AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC focus on students’ understanding of calculus concepts and provide experience with methods and applications. Through the use of big ideas of calculus (e.g., modeling change, approximation and limits, and analysis of functions), each course becomes a cohesive whole, rather than a collection of unrelated topics. Both courses require students to use definitions and theorems to build arguments and justify conclusions. The courses feature a multi-representational approach to calculus, with concepts, results, and problems expressed graphically, numerically, analytically, and verbally. Exploring connections among these representations builds understanding of how calculus applies limits to develop important ideas, definitions, formulas, and theorems. A sustained emphasis on clear communication of methods, reasoning, justifications, and conclusions is essential. Teachers and students should regularly use technology to reinforce relationships among functions, to confirm written work, to implement experimentation, and to assist in interpreting results.
The AP Statistics course introduces students to the major concepts and tools for collecting, analyzing, and drawing conclusions from data. There are four themes evident in the content, skills, and assessment in the AP Statistics course: exploring data, sampling and experimentation, probability and simulation, and statistical inference. Students use technology, investigations, problem solving, and writing as they build conceptual understanding.
AP Computer Science Principles introduces students to the breadth of the field of computer science. In this course, students will learn to design and evaluate solutions and to apply computer science to solve problems through the development of algorithms and programs. They will incorporate abstraction into programs and use data to discover new knowledge. Students will also explain how computing innovations and computing systems, including the Internet, work, explore their potential impacts, and contribute to a computing culture that is collaborative and ethical. It is important to note that the AP Computer Science Principles course does not have a designated programming language. Teachers have the flexibility to choose a programming language(s) that is most appropriate for their students to use in the classroom.
Computer science involves problem-solving, hardware, and algorithms that help people utilize computers and incorporate multiple perspectives to address real-world problems in contemporary life. As the study of computer science continues to evolve, the careful design of the AP Computer Science A course strives to engage a diverse student population, including female and underrepresented students, by allowing them to discover the power of computer science through rewarding yet challenging concepts. AP Computer Science A introduces students to computer science through programming. Fundamental topics in this course include the design of solutions to problems, the use of data structures to organize large sets of data, the development and implementation of algorithms to process data and discover new information, the analysis of potential solutions, and the ethical and social implications of computing systems. The course emphasizes object-oriented programming and design using the Java programming language. The AP Computer Science A course requires that solutions of problems be written in the Java programming language. Because the Java programming language is extensive, with far more features than could be covered in a single introductory course, the AP Computer Science A Exam covers a subset of Java.