In today's video, we're going to go over 15 AP Computer Science A review tips.
We'll first jump into some multiple choice tips, followed by some free
response tips to help you score that four or five on your AP exam.
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Without further ado though.
Let's jump into these AP Computer Science A review tips.
To kick things off, let's talk about four multiple choice tips that you can take
into your AP Computer Science A exam.
The first thing you need to know is you need to understand the format of the exam.
If you don't understand how you're going to be graded, then it's difficult
for you to understand how to pace yourself over the course of your exam.
When it comes to the multiple choice section of the AP Computer Science A exam,
you're going to have 40 questions that will amount to 50% of your exam score.
In other words, each of these multiple choice questions is worth
1.25% of your overall exam score.
So it's really important that you do well in this multiple choice section
because those points add up quickly.
Most of these questions in the multiple choice section are individual questions.
That being said, there are typically one or two sets of questions that come
in two to three questions per set.
Our second AP Computer Science A multiple choice review tip is to
make sure that you understand what concepts are covered on your exam.
When it comes to AP CSA, they are 10 important units.
However, these units are not evenly distributed on the actual exam.
This means that you can be more efficient with your study time
if you were to focus on the units that are tested more frequently.
For example, unit four on iteration makes up 17.5 to 22.5% of the overall exam.
Meanwhile, unit three on bullying expressions and if statements make
up another 15 to 17.5% of the exam.
This means on certain AP CSA exams, that by just studying units three and four,
really, really well, you could potentially be covering at least 40% of your exam.
Understanding the frequency in which these units show up will help
you better prioritize your limited study time and make the most as
you prepare for that four or five.
The third tip we have for you when it comes to the AP Computer Science multiple
choice section is to employ standard, multiple choice taking strategies when
you're on the section in the exam.
This means, for example, making sure that you answer every single multiple
choice question because you don't get points docked for wrong answers.
It is in your best interest to answer every single question even
if you only have a minute left on your exam, and you haven't read
through every single question.
Just put something down to give yourself a shot.
Furthermore, you might find it helpful to try out different strategies,
like thinking about what sort of answer you might be looking for even
if you don't know the right answer.
For example, are you looking for a boolean statement or a recursive
command, a string or an integer?
You're always going to want to make sure that you read every answer choice
before you select an answer and that as you read these answer choices that
you're using the process of elimination or POE regularly throughout the process.
This means that once you identify something that makes that answer choice,
not the best choice, strike it out and then consider from the remaining options.
It's also really important that you keep track of your time.
If you're not pacing yourself properly, then you might be caught in that situation
that I mentioned earlier, in which you're going to have to put down an answer
for the sake of putting down an answer.
As much as possible you want to feel like you're in control of the multiple
choice section as you work through it.
When you work your way through these questions, feel free to mark up your
test booklet as much as you'd like.
You can circle or underline things or create some sort of system for yourself
that helps you keep track of which questions you feel good about and which
questions might require a second look.
Lastly, it's helpful for you to figure out what sort of
testing style you want to take.
Some students find it more helpful, for example, to first read the answer
choices before they read the question and other students like to read the question
before they read the answer choices.
Whatever works for you, it's just really important that you stick
to it and you stay consistent in all of your practice sessions.
Our fourth AP CSA review tip when it comes to the multiple choice
section is to understand what the multiple choice questions look like.
The easiest way to get exposure here is to simply practice,
practice, and practice some more.
Using sites like Albert or a review book can be a helpful way for you to
gain exposure to the sorts of ways that questions are presented to you.
In most situations, you're going to be presented with a snippet of
code and then be asked to analyze that in some particular way.
For example, you might be given some sort of output and then be
asked what code segment would produce that particular output.
Other times they'll flip things around and then give you a code segment and
then ask you what sort of output you should anticipate from that code segment.
If you're looking for some practice questions to help you out here, be sure to
check out Albert with a free account using the link in the video description below.
Before we jump into our 11 AP Computer Science A free response tips, if you're
finding this video helpful, do us a favor and hit that like button below and also,
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The first tip we have for you when it comes to tackling the AP Computer
Science A free response section is to avoid these 12 most common errors.
Being off by one and loops, not initializing a variable, failure to
return a required value, using the wrong identifier, not returning a statement
in a non void method, modifying a constant, using local variables but
not declaring them, missing brackets parentheses or semi-colons including
extraneous code that causes side effects, confusing equals with double equals,
confusing brackets with parentheses and assigning values incorrectly.
For example, putting X plus two equals Y instead of Y equals X plus two.
Our second tip is to make sure that you're writing legibly clearly
and with good programming style.
It's important to remember that your free responses are graded by human readers.
So it's really important that they are able to follow along with your response.
Here are a few reminders that you're going to want to keep in mind.
You're going to want to assign meaningful variable names, write neatly
and legibly, always indent properly.
This is a big one because in the case where you accidentally miss
the curly brace or a semi-colon, proper indentation will save you.
And you're gonna want to make sure you position your curly braces clearly,
keep things organized, use white space liberally, don't write too
small or too large, and lastly, put each statement on a separate line.
If you're looking for some exemplary responses from past students, you
might find it helpful to check out the previously released free
response questions on AP Central.
There, they provide some different examples of students that did a
good job in this section in order to show you what they're looking
for when it comes to your exam.
Our third tip is to make sure you're not using specific numbers, strings, or
dimensions of a raise in your responses.
You want to make sure that your program can run with any particular
number, string or dimension.
In other words, don't just solve for the example that is provided in the question.
This is one of the most common mistakes that AP Computer Science A students make.
For example, if a question is about a two dimensional ray, and the question also
provides you with an image of a three by four array, you don't want to use
the numbers three or four in your code.
Instead, depending on what the question might be asking you, you
want to make sure that your code works for an array of any size.
Our fourth tip when it comes to the FRQ section is to attempt
every single part of the question.
Sometimes students get frustrated because they don't feel confident
about their answer to part A.
And so they proceed to just not attempt the rest of the question,
but that's a huge mistake.
And the reason why is because the computer science A free response section
has each part graded independently.
This means that it's still possible for you to score points if you
were to continue working through the problem, even if you don't
know the right answer in part A.
Now that being said, you don't want to reimplement code from
earlier parts in your response.
Remember each part is graded independently.
So by doing this, you're potentially going to introduce yourself to making
some errors and losing some points.
Our fifth tip is going to sound super obvious, but make sure
that you're answering the actual question that's posed to you.
As you're reading through the question, it can be helpful for you to circle or
underline keywords or phrases of what the test makers are asking of you.
If you find something along the lines of, you will receive no credit if
blah, blah, blah, then you're going to want to make sure to tune in there.
You'd be surprised the number of students that simply get so caught up
in the question that they don't actually provide a response to the question.
Once you finish writing your code in response to the question,
reread the question and double check that you are answering what
they are asking you to answer.
Our six tip is to always write some code in your answer.
Even in the case where you don't know specifically the code that they're
looking for, you should describe what you believe they're looking for, and
then put some sort of attempt down for what that code might look like.
There's a small possibility that you can gain partial credit here, but
you wouldn't gain that same partial credit if you were to only describe
what the code might look like.
Partial credit may be given for example, when you have the correct loop bounds.
It may also be given in the case where you attempt to some values in an array.
The important thing for you to remember though, is that this
is not an AP English exam.
When you don't know the answer, you should try your best in describing the
answer and then providing some sort of code component in your free response.
Tip seven is to remember that the elegance of your code really
does not matter when it comes to the AP Computer Science A exam.
For those more experienced programmers, it's not really advantageous for
you to come up with some complex way to answer the question.
What's most important is that you are able to clearly demonstrate that you
understand what's being asked of you and that you can present a workable solution.
Typically, a brute-force approach is one of the best to take
when it comes to this exam.
If you find yourself needing comments to explain your code,
then it's probably too complicated.
Ultimately, comments should not be a substitute for
writing clear and correct code.
Tip number eight is to stay within the AP Java quick reference.
This subset is given to you for a reason.
So it's important for you to use it.
Even if you're a Java pro there's no point in introducing complexity
to your free response answers.
For example, you should try to just use the classes that are provided
in the AP Java quick reference.
This includes things like strings, integer, double,
math, array list and objects.
There are many other classes such as data and sort, but there's
really no reason for you to have to bring these in, in your responses.
Tip nine is to follow Java naming convention.
It's a simple tip, but make sure that you are naming your methods,
variables, and parameters correctly.
For example, you're going to want to make sure that you start your names,
what they lower case letter, and that you keep your names meaningful.
There's no point in making these names super verbose,
use your best judgment here.
It's also really important to look back at the original question
when you're creating names.
Sometimes the question's going to tell you what you should
name something in your response.
Our 10th tip is to not waste time writing comments.
Comments are typically completely disregarded by AP graders.
So there's really no point for you to introduce them.
Typically, your code is never going to have to be so complex
that you need to have comments in them to explain what's going on.
The only time that you should include comments is when it helps
you personally stay organized and on track in your response.
However, because in general, you're going to be under a time crunch when it comes to
this free response section, we advise you to just ignore using comments altogether.
Tip 11 is to code according to the specifications and the
preconditions and host conditions.
As you've probably picked up by now, there's really no value in adding
additional bells and whistles in your code just to make sure that you are
coding to the specifications given to you.
For example, you should never add something like system dot, out dot
print, unless you are explicitly asked to do so by the question.
You also want to avoid any unnecessary checks within your code.
Let's take a look on the screen for a 2019 AP Computer Science free
response question, to break this down.
The question reads, Write the constructor for the LightBoard class, which
initializes lights, so that each light is set to on with a 40% probability.
Notation, lights, bracket R, bracket C represents the array
element at row R and column C.
Complete the LightBoard constructor below.
And they may provide the precondition followed by the post condition.
So here you can see that in this question, the LightBoard class model
is a two dimensional display of lights, where each light is either on or off
as represented by a boolean value.
In the question, you would implement a constructor to initialize the display
and a method to evaluate it light.
There, you have it.
15 AP Computer Science A multiple choice and free response tips to help
you as you prepare for your exam.
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