How Can I Get a 5 in AP Computer Science Principles?

4 min read•october 11, 2021

Harrison Burnside

AP Computer Science Principles ⌨️

80 resources

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Introducing APCSP

APCSP is a relatively small class 👨‍🏫 with a few resources online, but there are some amazing ones like Fiveable that are here to help! If you can practice for the exam and use these tips, then you should be all set to do awesome 🤩 on your Create PT and ace your MCQ exam.

4 Tips for a Five

#1: Know the Exam 1

The APCSP 💻 exam is formatted as follows:

Section 1: The Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

For the MCQ section, you will be given:

120 Minutes (2 Hours)

To Answer 70 MCQs

This section is weighted at 70% of your exam score so make sure to study before the AP Exam Start Time!

Another important thing to know about the MCQ 🧐 section of your exam is that there are different big ideas and computational practices weighted on your exam! We've broken them down for you:

APCSP MCQ Unit Weighting

There are five Big Ideas in AP Computer Science Principles that are tested on the AP Exam. You can reference this table to see which units you should study 📖 the most and least:

Big Idea MCQ Weighting

Unit/Big Idea Name	Weighting
Big Idea 1: Creative Development	10-13%
Big Idea 2: Data	17-22%
Big Idea 3: Algorithms + Programmin g	30-35%
Big Idea 4: Computer Systems + Networks	11-15%
Big Idea 5: The Impact of Computing	21-26%

There are also five Computational Thinking Practices in the APCSP exam. If you don't recognize these names, don't worry too much, these are mostly for teachers to spiral these themes through the Big Ideas! Check these out with the practice questions ✍️ later:

Computational Thinking Practice MCQ Weighting

Computational Thinking Practice	Weighting
Practice 1: Computational Solution Design	18-25%
Practice 2: Algorithms and Program Development	20-28%
Practice 3: Abstraction in Program Development	7-12%
Practice 4: Code Analysis	12-19%
Practice 5: Computing Innovations	28-33%

Section 2: The Create Performance Task (PT)

The other 30% of your exam score will come from Section two, so make sure to check out all of our information about the Create PT 💾 (Performance Task):

📝 Read: AP Computer Science Principles - Create PT Help

This section will not 🚫 be tested during your AP Exam, but you will instead be given 12 hours of class-time to work on your coding masterpiece 🎉

#2: Don't Procrastinate the Performance Task 2

You have a whole year to create and write about a program of your choosing! Don't put it off until April or May 📅 because all of your work (including studying for other AP exams) will stack up 📚

#3: Practice with Pseudocode 3

On the Multiple Choice section, about 30% of the problems will have pseudocode in the questions or answers! It is a programming language 📢 that can't actually be used in any coding tool but is easily read and understood.

The pseudocode language is basically a combination of a block-based 🧱 language (Scratch, Alice, etc.) and a basic typing language (Python, JS, etc.). While you will get a reference sheet on exam day, we highly recommend trying to learn and practice with pseudocode before exam day so you don't have to waste time reading and tracing while you translate 💹 then! Check out this great reference sheet 📝 from the College Board to get a glimpse into the language!

On the Reference Sheet for Pseudocode, there are eight code categories! These are super useful 🧠 to know so you don't waste valuable time ⏲️ on exam day trying to find the exact line of code in these six pages. Here are the categories to know:

Assignment, Display, and Input
Arithmetic Operators and Numeric Procedures
Rational and Boolean Operators
Selection
Iteration
List Operations (largest category)
Procedures and Calls
Robot (the most fun 🤪 category!)

#4: Make Flashcards to Review Key Vocab and Concepts

APCSP 🖥️ is not too content-heavy, but the class focuses more on learning the big picture and narrowing 🔍 in on personal solutions and perspectives! A really important part of the MCQ section, however, is learning and applying fundamental vocab in the context of problems.

A big tip of mine would be to make personal flashcards or maybe just use some awesome Quizlets 🎊 Don't know where to start looking? Check out:

📝 Read: AP Computer Science Principles - Best Quizlet Decks by Unit

Here are a few important key vocab words 🔊 to get you started: