Colleges vary widely in credit offered, so consider your specific college choice as you choose the exams you’ll take.
This article addresses credit offered at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo. Each year BYU publishes a chart indicating the current credit they will offer for each score of each AP test. Their chart sorts the information by test name, listing all 39 possible AP tests. When examining their chart, I find it challenging to extract the information and choose tests that will be most meaningful.
My modified chart, below, lists the same information but in a different way. Here, the tests are sorted by the BYU Core (also called General Education or GE) requirement they fulfill.
BYU accepts all credit earned through any passing score on any AP exam. The credit will either count towards GE requirements, specific classes, or simply elective credit. Elective credit does not count toward major or GE requirements but does count toward the 120 hour graduation requirement.
The most advantageous situation is to have AP tests fulfill the BYU Core. Nine of the BYU Core Requirements can be fulfilled by taking AP tests. Each exam requires a passing score in order to receive credit, but frequently, a higher score will receive greater credit. For example, at BYU, a score of 3 on the Chemistry exam qualifies for 3 credit hours, a score of 4 on the same exam qualifies for 4 credit hours, while a score of 5 on the same exam qualifies for 7 credit hours.
Some of the language exams satisfy up to four classes, and can earn as many as 12 elective credits with the highest score.