AP COMPUTER SCIENCE PRINCIPLESThe Exam

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Important Updates

Revised Course and Exam Description
As you prepare your 2017-18 AP CSP classes, review the updated AP CSP Course and Exam Description (CED) (.pdf/2.05MB). We provide a summary of the changes we made in the appendix of the CED.

Endorsed Providers
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  • Event
    • Mon, Apr 30, 2018

    AP Computer Science Principles Performance Tasks Due

    •  
  • Event
    • Fri, May 11, 2018

    AP Computer Science Principles Exam Day 2018

    • Noon | 2 hrs

Assessment Overview

The AP Computer Science Principles Assessment consists of two parts: performance tasks and the end-of-course AP Exam. Both measure student achievement of the course learning objectives.

Encourage your students to visit the AP Computer Science Principles student page for assessment information and practice.

Assessment Format

Through-Course Assessment

The through-course assessment is comprised of two AP Computer Science Principles Performance Tasks. The first task requires students to identify a computing innovation, explore its impact, and create a related computational artifact. The second task focuses specifically on the creation of a computer program through the collaborative and iterative process of programming.

For the through-course assessment, students will create digital artifacts — some examples include programs, digital art, or video — accompanied by a written response. Students will submit their final tasks via the AP Digital Portfolio, a Web-based software application that facilitates the process of collecting and transmitting AP CSP through-course performance tasks to the AP Reading for scoring. The AP Digital Portfolio contains user roles for teachers, students, and AP coordinators.

End-of-Course AP Exam

The end-of-course AP Exam is a paper-and-pencil written exam. It is 2 hours long and will include 74 multiple-choice questions, presented as either discrete questions or in sets. There are two types of multiple-choice questions:

  • Single-select multiple choice: Students select 1 answer from among 4 options
  • Multiple-select multiple choice: Students select 2 answers from among 4 options

On both the through-course assessment and the end-of-course exam, students will exhibit their achievement of the course learning objectives and their application of the computational thinking practices.

Students will receive a final exam score of 1-5, derived from their performance on both the through-course assessment and the end-of-course exam.

Scoring Information

  • Two Performance Tasks | 40% of Overall AP Score
    • Explore — Impact of Computing Innovations | 16% | 8 hours
    • Create — Applications from Ideas | 24% | 12 hours
  • End-of-Course Exam: 74 Questions | 2 Hours | 60% of Overall AP Score
    • Single-select and multiple-select questions

The AP Computer Science Principles Course and Exam Description (.pdf/2.05MB) includes complete information about the performance assessment tasks and the end-of-course exam.

Sample Student Responses to Performance Tasks and Scoring Information

The following students' samples of the AP CSP performance tasks demonstrate the type of responses that would receive a high, medium or low score with the current performance task rubrics. We encourage you to use these samples as a way to promote discussion about the requirements of the tasks. Students cannot submit these samples to the College Board for scoring purposes. Also, although the performance task prompts have been included in these samples as guidance, the prompts do not need to be included in final student submissions.

Included for each task is the student performance Q&A, which contains feedback from members of the reading leadership that describes how students performed on the performance tasks, and that summarizes typical student errors.

Explore — Applications from Ideas

These samples were selected based on different types of responses that show a variety of scores in each row of the rubric and not necessarily on the types of computational artifacts submitted.

Sample Responses Scoring Guidelines Commentary Student Performance Q&A

Sample A: High Score

Sample B has been removed

Sample C: Medium Score

Sample D: Medium Score

Sample E: Low Score

Explore Scoring Guidelines

Commentary: High Score

Commentary: Medium Score

Commentary: Low Score

Explore Q&A

Create — Applications from Ideas

These samples were selected based on different types of responses that show a variety of scores in each row of the rubric and not necessarily on the programming languages used.

Sample Responses Scoring Guidelines Commentary Student Performance Q&A

Sample A: High Score

Sample B: Medium Score

Sample C: Low Score

Create Scoring Guidelines

Create Commentary

Create Q&A

Assessment Resources

AP Digital Portfolio

Policies