (512) 232-2662 to register and make arrangements to take the test.

Registration Fee and Test Fee Payment: The total test fee for each Biology test is $70 (subject to change). When you confirm your registration for a test you will be immediately billed a non-refundable test registration fee of $15. The remaining $55 test fee will be billed after you take the test. Payment is due within 14 days after the test administration.

Repeating the Test: You may take the UT Austin Test for Credit in BIO 211 and BIO 212, only once. You may take the UT Austin Test for Credit in BIO 213 and BIO 214 only once.

Admission to the Test Room: When you register online you will be given the location of your test room. You must present, at the test room, a generally accepted form of identification that includes both your signature and photograph. Without such identification, you will be admitted only if you bring and relinquish a photograph of yourself. You should take several sharpened No. 2 pencils to the test room; all other test materials, will be provided.

Test Results: Results are available within a few days after the test date, in time to register for classes. Once they are available, results may also be found online.

COLLEGE BOARD ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAMINATION IN BIOLOGY

The College Board Advanced Placement (AP) Examination in Biology should not be taken without adequate preparation.

The College Board Advanced Placement Examinations are offered once a year in May, usually in high schools that offer College Board Advanced Placement courses. These tests are not offered on the UT Austin campus. Although determined by each school giving the test, registration deadlines are no later than March. The results are available in July. Please visit the College Board's Web site for current test registration fees at http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/cal.html.

The AP Examination is based on a course description prepared by The College Board and is designed to give students an adequate opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the three major subdivisions of biology: molecules and cell, heredity and evolution, and organisms and populations. The three hours are equally divided between an objective section, part of which includes experimental situations, and an essay section. A course description, which includes sample questions, is available for these examinations at the College Board's Web site www.collegeboard.com/apcentral.

You may also write for a course description by sending $15 to Advanced Placement Program, Box 6670, Princeton, NJ 08541-6670. High school counselors may have reference copies of course descriptions.

If a high school in your vicinity is not administering AP Examinations, you can request special testing arrangements by contacting AP Services, Box 6671, Princeton, NJ 08541-6671, 1-888- CALL- 4- AP.

Levels of Performance Required for Credit
The College Board AP Examinations have a score range of 1-5. Satisfactory scores for credit in Biology are as follows:

INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE HIGHER-LEVEL EXAMINATION IN BIOLOGY

Levels of Performance Required for Credit
UT Austin also awards credit for lower-division courses on the basis of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Higher-Level Examination in Biology, which has a score range of 1-7. Satisfactory scores for credit in Biology are as follows:

PETITIONING/CLAIMING CREDIT

UT Austin students must petition (or claim) their credit to have it appear on their official transcript. The MEC reports petitioned credit to the Office of the Registrar.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR BIO 211  |   SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR BIO 212  | 

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