Michigan Test Out: The Complete Guide to Earning High School Credit Without Taking the Class

Michigan Test Out is one of the most underused academic shortcuts in the state. If you already know a subject, the law lets you take a single exam, score 80% (or your district's equivalent), and earn the same high school credit a student would get from sitting through the entire course.

This guide walks through exactly how it works — the legal basis, the 80% rule, when to register, how the credit shows up on your transcript, what NCAA athletes need to know, and which subjects make sense to attempt.

What is "testing out" in Michigan?

Testing out is the right of any Michigan high school student to skip a course they can demonstrate mastery of. It is governed by state law and is offered free of charge by every public K-12 district in Michigan. A student who passes the exam earns the credit; a student who doesn't pass simply takes the course later (with no penalty on their GPA).

Most districts open testing windows twice a year — typically in December and May — and post registration forms about thirty days before the test date. Some districts run the exam over multiple sessions across one or two days.

The legal basis: MCL 380.1279(b)

The right to test out comes from Public Act 335 of 2006, codified as MCL 380.1279(b). The law says, in essence:

The board of a school district shall grant high school credit in any course to a pupil enrolled in high school, but who is not enrolled in the course, who has exhibited a reasonable level of mastery of the subject matter of the course by attaining a grade of not less than C+ in a final exam in the course… Credit earned under this section shall be based on a "pass" grade and shall not be included in a computation of grade point average for any purpose.

Two practical consequences flow from the statute:

• Every Michigan public high school must offer it. Refusal isn't legal — a district may set its own assessment, but it cannot withhold the option.
• Credit is recorded as "pass," not as a letter grade. The credit counts toward graduation and prerequisite sequencing, but it does not raise or lower your GPA.

A second statute, MCL 380.1278(a)(4)(c), extends the same logic to the Michigan Merit Curriculum — districts must grant subject-area credit when a student earns a qualifying score on an MDE-approved or district-approved assessment.

The 80% rule (and why some districts say C+)

The statute itself uses the phrase "not less than C+." In practice the vast majority of Michigan districts — including Livonia Public Schools, which publishes its policy openly — convert that to a numeric cutoff: 80% or higher earns the credit, anything below means no credit (with no transcript consequence).

A few districts use 75% or set a separate per-section minimum on top of the overall score. Always check the specific policy posted on your district's "Testing Out" page before you sit for the exam.

Which subjects can you test out of?

Legally, any course on the schedule. In practice, districts focus the test-out window on core academic courses because those have stable content and standardized assessments. Math is the single most-tested area.

Michigan Test Out™ offers Common-Core-aligned practice for the three most common math test-out subjects:

• Algebra 1 — real number system, linear/exponential/quadratic functions, polynomial patterns of change
• Geometry — lines, angles, triangles, quadrilaterals, polygons, circles, congruence, similarity, proof
• Algebra 2 — quadratic, polynomial, exponential, logarithmic, rational, and radical functions; complex numbers; sequences and series

Other commonly available test-out courses include U.S. History, Government, Economics, and introductory science courses — but availability varies by district.

How the credit appears on your transcript

Per MCL 380.1279(b), the course title and credit value appear on the transcript with a "P" or "S" (pass/satisfactory) grade. The credit counts toward the 18 credits of the Michigan Merit Curriculum and toward any district-specific graduation total (Livonia, for example, requires 23 credits total).

The grade is not factored into GPA. This is a key strategic point — testing out cannot raise your GPA, but it cannot lower it either.

NCAA-bound athletes: read this carefully

The NCAA does not accept test-out credit toward its core-course initial-eligibility calculation. If you plan to play Division I or II college sports, do not test out of a core course you'd otherwise take for a grade — even if you can pass with 90%+. You'll still need to enroll in a graded version of that course for NCAA purposes.

For everyone else (the overwhelming majority of students), test-out is a legitimate way to free up schedule time for electives, AP courses, dual-enrollment, or earlier graduation.

What you can't get from testing out

• Honors weight. Test-out credit is "pass," not "honors A." If your school weighs honors and AP grades, that boost only comes from sitting the course.
• Course-lower credit later. Once you earn Algebra 2 credit via test-out, you cannot then earn Algebra 1 credit. The law explicitly blocks "going back down" in a sequence.
• Textbooks or practice tests from the district. Livonia Public Schools is explicit: "LPS does not loan textbooks for students to study for the test out. LPS does not provide practice tests or study sessions prior to the test out." Most districts mirror this — preparation is the student's responsibility.

Test-out vs. high school equivalency (GED / HiSET)

These get conflated, so it's worth being precise. Michigan Test Out under MCL 380.1279(b) is for students currently enrolled in high school who want to skip a single course. GED / HiSET / TASC are for adults or older students who left a regular K-12 program and want a single certificate that substitutes for the entire diploma.

HSE tests have fees (a $30 administrative fee on first scheduled HiSET, plus per-section fees of $18.75–$37.50). Test-out under 1279(b) is free in K-12 districts. They serve different audiences.

How to register at your district

1. Ask your school counselor for the district's "test out" or "credit by exam" page — most are buried but every district has one.
2. Watch for the December and May registration windows (forms usually post ~30 days before the exam).
3. Complete the registration form and submit it before the deadline. Late registrations are not accepted in most districts.
4. Prepare independently — practice with Common-Core-aligned questions, work through sample exams, and target your weakest areas.
5. Sit the exam. Score 80%+, get the credit posted to your transcript within a few weeks.

Ready to prepare?

Michigan Test Out™ runs full-length, Michigan-Standards-aligned mock exams plus a question bank with AI-powered explanations for Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 — the three most common math test-out subjects in Michigan high schools.

Free sample questions are available without signup. Browse all subjects →