Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science Principles (also known as APCSP) is an

AP Computer Science In the United States, Advanced Placement Computer Science (commonly shortened to AP Comp Sci) is a suite of Advanced Placement courses and examinations covering areas of computer science. They are offered by the College Board to high school stud ...

course and examination offered by the

College Board The College Board is an American nonprofit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an association of colleges, it runs a ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

students as an opportunity to earn college credit for a

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

-level

computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, e ...

course. AP Computer Science Principles is meant to be the equivalent of a first-semester course in computing. Assessment for AP Computer Science Principles is divided into two parts, both an end of course exam as well as the creation of artifacts throughout the course.AP Computer Science Principles About The Exam Page
The College Board AP Computer Science Principles examines a variety of

topics on a largely conceptual level, and teaches

procedural programming Procedural programming is a programming paradigm, derived from imperative programming, based on the concept of the ''procedure call''. Procedures (a type of routine or subroutine) simply contain a series of computational steps to be carried ...

. In the Create "Through-Course Assessment", students must develop a program, demonstrated in a video and a written reflection. The course may be taught in any

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...

with

procedures Procedure may refer to: * Medical procedure * Instructions or recipes, a set of commands that show how to achieve some result, such as to prepare or make something * Procedure (business), specifying parts of a business process * Standard opera ...

mathematical expressions In mathematics, an expression or mathematical expression is a finite combination of symbols that is well-formed according to rules that depend on the context. Mathematical symbols can designate numbers ( constants), variables, operations, fun ...

, variables,

lists A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...

conditionals Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...

, and loops. Coding portions of the AP exam are based in both text-based and block-based

pseudocode In computer science, pseudocode is a plain language description of the steps in an algorithm or another system. Pseudocode often uses structural conventions of a normal programming language, but is intended for human reading rather than machine re ...

, as defined by the provided reference sheet. The AP Computer Science Principles Exam was administered for the first time on May 5, 2017.

Course

The framework focuses on computational thinking practices which are applied throughout the curriculum. The concept outline included in the curriculum is divided into seven units called "Big Ideas". Each unit contains a series of "Learning Objectives". Each "Learning Objective" is a general benchmark of student performance or understanding which has an associated "Enduring Understanding". An "Enduring Understanding" is a core comprehension which students should retain well after completing the course. Each "Learning Objective" is split into multiple "Essential Knowledge" standards, which are specific facts or content which the student must know to demonstrate mastery of the learning objective when assessed.

Through-Course Assessment

*Task 1: Create – Applications from Ideas **Task Description: Students create computational artifacts through the design and development of programs. **Task Time Limit: 12 hours in Class Time **Task Response Format ***Individual Program: Source Code PDF and Video ***Individual Reflection: 300 words ***Evaluate, Archive and Present Task Prior to 2021, the first task was the Explore section. The explore section was removed prior to the 2021 exam. The exam prior to 2021 is described as follows: *Task 1: Explore – Implications of Computing Innovations **Task Description: In the classroom, students explore the impacts of computing on social, economic, and cultural areas of our lives **Task Time Limit: 8 hours in Class Time **Task Response Format ***Written Response: Innovation: 400 word Max ***Written Response: Population and Impact : 300 Word Max ***Visual Artifact: Visualization or Graphic ***Visual Artifact Summary: 50 Words ***Evaluate, Archive and Present Task

Exam

*The AP exam uses paper and pencil. (With the exception of year 2020, only Create and Explore were tested. In 2021, only Create and the multiple choice section were tested.) *It lasts 120 minutes and includes approximately 74 questions. *The exam is composed of two sections: **Single Select Multiple-Choice: Select 1 answer from among 4 options. **Multiple Select Multiple-Choice: Select 2 answers from among 4 options.

References

{{reflist Computer science education Advanced Placement