If you have acquired substantial knowledge in a specific subject area, you may consider an exam as a substitute for completing the usual classroom requirements of a course.

College Level Examination Program (CLEP)

Administered by the College Board, CLEP provides college credit for examinations that test college-level knowledge in specific disciplines. Work with your adviser to see if a CLEP exam fulfills a degree requirement. CLEP centers are conveniently located on or near several Penn State campuses across the state.

• Penn State Credit for CLEP
• Policies See 42-94
• Procedures 
• Getting Started with CLEP
• CLEP Centers
• CLEP for Military and Veterans
• CLEP Exams Guide
• Free CLEP resources
• CLEP video series

DANTES Subject Standardized Test (DSST)

DSST exams may provide additional coursework credits for your program of study, depending on your major. Work with your adviser to review the possibilities.

• Penn State Credit for DSST
• Getting Started with DSST
• Credit by Exam Program

Credit by Exam with Penn State

Some academic departments and programs have made these exams available. Contact your adviser to start the process. The links below explain other rules about grading, not taking an exam if you've already taken the course, and completing forms. A $100 fee is charged, regardless of final grade. The credit by exam application is now available in LionPath. While we are still working to refine the list of what is available, you'll be able to see what is available on your campus or in your college. 

• Policies See 42-50
• Procedures

Requesting Credit for Prior Learning

Understanding Credit for Prior Learning

Active, undergraduate students can submit a request for Prior Learning in LionPATH. Requests for Prior Learning include Credit by Examination and Credit by Portfolio.

Detailed explanations about Penn State’s policies for Credit by Examination (E-2) and Credit by Portfolio (E-10) can be found online.

Accessing the Prior Learning Request

The Prior Learning Request page can be accessed from the Student Home Base in LionPATH by clicking the Transfer Credit button.

Once in the Transfer Credit collection, the user will need to select the Prior Learning Request from the left-hand menu.

The first page of the request provides important information that students need to be aware of prior to making the request. The user must accept the Policy Acknowledgement before moving to the next page to make their request.

Submitting a Prior Learning Request

Users will need to complete the Course Selection and Experience Details sections before submitting the request. 

If at any time the user wants to exit out of the request without submitting, they can click the Previous button or click the Prior Learning Request link from the left-hand navigation. When presented with the Save Warning popup, the user can click the No button to discard changes.

Monitoring the Status of a Request

After a request has been submitted, it will appear in the user’s Active Requests list on the Prior Learning Request page. The Request Status will update as actions are taken by the approvers in the workflow.
Students will receive email notifications when requests are approved or denied. For approved requests, there will be an email notification after the entry of the assessment outcome by the Subject Matter Expert for the requested course.

Questions about Prior Learning Requests

Questions about Credit by Exam, Credit by Portfolio, or other types of Prior Learning Assessment can be directed to the Prior Learning Assessment office at priorlearning@psu.edu.

Courses/Tests with ACE Credit Recommendations

• Policies See 42-99
• Procedures
• If you have completed a course and/or exam that says you can earn college credits, you may send your transcript to Admissions if the course/exam has credit recommendations from the American Council on Education. Have your transcript sent to Admissions, and send your syllabus to crediteval@psu.edu.

You can find additional information here at ACE.

You can check the National Guide to see if your course/exam has credit recommendations.

You may check the Transfer Credit tool using American Council on Education as your institution to see if the course/exam has already been evaluated for credit. If so, have your transcript sent to Admissions, and those credits will be added to your record. Remember--your major will decide if/how the credits will be used.