NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: February 25, 2025
Mississippi class of 2024 increases Advanced Placement participation
JACKSON, Miss. – The 2025 Advanced Placement (AP) Cohort Report has been released showing that 7,063 Mississippi public school 2024 graduates took AP exams at some point during high school resulting in 37.3% qualifying scores of three or higher.
The 2024 figures show an increase of students in Mississippi participating in the AP program. The 7,063 students represent 25.8% of all 2024 Mississippi high school graduates who took 14,900 AP exams during their high school experience. Among the class of 2023, 6,804 or 24.8% of graduates took a total of 14,423 AP exams during high school and had a 36.5% qualifying score. The number of Mississippi students taking AP courses and passing AP exams have both doubled since 2013.
The College Board, which has pioneered programs like SAT and AP, produces the annual report, which offers a measure of participation and performance on AP exams of graduates’ entire high school experience instead of only one academic year.
AP courses are college-level courses taught by high school teachers. Mississippi is one of 37 states with an established statewide AP credit policy. Mississippi’s policy entitles students who score three or higher on an AP exam to earn at least three college credits at any Mississippi public university or community college. According to the College Board, this results in more than $8.9 million of potential savings in tuition and fees for 2024 Mississippi public and non-public high school graduates.
Other highlights specific to Mississippi from the 2025 report include:
- 3% of public high schools in Mississippi offer students at least one AP course, and 29.6% offer 5 or more AP courses.
- 5% of Mississippi public high school graduates scored a 3 or higher on an AP Exam during high school.
- Over the past 10 years, the percentage of public high school graduates in Mississippi who took an AP Exam during high school has increased by 11.6 percentage points
- Mississippi is one of five states with the largest 10-year growth in percentage of graduates taking an AP exam during high school.
View the national AP Program Results for 2024 at reports.collegeboard.org/ap-program-results.
Find all MDE news releases at mdek12.org/news.
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Media Contact:
Jean Cook, APR
Chief of Communication
601-359-3515
jcook@mdek12.org
Shanderia Minor
Public Information Officer
601-359-3515
sminor@mdek12.org
