18
Credit Policies
5.1
Avg. Min Grade
$20,171
Total Potential Savings
Universities Accepting Physics HL
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC
Expert's Insight: "A REAL 6-CREDIT BOOST: BUT WATCH FOR THE ENGINEERING & PHYSICS-MAJOR 'NO-SKIP' TRAP" The Good News (what UBC officially grants) If you score a 6 or 7 in IB Physics HL, UBC Vancouver grants PHYS 100 (3 credits) plus PHYS 1st-year level (3 credits), and lists you as exempt from PHYS 101. This is ...
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB
Expert's Insight: IB Physics HL can be a real advantage at the University of Alberta, but only if you treat it as strategic placement, not a free pass to skip everything. The credit you receive is generous (two full courses), but the value depends entirely on which physics stream your program actually uses. IB Physic...
McGill University
Montreal, QC
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take McGill grants 8 credits for IB Physics HL (score of 5+), exempting you from both PHYS 101 and PHYS 102. This is McGill's non-calculus introductory physics sequence. For most faculties this is generous and straightforward, but if you're heading into a Physics major or Engineering, the i...
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, ON
Expert's Insight: That 5 gets you out of PHY 1121 and 1122, but the first-year labs at uOttawa are a different beast. Your IA was a practice run; their grading is the real, unforgiving exam.
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, SK
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take IB Physics HL earns a named 1.0 FCE at UTSG and UTM, with Yes across all three restriction columns. UTSC awards the same credit volume but blocks it from every program pathway, because all physics programs there require calculus-based prerequisites that IB Physics alone cannot satisfy....
McMaster University (Engineering 1)
Hamilton, ON
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take Engineering students: IB Physics HL will not reduce your course load. It is Faculty of Engineering policy that no math or science IB/AP/GCE courses are eligible for transfer credit in Engineering, iBioMed, or Computer Science. You will take PHYS 1D03 (Introductory Mechanics) regardless...
McMaster University (General (Arts & Science))
Hamilton, ON
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take Engineering students: IB Physics HL will not reduce your course load. It is Faculty of Engineering policy that no math or science IB/AP/GCE courses are eligible for transfer credit in Engineering, iBioMed, or Computer Science. You will take PHYS 1D03 (Introductory Mechanics) regardless...
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, ON
Expert's Insight: Waterloo's PHYS 111/121 sequence is a different beast than IB Physics HL. Your 5 means you start from scratch, and the first-year labs are designed to be a reality check.
Western University
London, ON
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take IB Physics HL earns Western’s calculus-based enriched physics sequence — not a generic credit. The award maps directly to Physics 1501A (Enriched Introductory Physics I) and Physics 1502B (Enriched Introductory Physics II). Together, the Western Academic Calendar notes this...
Queen's University (Health Sciences (BHSc))
Kingston, ON
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take Queen's awards PHYS 117 (6.0 units) for IB Physics HL with a score of 5 or higher, in every faculty except Smith Engineering, which grants no credit. PHYS 117 is a full-year, algebra-based introductory physics course that includes a lab component. It satisfies the physics requirement f...
Queen's University
Kingston, ON
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take Queen's awards PHYS 117 (6.0 units) for IB Physics HL with a score of 5 or higher, in every faculty except Smith Engineering, which grants no credit. PHYS 117 is a full-year, algebra-based introductory physics course that includes a lab component. It satisfies the physics requirement f...
Queen's University (Smith Engineering)
Kingston, ON
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take Queen's awards PHYS 117 (6.0 units) for IB Physics HL with a score of 5 or higher, in every faculty except Smith Engineering, which grants no credit. PHYS 117 is a full-year, algebra-based introductory physics course that includes a lab component. It satisfies the physics requirement f...
Queen's University (Faculty of Arts and Science)
Kingston, ON
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take IB Physics HL earns PHYS 117 (6.0 units) across most faculties, but this is the algebra-based introductory sequence, not the calculus-based PHYS 104/106 that any student pursuing a Physics degree plan actually needs. The credit is real and non-trivial in Arts, Science, Commerce, and Nu...
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, BC
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take SFU grants PHYS 101 (3) and PHYS 102 (3) for IB Physics HL — 6 credits total, typically carrying Q/B-Sci designations. This clears the entire introductory physics sequence for life sciences students and satisfies both a quantitative and breadth-science requirement toward SFU's WQ...
University of Victoria
Victoria, BC
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take IB Physics HL earns a real, named credit at UVic, but the specific courses awarded are the algebra-based, life sciences physics stream, not the calculus-based sequence required by most science and engineering programs. With a score of 6 or higher, UVic's official IB Transfer Guide gran...
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take IB Physics HL yields a full two-course first-year physics sequence used across many UCalgary science programs, not a single course, but two. A score of 5 or higher earns named credit for both PHYS 221 (Mechanics) and PHYS 223 (Electromagnetism and Thermal Physics) , 3 units each, 6 uni...
Dalhousie University
Halifax, NS
Expert's Insight: Expert's Take Dalhousie's IB transfer credit table awards Physics 1280.03 and Physics 1290.03 for IB Physics HL with a score of 5 or higher. That is a two-course, 6-credit-hour award covering Dalhousie's first-year introductory physics package. For context, the standard first-year physics path for s...