Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) transfer credits

The University of Waterloo recognizes Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) Unit 1 and Unit 2 courses as an excellent academic preparation for success at the university level and will consider awarding transfer credits for CAPE Unit 1 and Unit 2 courses in which normally a minimum final grade of 2 is attained.

Please note that official final CAPE results must be sent directly to the Admissions Office at Waterloo before transfer credit can be considered. Your CAPE transcript must be received by the deadline as stated on your Offer of Admission.

  • The maximum number of transfer credits varies by program.
  • Transfer credits will normally be weighted as 0.5 units each (equivalent to one course at Waterloo).
  • The transfer credits you receive will be different if you change to a program that requires you to transfer from one faculty to another faculty. Please note that in such a situation, a faculty admissions committee reserves the right to refuse transfer credits.

You have the option to decline your transfer credits. Further details will be emailed to you in August, once your transfer credits have been assessed.

Maximum number of transfer credits and additional notes

Not sure which faculty offers your program of interest? View a list of programs by faculty.

Faculty of Arts, including Accounting and Financial Management, Sustainability and Financial Management
  • Transfer credits will be considered up to a maximum of 4.0 units, except Global Business and Digital Arts and the financial management programs.
    • Global Business and Digital Arts will consider up to a maximum of 2.5 units.
    • Accounting and Financial Management will consider up to a maximum of 2.0 units.
    • Sustainability and Financial Management will consider up to a maximum of 2.0 units.

Faculty of Engineering, including Architecture

We consider these courses to be a good challenge and good preparation for our programs. You may find that you have covered some of the material in our first term courses but, in most cases, not enough for you to be exempted from the entire course without potentially running into academic difficulties later. The depth and level of problem-solving is very different in our Engineering programs than in the courses in CAPE. As a result, we don't grant first-year course exemptions for CAPE courses.

School of Architecture

  • Transfer credit will be considered for an elective credit up to a maximum of 0.5 units (equivalent to one term course).

Faculty of Environment
  • Transfer credits will be considered up to a maximum of 4.0 units, except for Honours Planning, for which transfer credits will be considered up to a maximum of 1.0 units.

Faculty of Health
  • The Recreation and Leisure Studies program will consider up to a maximum of 4.0 units.
  • The Health Sciences, Kinesiology, and Public Health programs will consider up to a maximum of 3.0 units.

Faculty of Mathematics, including Computing and Financial Management
  • Up to 1.5 units of transfer credit (the equivalent of 3 term courses at Waterloo) will be allowed for CAPE Unit 1 and Unit 2 courses.
  • If you completed CAPE Unit 1 or Unit 2 Pure Mathematics with a grade of 2, you may
    • accept one or both of MATH 137 and MATH 138 and enroll in the next advanced Calculus course; or
    • decline these Mathematics credits and begin your calculus sequence with MATH 137 or MATH 138
  • For Business Administration (Laurier) and Mathematics (Waterloo) and Business Administration (Laurier) and Computer Science (Waterloo) double degree students, transfer credit assessment may be subject to change based on cross-registration with Wilfrid Laurier University.
  • The Faculty of Mathematics does not award transfer credit for Computer Science or Information Technology.
  • The Faculty of Mathematics recommends declining your Math transfer credits.

Faculty of Science
  • Transfer credits will be considered up to a maximum of 2.0 units.
  • For the Mathematical Physics major, MATH 137 is awarded for Pure Mathematics Unit 1 and MATH 138 is awarded for Pure Mathematics Unit 2.

Course equivalencies

"1XX" means that you'll receive first-year credit for an elective in that subject. For example, AFM 1XX means that you'll receive a transfer credit for a general first-year course in accounting (called Accounting and Financial Management at Waterloo). Most courses at Waterloo are worth 0.5 units.

You'll have a mix of courses you're required to take as part of your degree and elective courses you can choose. A "1XX" course can be used as an elective. Once you start your course selection as a Waterloo student, your academic advisor can help with any questions about choosing courses and transfer credits. 

CAPE course Waterloo course equivalent
(0.5 units unless otherwise specified)
Accounting Unit 1 AFM 1XX
Accounting Unit 2 AFM 1XX
Applied Mathematics Unit 1 No transfer credit
Applied Mathematics Unit 2 No transfer credit
Arts (Arts and Design) Unit 1 FINE 1XX
Arts (Arts and Design) Unit 2 FINE 1XX
Biological Sciences Unit 1 Under review
Biological Sciences Unit 2 BIOL 239 + BIOL 130L (0.75 units)
Chemistry Unit 1 No transfer credit
Chemistry Unit 2 No transfer credit
Computer Science Unit 1 CS 1XX
Computer Science Unit 2 CS 1XX
Digital Media Unit 1 GBDA 1XX
Digital Media Unit 2 GBDA 2xx
Economics Unit 1 ECON 1XX
Economics Unit 2 ECON 1XX
Entrepreneurship Unit 1 MGMT 220
Entrepreneurship Unit 2 MGMT 2XX
Environmental Science Unit 1 ENVS 1XX
Environmental Science Unit 2 ENVS 195
French Unit 1 FR 1XX
French Unit 2 FR 1XX
Geography Unit 1 GEOG 101
Geography Unit 2 GEOG 102
History Unit 1 HIST 1XX
History Unit 2 HIST 1XX
Information Technology Unit 1 CS 1XX
Information Technology Unit 2 CS 1XX
Law Unit 1 LS 1XX
Law Unit 2 LS 1XX
Literatures in English Unit 1 ENGL 101A
Literatures in English Unit 2 ENGL 101A
Literatures in English Unit 1 & Unit 2 ENGL 101A + ENGL 1XX (1.00 units)
Management of Business Unit 1 BUS 1XX
Management of Business Unit 2 BUS 1XX
Physics Unit 1 No transfer credit
Physics Unit 2 No transfer credit
Pure Mathematics Unit 1 MATH 127 (MATH 137 for Faculty of Mathematics students)
Pure Mathematics Unit 2 MATH 128 (MATH 138 for Faculty of Mathematics students)
Sociology Unit 1 SOC 101
Sociology Unit 2 SOC 1XX
Spanish Unit 1 SPAN 1XX
Spanish Unit 2 SPAN 101
Notes:
  1. If you have taken a Unit 1 or Unit 2 CAPE language course that is not listed, please submit the grade from Caribbean Examinations Council as it may qualify for a first-year language transfer credit, e.g., LANG 1XX.