Prerequisite Courses

A prerequisite course is a course that must be successfully completed prior to being allowed to start on the next course.

You can see whether your selected course has a course prerequisite by looking at the course description page, either during the registration selection, or from the Program and Course Descriptions page.

When you are registering for a course, the registration help in the system will automatically let you know if you are required to fulfill a prerequisite course first.  You may fulfill the prerequisite course either by successfully passing it at APUS or by transferring in credit to fulfill the requirement. This credit could be transferred in from either another accredited university or from a test considered an equivalent, such as a CLEP test.

Fulfilling Prerequisites for Non-Degree Seeking Students and Non-Transfer Students

If you are a non-degree seeking student at APUS, or a non-transfer student who does have previous college credit, you may have your prerequisite ‘waived’ as long as you have fulfilled the course previously (college credit or testing, such as CLEP). You may have this waived by emailing us at [email protected]. You will need to sign a release form verifying that you completed the prerequisite course at another institution and submit a transcript showing the course completion.

If you are in a degree or certificate program and wish to request a waiver for a prerequisite you fulfilled somewhere else, you should either fax a copy of your transcript or test results to our Transfer Credit Department or scan and email to [email protected] along with a Student ID and request that it be reviewed for a specific prerequisite course. 

Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions about prerequisite courses.