Office of Testing Services and Assessment

International Baccalaureate Exams

The International Baccalaureate (IB) program, typically studied in the last two years of high school, emphasizes the philosophy of learning. It is a comprehensive curriculum allowing its graduates to fulfill requirements of the various international systems of education. The advanced level at which subjects are taught motivates academically talented students toward greater achievement.

Most subjects offered have syllabi for two levels of accomplishment. The Higher level (HL) syllabus includes material which typically requires two years of preparation for the exam. The Standard (subsidiary) level (SL) syllabus requires about half as much preparation time.  Students who have taken International Baccalaureate courses may choose to take International Baccalaureate exams.  These exams are scored on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 representing the highest performance.  UW-Green Bay acknowledges the achievements of students who have successfully completed HL International Baccalaureate exams (score of 4 or higher) by awarding credit, as shown in the Table below.  Additional credit for SL International Baccalaureate exams is also listed below.  All elective credit shown below is lower-level credit unless otherwise noted.

UW-Green Bay International Baccalaureate Exam Equivalencies

(Updated April 22, 2023)

For score of 28+, full diploma recipients receive 3 elective credits in addition to the credits awarded for passing scores on their Higher Level and Standard Level Exams (see Equivalency Table, above).

Notes To Accompany The Equivalencies Table:

Students taking SL courses, where no credit has been granted, but want to earn credit at UW-Green Bay, are encouraged to consider the following options. Please note that the option numbers correspond to the numbers in the “Notes” column of the preceding table.

1. Advanced Placement exams are available for these subjects, and are accepted for credit at UW-Green Bay. Contact the Coordinator of Testing Services at UW-Green Bay for details.

2. CLEP exams are available for these subjects, and are accepted for credit at UW-Green Bay. Contact the Coordinator of Testing Services at UW-Green Bay for details.

3. Advanced Placement and CLEP exams are available for these subjects, and are accepted for credit at UW-Green Bay. Students with more than two years of high school foreign language are strongly encouraged to pursue retroactive credit instead of credit by exam. Students can earn up to 14 retroactive credits in a foreign language at UW-Green Bay, depending on the course in which they are placed at UW-Green Bay and their final grade in the course.

4. See Department Chair upon enrollment for more information. 

General Note: Students who have taken SL courses for which there is no Advanced Placement or CLEP exam option, may ask a UW-Green Bay faculty member to provide a Challenge Exam. Faculty members are not required to fulfill student requests for Challenge Exams.

Contact the International Baccalaureate Organization for more information