AP Scholars

The AP Program offers several AP Scholar Awards to recognize high school students who have demonstrated college-level achievement through AP courses and exams. Although there is no monetary award, in addition to receiving an award certificate, this achievement is acknowledged on any AP Score Report that is sent to colleges the following fall.

Award Levels

AP Scholar

Granted to students who receive scores of 3 or higher on three or more AP Exams.

AP Scholar with Honor

AP Scholar with Distinction

Granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams.

State AP Scholar

Granted to the one male and one female student in each U.S. state and the District of Columbia with scores of 3 or higher on the greatest number of AP Exams, and then the highest average score (at least 3.5) on all AP Exams taken.

National AP Scholar

Granted to students in the United States who receive an average score of at least 4 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams.

The Calculus AB subscore, Music Theory aural subscore and Music Theory nonaural subscore scores are not used in the award calculations.

There are two steps to calculating the awards: First, the student's average AP score is determined based on all exams taken this year and in previous years. Second, the student's exam scores are checked to see which ones count toward the various awards (e.g., an exam with a score of 3 does not count toward a National AP Scholar Award). A student must meet all criteria to be eligible; e.g., a student who has a 3.25 AP score average but only received a 3 or higher on three exams will not receive the AP Scholar with Honor Award because the minimum requirement is four or more exams.