Students who pass the Penn Chemistry Equivalency exam(s) or Honors Chemistry, CHEM 1151/1161 registrants may apply for a waiver for the general chemistry laboratories. EAS 0091 is not viewed as an acceptable substitute for General Chemistry I by SAS programs. Please note you are only eligible to apply for a waiver for the lab which corresponds to the placement exam you pass, e.g., General Chemistry Lab I for General Chemistry I and General Chemistry Lab II for General Chemistry II. Waivers approved for Honors Chemistry students will not be posted until completion of Honors Chemistry II.
Students who are awarded General Chemistry laboratory waivers (CHEM 1101/1102, formerly CHEM 053/054) must have prior experience in rigorous general chemistry lab courses, such as those found in some high school AP and IB courses.
For labs to be considered for review, you will need to submit the following information from your AP or IB chemistry lab class:
- lab reports (showing student name and grade earned)
- lab notebook
- lab syllabus / list of experiments performed in YOUR high school AP / IB class [do NOT submit the generic list of labs “recommended” by the College Board]
Submit as many of your own graded lab reports and/or notebooks as possible. A syllabus listing all labs required for YOUR AP class is very helpful, but does not remove the need to submit a representative sample of your own work in lab so the level and quality of the experiments can be assessed.
Note: use of a high school “precedent database” for chemistry lab waivers has been discontinued; ALL students are now required to submit these materials, regardless of whether their high school had been evaluated at some point in the past.
You will be contacted via e-mail after your waiver request has been reviewed.
****LAB WAIVER APPLICATIONS & CLASSWORK MUST BE SUBMITTED DURING THE FIRST THREE WEEKS OF CLASSES (materials may also be submitted electronically)****
Download the waiver application [.PDF, 63K]
For more information:
Candice Adams
Chemistry Undergraduate Coordinator
Room B12 Chem Bldg., 215-898-8311
chemugrad@sas.upenn.edu