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AP Scholar Awards

The AP Scholar Awards recognize high school students who have demonstrated exemplary college-level achievement on AP Exams. A roster of award recipients is provided online to their secondary schools and districts. Additionally, students can print a copy of their award certificate(s) online, and the awards are reflected on all score reports sent to colleges after awards are conferred.

Award Notification Schedule

Recipient	Availability Date	Method
Educators	Mid-July	Found in the Student Score Report, School Scholar Roster report, Scholar Summary report, and the Student Datafile.
Students	Mid-July	Notified by email, awards appear in their online score report.

AP Scholar Award Levels

The AP Scholar Awards are academic distinctions for students to cite among their credentials on applications and résumés. Students do not receive any monetary award from College Board.

Award	Criteria
AP Scholar	Granted to students who receive scores of 3 or higher on three or more AP Exams
AP Scholar with Honor	Granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams
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
AP International Diploma	Awarded to students who display exceptional achievement across a variety of disciplines. See eligibility requirements.

Note: The AP Capstone Diploma™ and AP Seminar and Research Certificate™ are reported to colleges and universities as AP Scholar Awards and appear in Scholar Roster reports.

Calculation Criteria

There are two steps to calculating the awards:

The student’s average AP score is determined based on all exams taken this year and in previous years.
The student’s exam scores are checked to see which ones count toward the various AP Scholar Awards.

A student must meet all criteria to be eligible. For example, 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 a score of 3 or higher on four or more exams.

Exams taken multiple times only count once; the highest score will be used for the award calculation.

The Calculus AB subscore, Music Theory aural subscore, and Music Theory nonaural subscore are not used in the AP Scholar Award calculations.

Discontinued AP Scholar Awards

AP has discontinued awards that encouraged students to take a large number of exams.

Award	Criteria	Last Awarded
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.	2019 AP Exams
DoDEA AP Scholar	Granted to the one male and one female student attending Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools with the highest average score on the greatest number of AP Exams. The minimum requirement is a score of 3 or higher on three exams.	2019 AP Exams
International AP Scholar	Granted to the one male and one female student attending a school outside the United States and Canada that is not a DoDEA school with the highest average score on the greatest number of AP Exams. The minimum requirement is a score of 3 or higher on three exams.	2019 AP Exams
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.	2020 AP Exams
National AP Scholar (Canada)	Granted to students in Canada who receive an average score of at least 4 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 4 or higher on five or more of these exams.	2020 AP Exams
National AP Scholar (Bermuda)	Granted to students in Bermuda who receive an average score of at least 4 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 4 or higher on five or more of these exams.	2020 AP Exams