The AP Computer Science Principles Exam: 5 Steps for Scoring a 5
When one signs up to take an AP exam, it is usually with the goal of taking the College Board's AP exam at the end of the year. Out of over 60,000 students who take the AP Computer Science Principles exam each year, only about 20-25% of them receive the coveted 5–a perfect score.
While AP Computer Science Principles Exam is certainly not the hardest AP exam, it is notorious for its long-winded multiple choice questions (MCQs) and tricky free-response questions (FRQs). In this blog, I will give you the 5 tips that helped me get a 5 on the AP Computer Science Principles exam in my freshman year of high school.
5 Tips on How to Ace the AP Computer Science Exam
Get a test prep book
One of the best things I did for myself while taking this class was getting a test prep book. Although I didn't find all of the extra notes and lessons on computer science in the book useful, I did all of the practice tests. The Princeton Review test prep book I got had many, many practice questions, both MCQs and FRQs. However, I'd advise that you not get stressed out if you fail all of the MCQs in the book–they are much harder than those in the real exam. Instead, you should focus on only the MCQs that involve tracing a program. I found those practice questions to be the most difficult ones in the book, but also most similar to the questions on the real exam. As for the FRQs, the ones in test prep books are remarkably faithful to those on the real AP exam, so I advise that you do all of the FRQs in the book.
Use the College Board's resources
After all, who better to offer practice problems to prepare for the exam than the very people who make the exam? College Board's AP Central Page features old FRQs going back about 20 years, and these were invaluable resources during my test prep. If you are unable to get a test prep book, these are just as good alternative when it comes to FRQs (Unfortunately, AP Central does not have MCQ practice questions).
Start early!
There is no point having a wealth of resources available at your fingertips if you don't have the time to use them all! I ordered my test prep book in January, so I was able to start reviewing topics that I had already learned. In addition, I started doing 1-2 FRQs every weekend starting in March, so I finished doing them all by exam time in early May. I also found that if you do this, you don't need to cram in 50 practice tests the week before–in fact, by test day, I had actually run out of ways to study! This, in turn, made me feel more relaxed in the sense that I had done everything I possibly could do to prepare for the AP Computer Science Principles exam.
Don't waste your time with many external resources
There are a massive amount of websites available on the Internet that supposedly help you on your AP Exam– my teacher even recommended one of them to me. However, I found that these websites wasted hours of my time, as their practice problems were nothing like the real exam. When it comes to studying for APs, it is best to study the specific concepts in practice tests, rather than the more general ones on external websites. These websites are far more useful for beginners who are learning to code for apps, rather than students looking to pass an AP.
Make a study guide
Many teachers give syllabi for all of the concepts a student has to know for an exam–mine did not. However, even if your teacher does make a study guide for you, it is always helpful to make your own, as you have more freedom to personalize it.
Instead of making lists of definitions, like I would do for other STEM classes, I made lists of Java's capabilities that I learned to use in the course. Some of these included arrays, arraylists, for and while loops, etc. I would also suggest making a quick cheat sheet in which you distinguish, in your own words, the difference between certain similar features. It took me many cheat sheets before I was able to finally understand and put into words the differences between various types of classes (public, private, static, etc). However, writing all of those cheat sheets helped engrain the information in my memory remarkably well.
In conclusion, I hope that armed with this new knowledge on studying for the AP Computer Science Principles Exam, you will be able to study more efficiently, allowing you more time to do things you enjoy. Happy studying!
