Equivalencies and Advanced Placement Program

This table includes BC Secondary School courses that may be listed in this Calendar as prerequisites to VIU courses or programs. BC Secondary School courses which are not listed as prerequisites, or which do not have an equivalent through one of these alternatives, are not included. For more information please refer to the British Columbia secondary school and VIU course equivalency chart. 

Notes

¹ VIU recognizes Adult Basic Education courses completed at other BC post-secondary institutions to meet BC high school equivalencies.

Many programs and courses at VIU, including all first-year English courses, have an admission requirement or prerequisite of English 12, with a minimum grade of "C".

Acceptable alternatives to English 12 include BC Secondary School First Peoples' English 12, VIU's ENGL 067, ENGL 068, ESLA 050, or ESLU 051 and ESLU 052 (University Preparation 5, also known as AP5).

Students who do not formally meet this English 12 requirement, but who believe they have obtained the necessary level of competency, may write an assessment test. There are currently four acceptable tests to show equivalency to English 12:

If selecting the ACCUPLACER Next Generation, test results of a minimum score of 260 on the Reading Comprehension section, a minimum score of 250 on the Sentence Skills section, and at least 5 on the Writeplacer section are considered by VIU to be equivalent to English 12 with a grade of "C”.

If selecting the Language Proficiency Index (LPI), the combination of an Essay Level of 4 or better, plus a minimum total of 20/40 on the Sentence Structure, English Usage, and Reading Comprehension sections is considered by VIU to be equivalent to English 12 with a grade of "C+”.

Please note: The LPI will no longer be available after May 2020. However, VIU will recognize results of tests taken previously. 

If selecting the Pearson Test of English (PTE), a score of 60 overall and no component score less than 60 is considered by VIU to be equivalent to English 12 with a grade of "C+”.

If selecting the Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB), a score of 81 is considered by VIU to be equivalent to English 12 with a grade of "C+”.

High school mathematics courses are key courses that are often used to determine if a student meets program admission requirements or course prerequisites.

With respect to BC Secondary School (BCSS) mathematics courses, VIU states course and program requirements in the form of the recommended course. This is our opinion of the best course to take to prepare for a specific course or program.

In some cases Vancouver Island University also offers mathematics courses within our Faculty of Academic and Career Preparation (Adult Basic Education - ABE) or our Faculty of Science which are considered equivalent to BC Secondary School (BCSS) mathematics courses. For more information on equivalencies between BCSS, VIU ABE and VIU Faculty of Science mathematics courses please refer to the British Columbia Secondary School and VIU Course Equivalencies chart.

British Columbia secondary school and VIU Course Equivalencies chart

Students who do not meet the English 12 requirement for admission to a program or course at Vancouver Island University may write the ACCUPLACER. For further information please visit VIU Assessments or call 250.740.6276.

Vancouver Island University (VIU) recognizes the value of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program.  The IB program is an internationally recognized enriched secondary school program.  VIU has established equivalencies between IB courses and the British Columbia provincial K-12 curriculum.  Additionally, courses at the Standard Level (SL) and the Higher Level (HL) may be awarded post-secondary credit.

Students with IB courses may receive undergraduate credit as follows:

• A maximum of 30 credits will be awarded for IB courses.
• Specific course equivalencies will be awarded where appropriate. Unassigned credits will be given where specific equivalencies within the course’s subject(s) are not suitable.
• IB credits will be noted as such on the students’ respective transcripts (permanent records).
• Most programs require ‘high school graduation’ as an admission requirement. VIU considers the IB Diploma as equivalent to ‘high school graduation’. If a student attends a school where the IB Diploma program is offered alongside a high school program and does not meet the IB Diploma requirements but does meet the local requirements this would satisfy the high school graduation requirements.

The following table displays the most common IB courses which transfer as high school and undergraduate courses. For a comprehensive list of IB to VIU undergraduate transfer equivalencies please refer to the BC Transfer Guide.

Advanced Placement Program courses are generally considered to be enriched versions of BC grade 12 courses. In some cases a supplemental exam must be written before any advance credit can be given, however the maximum amount of advance credit to be granted on the basis of AP courses is 30 credits. A grade of 4 or higher on the exam is required for credit consideration. Courses with exam grades of 3 or less will not be eligible for credit or advance standing.

Individual courses from the Advanced Placement Program will qualify for specific advanced credit, as follows: