Nonmetro 17-year-old students score only slightly lower than metro students in reading and mathematics and at the same level as metro students in science. While Southern scores are consistently lower than for the other regions (where nonmetro scores are frequently higher than metro scores), Southern nonmetro scores have been improving faster than scores in any other region and, in 1992, converged with Southern metro scores. Finally, we compare availability of advanced courses between metro and nonmetro schools and find that rural schools do not provide the advanced curriculum that urban schools do.