ap-computer-science-exam-a-study-guide

AP Computer Science A study guide: Everything you need to know to pass your next exam

04/19/2021

Are you getting ready to take the AP Computer Science A exam? We here at Codecademy are here to help you get your study on with our AP Computer Science A Study Guide!

How do I use Codecademy to study?

One of the resources the College Board produces is the Exam Description. This document describes all of the topics that will be on the AP exam.

Specifically, there is an enormous list of Essential Knowledge. For example,

MOD-1.A.1 — System.out.print and System.out.println display information on the computer monitor.

We’ve mapped every Essential Knowledge from the College Board to a Codecademy lesson. Take a look through the following table. If you see a concept you’re unfamiliar with under the Essential Knowledge column, follow the link placed to the right of it! This will bring you to a free lesson where you can learn more about the topic.

Lessons

Our Codecademy lessons consist of several interactive exercises and are great resources to turn to if you’re unfamiliar with a concept.

A single exercise usually contains a narrative, checkpoints, and a code editor. After reading the narrative’s explanation of a topic, you’ll move onto the checkpoints that verify your understanding by having you use the code editor to perform a specific task related to the narrative. Once your code is satisfactory, you can move on to the next exercise.

Quizzes

Our quizzes test how well you retained the information from a lesson. Each quiz contains both multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions. After completing a quiz, you’ll receive a score about how well you did with the multiple-choice. If you don’t like your score, don’t worry — you can always retake the quiz to improve it.

Projects

You can apply your understanding of a lesson by working on a guided project. Projects on Codecademy are made up of different tasks for a learner to complete. Since projects are open-ended, it may take a while to finish your program. With your accounts, your work is saved to the learning environment so that you can continue working on your projects at a later time.

Pro Users

If you’re a PRO user, you can find everything you need in our Study for the AP Computer Science A Exam Skill Path!

Free Users

We also offer several Java-based courses for free learners to help you learn:

Wrapping Up

We hope this resource helps you feel prepared for the AP Computer Science A exam. Here at Codecademy, we’re rooting for you before, during, and after you complete the test. If you’re excited about programming and want to continue learning about how to create cool stuff with code, check out our student resource center.

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