Other than learning the basics of coding and computers the main thing this class leads up to all school year is the AP test to gain college credit. This test is usually taken at the very end of the school year and takes up about 3-4 hours of the school day. Often the test will take time out of your other non-Ap exams so it is important to know what classes it is interfering with and consult with those teachers on how to get credit for the exams you will be missing. In the computer AP test, there are two sections containing a multiple choice section and free response questions, both answered within the given period. There is also another part of the test where you are to code a game or program that follows the AP test guideline in a month called the Performance Task. However, in this article, I will be focusing on the end-of-year test with the multiple choice and free response portions. Although the test is mostly based on what was taught throughout the school year it is important to study and prepare for the test to guarantee a good score on the AP exam.
Starting with the multiple choice test students will have about two hours to answer all 77 questions which are all based on previous units in the year. Some people may think or say that to succeed in the multiple choice portion students will need to study all of the units equally and while this may be true to a certain extent there are better formats to study in. A tip to getting a good score on the multiple-choice exam is to check the AP computer science course description, this can be found in the digital handbook that may be provided by the student’s teacher or on the College Board AP Computer Science website. The course description has very valuable information when studying for the AP exam, specifically for the multiple choice exam the course description has two charts stating the percentage of questions of each unit and subject that will be on the multiple choice exam. With this information now it is possible to make a more effective study plan tailored to the test itself.
The next portion of the test is the free response questions that are based on the performance that was done previously. A tip for getting a good score on this portion of the test is for students to make sure the performance task fits the rubric given to them by the college board. This rubric will contain things students will need to include in their performance task code that will eventually help them in answering the free-response questions. Following the rubric for the performance task will not only help in getting a good score on the performance task but also the free response portion of the test. Another important part of the free-response questions is to know the vocabulary. The question will ask students to talk about different parts of their code in coding terms so it is important to know what the words mean and how it is implemented into the code written by the students.
Useful Links:
Citations:
AP Computer Science Principles: The Course | AP Central – The College Board. (2019, August). AP Central. https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-computer-science-principles/course
AP Computer Science Principles in JavaScript – Overview | CodeHS. (n.d.). Codehs.com. Retrieved May 17, 2024, from https://codehs.com/course/6166/overview