How to Request Official AP, IB, and A-Level Score Reports for US University Credit

Why the registrar needs an official report, not your certificate

A printed certificate or a photo of your results proves your score to you and your school. It does not prove it to a US registrar's office, which needs a report sent directly from the exam board itself before it posts advanced standing or transfer credit to your record. This applies whether your scores came from the College Board's AP program, the International Baccalaureate, or Cambridge International or Pearson Edexcel A-Levels.

Order these reports as soon as your final results are out. Registrars often set a credit-posting deadline tied to your first term, separate from your admissions deadline, and a late report pushes your credit decision past add-drop periods when it matters for your course schedule.

AP: sending your official College Board score report

Log into your account at apstudents.collegeboard.org and use the score send tool to find your university by name or score send code. Confirm the code against your university's own registrar instructions, since sending to the wrong code delays delivery with no notification that anything went wrong.

If you designated a college using your free score send by the deadline tied to your exam year, that report reaches the college within a few weeks. Reports ordered outside the free window carry a fee per report, and the College Board makes them available to your university within 24 hours of ordering through the AP Higher Ed Score Reporting portal. Mail delivery of paper AP reports has been discontinued, so every official report now moves through this electronic system.

IB: requesting transcripts through your coordinator or IBIS

Before your results are released, ask your school's Diploma Programme or Career-related Programme coordinator to submit a transcript request to the International Baccalaureate on your behalf. You name up to six universities this way at no charge.

Once results are out, you submit any further transcript requests yourself, and each one carries a processing fee. The IB delivers transcripts electronically through its IBIS system where a university accepts that, or prints and couriers a paper copy where it does not. Processing normally takes about two weeks, longer during the December to January and July to September peak periods, so submit your request the day you receive results rather than waiting.

A-Levels: verification through Cambridge International or Pearson Edexcel

If you sat Cambridge International A-Levels, use the Cambridge International results verification service . You submit a verification application form with a photocopy of your certificate or a recent Statement of Results, a copy of your identification, and the service fee. Cambridge then sends the university a letter confirming your grades directly. This verification letter is not the same as a copy of your certificate. If your registrar needs a full duplicate record instead of a confirmation letter, request a Certifying Statement from Cambridge instead.

If you sat Pearson Edexcel A-Levels, the process runs through Pearson's own qualifications results services rather than Cambridge's system. The form, fee, and delivery method differ from Cambridge's, so check the current instructions on Pearson's official qualifications site before you submit anything.

Official score reports versus credential evaluations

Do not confuse an official score report with a credential evaluation. A score report comes directly from the exam board itself, AP, IB, or Cambridge or Pearson Edexcel, and confirms your specific exam results. A credential evaluation, produced by a separate NACES member evaluator, translates a full secondary school record into a US equivalent for admissions review. Many universities ask for both at different points in your application and enrollment process, so check which one your registrar's specific instructions call for before you order either.

If you enroll before your scores are processed

Some students start their first term before an official score report finishes processing, especially when results are released close to the start of the semester. If this applies to you, register for standard introductory courses first, then ask your registrar to review and adjust your schedule once the official credit posts. Most universities allow a short adjustment window early in the term specifically for this situation.

What to confirm with your specific registrar

• Where the report needs to go: many universities route AP, IB, and A-Level reports to a credit evaluation office separate from the general admissions office.

• The exact score send code or account details the registrar uses, copied directly from your university's own instructions page rather than guessed from a general list.

• The credit-posting deadline for your entry term, which sometimes falls weeks before your first day of classes.

If a report doesn't arrive on time

Contact your university's registrar first to confirm whether the report has simply not processed yet or never arrived. Then contact the exam board's support line with your order or request reference number. Most delays trace back to a mistyped score send code, an outdated coordinator request, or a payment issue on the exam board's side, all of which the board's own support team traces and resends once you flag the reference number.