Washington’s K–12 public school students are outperforming their peers nationwide when it comes to college readiness, according to recently released data from the College Board and ACT.
The College Board administers SAT and Advanced Placement exams, and ACT administers the ACT exam. All three exams are intended to assess a student’s readiness for college, and students can earn college credit if they earn a qualifying score on an AP exam.
Washington continues to see growth in both participation in and achievement on the AP, SAT, and ACT exams, with performance consistently above the national average.
Advanced placement courses provide students with the opportunity to earn college-level credit while still in high school. In order to earn college credit, students must achieve a qualifying score—3, 4, or 5—on an AP assessment.
In 2025, 54,313 Washington public school students took a total of 99,949 AP exams. Of those, 76,929, or 77%, earned a score that qualifies for college credit. Both the number of AP exams taken by Washington students and qualifying scores have steadily increased each year since 2021.
Data from 2024 (the most recent year this information is available) indicates Washington public K–12 students potentially earned more than 204,000 college credits.
