AP CS Exam: Tips for Success on Exam Day
Based on my experience taking the AP Computer Science A class without any prior experience in coding at all, entirely through virtual learning, and taking the virtual AP CS exam, here are some of the things I wish I knew when I was taking this class!
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Tip #1: Follow along with live classes
First, make sure you’re following along with the content taught in class as closely as possible. Falling behind in an AP CS class may happen, but try your best to catch up as soon as possible! Also keep in mind that your teachers will be your best resource, as you see them everyday. Because I took this class through virtual learning, accessing my teacher was difficult, but whenever I could, I took the opportunity to talk to my teacher, and I found it really helpful!
Tip #2: Utilize your Resources!
Next, here are a few resources that I wish I had found and utilized earlier in the year to help me review for the AP CS Exam! To help with the MCQ portion of the test, Albert.io and using the AP Classroom questions are a great resource.
In addition, following various AP Computer Science trivia Instagram pages were a great way for me to get more exposure to different types of coding patterns under the scope of the AP CS curriculum. Test books such as Princeton Review and Barron’s were also really helpful for content review, as they go through the whole curriculum, reviewing what you need to know ahead of the test. In terms of the FRQ portion, the CollegeBoard website has released every single FRQ since 1999, giving you plenty of opportunities to practice the skills you need to know for the exam.
Tip #3: Practice, Practice, Practice!
In my experience, I found that practice was your best friend for this exam. Earlier, I talked about the CollegeBoard releasing past AP CS exams. I did 10 full practices (excluding the GridWorld problems that they removed from exams starting in 2016) of these spread out across the span of a month and a half, some even twice or three times. I found that as I did more, it really helped me understand the concepts a bit better, and allowed me to practice problem solving.
SIMULATE THE TEST ENVIRONMENT
Next, when doing these practices, try to stimulate the test environment as closely as possible. If your test is on paper, try printing these out and handwriting your code! The most important thing next, is to review your practice, and mark what you could have done better, and learn from your mistakes.
Test tips for the morning of your exam
Up until now, we’ve talked about preparing ahead of the exam day. Now, it is the morning of your exam. You are probably feeling the most unprepared in your life -- I felt this way as well, sitting at my desk in my room 45 minutes before the test trying to review everything I thought I didn’t know. The reality is, if you’ve gotten this far and if you’ve followed one or more of the tips I listed above, you got this. The best thing you can do is to breathe, take some time to relax your heartbeat, and bring out your best energy into the test.
To recap this a bit, we talked about a few resources that you can use, including the best one, your teacher, and some online ones such as CollegeBoard’s past tests, Albert.io, and more. We then talked about how to effectively simulate the test environment. Last, we talked a bit about a few tips to best handle the big day. I hope this blog post helped a bit. Now, go score your 5 on the AP CS Exam!
