INCLUDES Course framework Instructional section Sample exam questions AP Computer ® Science A COURSE AND EXAM DESCRIPTION Effective Fall 2020 AP Computer ® Science A COURSE AND EXAM DESCRIPTION Effective Fall 2020 AP COURSE AND EXAM DESCRIPTIONS ARE UPDATED PERIODICALLY Please visit AP Central (apcentral.org) to determine whether a more recent course and exam description is available. About College Board College Board is a mission-driven, not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of more than 6,000 of the world’s leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education.
Each year, College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success— including the SAT® and the Advanced Placement® Program. The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators, and schools. For further information, visit collegeboard. AP Equity and Access Policy College Board strongly encourages educators to make equitable access a guiding principle for their AP programs by giving all willing and academically prepared students the opportunity to participate in AP.
We encourage the elimination of barriers that restrict access to AP for students from ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic groups that have been traditionally underrepresented. Schools should make every effort to ensure that their AP classes reflect the diversity of their student population. College Board also believes that all students should have access to academically challenging course work before they enroll in AP classes, which can prepare them for AP success. It is only through a commitment to equitable preparation and access that true equity and excellence can be achieved.
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Contents v Acknowledgments 1 About AP 4 AP Resources and Supports 6 Instructional Model 7 About the AP Computer Science A Course 7 College Course Equivalent 7 Prerequisites 7 Lab Requirement COURSE FRAMEWORK 11 Introduction 13 Course Framework Components 15 Computational Thinking Practices 17 Course Content 22 Course at a Glance 27 Unit Guides 28 Using the Unit Guides 31 UNIT 1: Primitive Types 43 UNIT 2: Using Objects 63 UNIT 3: Boolean Expressions and if Statements 75 UNIT 4: Iteration 87 UNIT 5: Writing Classes 107 UNIT 6: Array 117 UNIT 7: ArrayList 131 UNIT 8: 2D Array 139 UNIT 9: Inheritance 151 UNIT 10: Recursion INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACHES 161 Selecting and Using Course Materials 163 Instructional Strategies 170 Developing Computational Thinking Practices 181 Teaching the Big Ideas 182 Using Strategies for Collaboration 183 Using Real-World Data EXAM INFORMATION 187 Exam Overview 191 Sample Exam Questions SCORING GUIDELINES 207 Question 1: Methods and Control Structures 210 Applying the Scoring Criteria 213 Question 3: Array/ArrayList APPENDIX 219 Java Quick Reference Acknowledgments College Board would like to acknowledge the contributors for their assistance with and commitment to the development of this course. All individuals and their affiliations were current at the time of contribution. John Cigas, Park University, Parkville, MO Sandy Czajka, Riverside Brookfield High School, Riverside, IL Adrienne Decker, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY Robert Glen Martin, School for the Talented and Gifted, Dallas, TX We would also like to thank the following reviewers for their assistance: Owen Astrachan, Adam Cannon, George Fisher, Robert Getka, Ruth Hartsook, Cody Henrichsen, Paul Hilfinger, Allison Johnson, Liz Johnson, Robert Medrano, Sage Miller, Pat St. Clair, Lester Wainwright, Latrice Wicker, and Dianna Xu College Board Staff Becky Coutts, Director, AP Instructional Design and PD Resource Development Crystal Furman, Director, AP Computer Science Content Development Daniel McDonough, Senior Director, AP Content Integration Allison Milverton, Director, AP Curricular Publications Erin Spaulding, Senior Director, AP Instructional Design and PD Resource Development Allison Thurber, Executive Director, AP Curriculum and Assessment SPECIAL THANKS John R.
Williamson AP Computer Science A Course and Exam Description V.1 | v Return to Table of Contents © 2020 College Board THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK. About AP College Board’s Advanced Placement® Program (AP®) with formative assessments—Personal Progress enables willing and academically prepared students to Checks—that teachers can assign throughout the pursue college-level studies—with the opportunity to year to measure student progress as they acquire earn college credit, advanced placement, or both—while content knowledge and develop skills. still in high school. Through AP courses in 38 subjects, each culminating in a challenging exam, students learn to think critically, construct solid arguments, and see Enrolling Students: many sides of an issue—skills that prepare them for Equity and Access college and beyond.
Taking AP courses demonstrates College Board strongly encourages educators to to college admission officers that students have sought make equitable access a guiding principle for their the most challenging curriculum available to them, and AP programs by giving all willing and academically research indicates that students who score a 3 or higher prepared students the opportunity to participate on an AP Exam typically experience greater academic in AP. We encourage the elimination of barriers success in college and are more likely to earn a college that restrict access to AP for students from ethnic, degree than non-AP students. Each AP teacher’s racial, and socioeconomic groups that have been syllabus is evaluated and approved by faculty from some traditionally underserved. College Board also believes of the nation’s leading colleges and universities, and AP that all students should have access to academically Exams are developed and scored by college faculty and challenging coursework before they enroll in AP classes, experienced AP teachers.
Most four-year colleges and which can prepare them for AP success. It is only universities in the United States grant credit, advanced through a commitment to equitable preparation and placement, or both on the basis of successful AP access that true equity and excellence can be achieved. Exam scores—more than 3,300 institutions worldwide annually receive AP scores. Offering AP Courses: AP Course Development The AP Course Audit The AP Program unequivocally supports the principle In an ongoing effort to maintain alignment with best that each school implements its own curriculum that will practices in college-level learning, AP courses and exams enable students to develop the content understandings emphasize challenging, research-based curricula aligned and skills described in the course framework.
with higher education expectations. While the unit sequence represented in this publication Individual teachers are responsible for designing is optional, the AP Program does have a short list of their own curriculum for AP courses, selecting curricular and resource requirements that must be appropriate college-level readings, assignments, fulfilled before a school can label a course “Advanced and resources. This course and exam description Placement” or “AP.” Schools wishing to offer AP presents the content and skills that are the focus of courses must participate in the AP Course Audit, a the corresponding college course and that appear on process through which AP teachers’ course materials the AP Exam. It also organizes the content and skills are reviewed by college faculty.
The AP Course Audit into a series of units that represent a sequence found was created to provide teachers and administrators in widely adopted college textbooks and that many with clear guidelines on curricular and resource AP teachers have told us they follow in order to focus requirements for AP courses and to help colleges and their instruction. The intention of this publication is to universities validate courses marked “AP” on students’ respect teachers’ time and expertise by providing a transcripts. This process ensures that AP teachers’ roadmap that they can modify and adapt to their local courses meet or exceed the curricular and resource priorities and preferences. Moreover, by organizing expectations that college and secondary school faculty the AP course content and skills into units, the AP have established for college-level courses.
Program is able to provide teachers and students AP Computer Science A Course and Exam Description V.1 | 1 Return to Table of Contents © 2020 College Board The AP Course Audit form is submitted by the AP questions are scored by thousands of college faculty teacher and the school principal (or designated and expert AP teachers. Most are scored at the annual administrator) to confirm awareness and understanding AP Reading, while a small portion is scored online. All of the curricular and resource requirements. A syllabus AP Readers are thoroughly trained, and their work is or course outline, detailing how course requirements monitored throughout the Reading for fairness and are met, is submitted by the AP teacher for review by consistency.
In each subject, a highly respected college college faculty. faculty member serves as Chief Faculty Consultant and, with the help of AP Readers in leadership positions, Please visit collegeboard.org/apcourseaudit for more maintains the accuracy of the scoring standards. information to support the preparation and submission Scores on the free-response questions are weighted of materials for the AP Course Audit. and combined with the results of the computer-scored multiple-choice questions, and this raw score is How the AP Program converted into a composite AP score on a 1–5 scale.
Is Developed AP Exams are not norm-referenced or graded on a The scope of content for an AP course and exam is curve. Instead, they are criterion-referenced, which derived from an analysis of hundreds of syllabi and means that every student who meets the criteria for course offerings of colleges and universities. Using an AP score of 2, 3, 4, or 5 will receive that score, no this research and data, a committee of college faculty matter how many students that is. The criteria for the and expert AP teachers work within the scope of number of points students must earn on the AP Exam the corresponding college course to articulate what to receive scores of 3, 4, or 5—the scores that research students should know and be able to do upon the consistently validates for credit and placement completion of the AP course.
The resulting course purposes—include: framework is the heart of this course and exam § The number of points successful college students description and serves as a blueprint of the content and earn when their professors administer AP Exam skills that can appear on an AP Exam. questions to them. The AP Test Development Committees are responsible § The number of points researchers have found to for developing each AP Exam, ensuring the exam be predictive that an AP student will succeed when questions are aligned to the course framework. The AP placed into a subsequent, higher-level college Exam development process is a multiyear endeavor; all course.
AP Exams undergo extensive review, revision, piloting, § Achievement-level descriptions formulated by and analysis to ensure that questions are accurate, fair, college faculty who review each AP Exam question. and valid, and that there is an appropriate spread of difficulty across the questions. Using and Interpreting AP Scores Committee members are selected to represent a variety of perspectives and institutions (public and private, The extensive work done by college faculty and small and large schools and colleges) and a range of AP teachers in the development of the course and gender, racial/ethnic, and regional groups. A list of each exam and throughout the scoring process ensures subject’s current AP Test Development Committee that AP Exam scores accurately represent students’ members is available on apcentral.
achievement in the equivalent college course. Frequent and regular research studies establish the validity of AP Throughout AP course and exam development, College scores as follows: Board gathers feedback from various stakeholders in both secondary schools and higher education Credit College Grade institutions.