AP Computer Science Exam Review Worksheet

My favorite cartoon - Savage Chicken

Here are some things I use with my students for last minute AP exam review. My goal is not new learning at this point. I focus instead on reinforcing skills that will help them move up a point or two in their score.

• APCS Flashcards
• Top Ten things you need to know

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What are we doing after the AP exam

This question pops up every year with my students...we have six weeks after the AP Computer Science exam, are we doing anything?

Nope, Ive decided you can just nap for six weeks of school. That sounds reasonable.

They know me well enough that there is a lot of eye rolling at this point. After fifteen years teaching high school I have learned eye rolling equals success. It is my job to annoy them occasionally.


Usually I pick something new to everyone and we work through that. Sometimes we do advanced data structures like linked lists, java graphics or a new language.

This years group is too eclectic for that to work. I have students that already know VB, C++, Python and just about anything else I could throw at them. They have done NASA summer internships, built robots and held part-time jobs doing web design.

So I tried something new, this year they got to pick their own projects.

The ground rules were:

1. Do something new to you
2. Do something non-trivial (something that will take several weeks to complete)
3. Amaze me

I had them write about what they were going to work on first. So far this has kept them much more engagged then they normally are this time of year. Plus it has been a lot less work for me.

In short, I have been amazed. Plus, anything that cuts down on the amount of nagging I have to do everyday is a total win.

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AP Computer Science Mock Exam

For the past few years I have been involved with VASS , the Virginia branch of the national NMSI AP readiness grants. They work in increasing access to college by implementing rigorous AP programs in STEM areas in public schools.

The program has a specific methodology for increasing student success in AP classes. There are a ton of things they offer teachers, and Ill write about those separately.

The method they use for students could be implemented anywhere. This includes:

1. Weekly hour long structured tutorials in AP classes. This is not just "does anyone have any questions?" but a structured session that focuses on elements of the curriculum that will most impact student success. I spend a lot of time in these sessions on tracing code and writing code on paper.
2. External prep sessions that cover course topics more in depth. We do these online and each session lasts an hour. 
3. The annual mock exam. Students sit for an AP style exam as practice. We use the released 2009 multiple choice questions (purchased) and the free response from the previous year. The results are used to steer the review for each individual student.

I have been grading Mock Exams for VASS  all this week. It is so nice to see my students arent the only one making goofy mistakes. After grading over 50 exams I have noticed a few patterns that might help you prepare your students for the free response section.

1. Many of the questions are set up as methods:
1. Do not rewrite the method header or make changes to the header! (this one boggles my mind)
2. If they give you parameters - use them
3. Do not re-declare the methods as local variables
4. If the method returns an int, declare an int and return it
5. If the method is void DO NOT RETURN A VALUE
2. These questions are usually in a larger class. Look for how the data is stored - probably as an array, ArrayList or a 2-D array.
1. Do not re-declare that object locally. Use the one from the class.
2. Do not use [] with an ArrayList
3. arrays and Strings use .length 0 ArrayList uses .size
4. 
   
3. Look for patterns- especially if you are stuck. You can sometimes steal a few points even when you have no idea how to solve the problem.
1. simple array? put in a for-loop
2. does it ask a question? Youll need an if-statement

In the next week I am thinking of putting all of the free response question prompts from the past 5 years on a sheet of paper, handing out highlighters, and letting them look for these patterns.

I wouldnt do these all at once, but as you do practice coding on paper encourage them to think in terms of patterns. Even the best programmer can get stuck when having to code on paper. These tips should help them from making silly mistakes.

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Marching towards May APCS exam prep

In my APCS class we are functionally done with new topics this year. They are working on searches and sorts the next two weeks, but in my mind that is just an application of the array material we covered back in December.

This is how I pace my AP class...as a spiral. We hit a topic early on, like arrays. Then in the next unit we cover methods, and guess what? Most of the methods I have them write process arrays. We do class design, and here we are back on arrays. My hope is that by seeing them embedded throughout with lots of repetition, they might actually remember a few things about them on the AP exam, or in college, or on Jeopardy. Im a dreamer that way.

To start off we did a day of review about arrays. I gave them some practice exercises, then we did CodingBat  problems. That was Monday. Wednesday we started searches. First I gave them a quiz - I randomly picked one of the CodingBat problems from last class and used it for a 60-80-100 quiz.

 As went over the problem we talked a lot about stealing points on the APCS Free Response questions...did you know you could steal points?

We did the 2009 #1 free response problem. it ties in nicely with a lot of what you see in the CodingBat problems.

Then we did searches. I used Plastic eggs  for the linear search. We did the telephone book trick for the binary search. Heres a video of another way to teach this.

And as a side note, as telephone books become less common I am finding I horde these.

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Mind Mapping the AP Computer Science Exam

This year we tried something different for teh final APCS exam review. Weve been doing multiple choice and free response problems for weeks now, and really we are at the point where they either know it or they dont.

So what I want is for them to remember all the connections - those picky details that can make a huge difference. Like when do you use == and when the .equals? Or when to use super vs this.

So I gave them a list of terms from the APCS curriculum (see below) and I had them cut them out to make a mind map. They had to draw and explain the connections. They worked in groups on this and there was a lot of great discussion today as they debated where the pieces fit together.

The list isnt complete - I keep remembering things I left off. The kids found most of those as they built their maps.

.length() .move .random .remove .size() .turn ++ = = abstract accessor Actor array 1-D array 2-D base case boolean Bug class Color

concatenation constructor Critter double extends Flower for for-each if implements int interface List Location Math method mutator new

Object object overload override parameter primitive private public recursion return Rock row major toString void

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