BOSTON – Governor Maura Healey and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) announced that a record percentage of Massachusetts students who graduated high school last year scored a three or higher on an AP exam.
In 2025, 35.8 percent of high school graduates across the state scored a three or higher on an AP exam. That percentage is the highest in the United States and the highest percentage ever recorded. A score of three or higher out of five points shows that the student can complete the work required for an introductory college course in the same subject. Many colleges award college credit to students who score three points or higher on an AP exam.
Black students in Massachusetts achieved the second highest percentage across the country. Only Washington D.C. saw a higher percentage of Black students scoring three or higher.
Massachusetts students also took at least one AP exam at the third highest percentage in the country.
New York students had the second highest rate of scoring a three or high on at least one AP exam, with 34.4 percent. New Jersey (33.2%) California (31.8%, and Illinois (31.4%) round out the top five.
Across the nation, an average of 24.8 percent of students in each state achieved the same score.
The states with five lowest percentages are Kansas (11.3%), West Virginia (11.1%), Louisiana (10.7%), Oklahoma (10.7%) and Mississippi (9.4%).
