Earn Credit by Exam
An opportunity for you
Utilize your life experience toward your educational goal.
The Credit by Exam (CbyE) Program invites you to work with a faculty member to complete exams and assignments to demonstrate that you have mastered the content of a course. This allows you to earn Cabrillo credit for an approved CbyE course in lieu of completing the course in a traditional classroom setting. This program is for students that do not have transcripts from another college showing completion of this course. Before formally starting the CbyE process, you are encouraged to meet with an Academic Counselor to see if this is right for you and to map out the best path of courses to reach your academic goal.
Required Next Steps to start the process:
Request the Credit by Exam Form from the BELA Division Office.
Complete steps 1 and 2 on the Credit by Exam Form
Submit the Credit by Exam Form to the BELA Division Office.
We will verify that you meet the requirements and notify of your next steps:
Meet department chair or faculty designee within the discipline to learn more about the exam(s), assignments and grading rubric.
Arrange the assessments, exams, dates and deadlines.
Complete the exams and assignments by the established deadlines
Once you complete the exam it will be graded and you will be notified:
You have the right to accept or decline the grade
The fees will be assessed.
Once the fees are paid (by F/A or you), the grade will posted and you will see it on your transcript.
ProTips:
You may be required to pay the registration fees depending on the Financial Aid type of aid you are receiving. The fees are non-refundable, find out what you'll need to do before starting the process and paying for the course.
Credit by Exam is available in Fall and Spring only
Credit by Exam requests must be submitted by the 10th week of the semester
Here are the approved CbyE courses:
These are the only courses approved for CbyE. More courses coming soon.
Business, English and Language Arts Division:
- American Sign Language 1
- American Sign Language 2
- English 1A
- French 1
- French 2
- German 1
- German 2
- Italian 1
- Italian 2
- Japanese 1
- Japanese 2
- Library 10
- Spanish 1
- Spanish 2
CbyE is different from clearing a prerequisite
Earning Credit by Exam
You will be registered in a course
Registration fees are assessed and billed (non-refundable)
Cabrillo units will be earned
May satisfy a degree or GE degree requirement
New work and exams will be evaluated according to course rubrics
A letter grade will be assigned, you can also choose P/NP or decline the grade
Units and grade will be transcripted and will appear on your Cabrillo transcript
Clearing a prerequisite
- Free of charge
- Evaluation of coursework previously completed
- No units earned toward your degree
- Only allows you to register in the course with the prerequisite
- Notated as an "EQ" in your Student Planning Timeline
- Not transcripted: meaning the cleared pre-requisite will not appear on your Cabrillo transcript
I'm ready to start!
What can I expect?
What can I expect?
Taking Exams
After your Credit for Prior Learning Form has been approved, it is your responsibility to initiate and complete the process by:
meeting with the department chair or faculty designee for instructions about the exam(s) and to set an exam schedule
completing the exam(s) by the established deadlines
paying the registration fees
Once the exam(s) is completed, the department chair or faculty designee determines whether the your exam submission demonstrates sufficient mastery of the course content and assigns a grade for the petition based on the course exam results.
Completing Assignments
After your Credit for Prior Learning Form has been approved, it is the your responsibility to initiate and complete the process by:
meeting with the department chair or faculty designee for further instructions to complete assignments and set a deadline for submission.
submitting the assignments by the deadline
paying the registration fees
Once submitted, the department chair or faculty designee determines whether or not your assignments demonstrate sufficient mastery of the course content and assigns a grade for the petition based on the course rubric.