1.1.2. About the AP CSA Exam¶
This curriculum will prepare you for the Advanced Placement Computer Science A Exam which tests your programming skills in Java.
The AP CSA exam is 3 hours long and has two sections—multiple choice and free-response. You will be given one hour and 30 minutes for each part. The first part has 40 multiple-choice questions, and the second part has 4 free response questions where you have to write Java code by hand. Each part is worth 50% of your grade. During the exam, you will have access to the AP CSA Java Quick Reference Sheet.
The 4 free response questions cover the following areas (from AP CSA Free Response):
Question 1: Methods and Control Structures—You’ll be asked to write program code to create objects of a class and call methods, and satisfy method specifications using expressions, conditional statements, and iterative statements.
Question 2: Classes—You’ll be asked to write program code to define a new type by creating a class and satisfy method specifications using expressions, conditional statements, and iterative statements.
Question 3: Array/ArrayList—You’ll be asked to write program code to satisfy method specifications and create, traverse, and manipulate elements in 1D array or ArrayList objects.
Question 4: 2D Array—You’ll be asked to write program code to satisfy method specifications and create, traverse, and manipulate elements in 2D array objects.
The College Board specifies the AP CSA course in the 10 units shown in the table below. On the College Board’s AP Portal they provide formative assessments called Personal Progress Checks for each unit. This CSAwesome curriculum is organized around the AP CSA units and also provides many interactive exercises in each unit.
The College Board also requires AP CSA courses to provide at least 20 hours of lab time for you to practice Java programming.
Unit |
Title |
Exam Weight |
Class Days |
Lab Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Primitive Types |
2.5–5% |
8-10 |
|
2 |
Using Objects |
5–7.5% |
13-15 |
|
3 |
Boolean Exprs/ifs |
15–17.5% |
11-13 |
3-5 |
4 |
Iteration |
17.5–22.5% |
14-16 |
4-6 |
5 |
Writing Classes |
5-7.5% |
12-14 |
3-6 |
6 |
Array |
10–15% |
6-8 |
|
7 |
ArrayList |
2.5–7.5% |
10-12 |
3-6 |
8 |
2D Array |
7.5–10% |
10-12 |
4-7 |
9 |
Inheritance |
5-10% |
14-15 |
3-6 |
10 |
Recursion |
5–7.5% |
3-5 |
For more information on the exam see the College Board AP CSA site and the 200+ page AP CSA Course and Exam Description (CED). The AP CSA Past Free Response Questions are available online. Here is an FRQ resource that categorizes the past FRQs by topic and provides links to their solutions (which are available online in many places). The College Board provides a question bank and formative assessment quizzes for each unit online for registered AP classes.
Also check out this list of CS Careers that taking CSA can lead to. Learning to code is an increasingly important skill that has applications in many careers!