AP* Computer Science A (Java)

Grading is based on demonstrations of mastery of standards on this page. Standards in italics are not part of the AP exam, but are part of good coding practice. 

1. Numeric and String Expressions (primitive types)

2. Objects (representation)

3. Boolean Expressions and If Statements (conditional controls)

4. Flow Charting and Documentation (abstraction)

5. Tracking and Debugging (production)

6. Classes and Methods (decomposition)

7. For and While Loop Controls (iteration)

8. Version Control and Refactoring (production)

9. 1 and 2 Dimensional Arrays (data structures)

10. ArrayLists (data storage)

11. Objects (inheritance)

12. Recursion (sort algorithms)

The College Board's AP Curriculum below is offered with many implementations.  In our class, we use Code.org's web-based course, with many interactive programming challenges.  The headings below in yellow are also covered in Intro to Computer Science, a JavaScript course, with less depth.

Primitive Types

You’ll learn the fundamentals of Java, a programming language, as well as other foundational concepts for coding.

• Primitive data types including int, double, and Boolean

• Evaluating arithmetic expressions in program code

• Using assignment operators to produce a value

• How variables and operators are sequenced and combined in an expression to create a result

2.5%–5% of exam score

Using Objects

You’ll explore reference data as a way to represent real-world objects in a digital world and discover methods to perform more complex operations.

• Objects and classes as ways to describe instances, attributes, and behaviors

• Creating objects by calling constructors with and without parameters

• Utilizing class libraries, including Integer and Double

• Defining an object’s behavior using methods, including static and Math class

• Calling non-static void methods with and without parameters

• Using String objects and methods

• Using application program interfaces (APIs) and libraries

5%–7.5% of exam score

Boolean Expressions and if Statements

You’ll delve into the building blocks of algorithms and focus on using conditional statements to solve problems and control results.

• Finding Boolean values with expressions involving relational operators

• Using conditional statements to execute different statements based on input values

• Building on conditional statements to create multiple possible outcomes

• Creating the same value using equivalent Boolean expressions

• Referencing objects with aliases

15%–17.5% of exam score

Iteration

You’ll learn about iteration, another building block of algorithms that are for repetition.

• Creating a loop to run an expression repeatedly until certain conditions are met

• Standard arithmetic-based and String algorithms

• Representing iterative processes in code using for and while loops

• Nesting loop and iteration statements

17.5%–22.5% of exam score

Unit 5: Writing Classes

You’ll explore how real-world interactions can be expressed digitally by organizing behaviors and attributes into classes, and you’ll examine the legal and ethical implications of computer programming.

• The makeup of a class, including whether attributes are public or private

• Setting an object’s attributes using constructors

• Using comments to describe the functionality of code

• Defining behaviors of an object using non-void, void, and static methods

• Where variables can be used in program code

• Breaking problems into smaller parts by creating methods to solve individual subproblems

• Intellectual property and ethical concerns in programming

5%–7.5% of exam score

Arrays

You’ll learn techniques and standard algorithms to work with collections of related data, known as data structures.

• Representing multiple related items as array objects

• Traversing an array by accessing the elements using iteration statements

• Standard algorithms that utilize array traversals to perform functions

10%–15% of exam score

Unit 7: ArrayLists

You’ll delve deeper into data sets, exploring ArrayList objects for larger amounts of data, as well as the privacy concerns related to personal data storage.

• Representing collections of related object reference data using ArrayList objects

• Traversing an ArrayList by accessing the elements using iteration statements

• Standard algorithms that utilize ArrayList traversals to perform functions

• Searching and sorting using standard algorithms

• Ethical issues around data collections

2.5%–7.5% of exam score

2D Arrays

Now that you’ve explored 1D arrays, you’ll branch out into 2D arrays and experiment with data sets represented in a table.

• Representing collections of data as arrays of arrays, or 2D arrays

• Traversing a 2D array by accessing the elements using nested iteration statements

7.5%–10% of exam score

Unit 9: Inheritance

You’ll learn how to manipulate programming without altering existing code by using subclasses to create a hierarchy.

• Using common attributes and behaviors to group existing objects into superclasses

• Defining and overriding methods within subclasses and superclasses

• Creating references using inheritance hierarchies

• Associating subclass objects with superclasses to create polymorphism

5%–10% of exam score

Unit 10: Recursion

You’ll work on solving larger problems by solving smaller, simpler versions of the same problem using recursive methods.

• Executing recursive methods

• Searching and sorting using binary search and merge sort algorithms

5%–7.5% of exam score

• Introduction

  • Introducing Java 

  • Should you take AP Computer Science? 

• Numbers

  • Type casting 

  • Casting between int and double and reviewing mods 

• Using numbers

  • Importing the Math class 

  • Random classes and methods 

  • How Java handles basic math 

• Booleans

  • Boolean algebra overview 

  • Equality, relational, and logical operators 

  • Solving truth tables with three elements 

• Strings

  • Explaining String concatenation 

  • String fundamentals 

  • Making, comparing, measuring, slicing, and searching Strings 

• Input and output

  • Input, output, and errors 

  • Printing Strings and escape characters 

• Functions

  • Introducing methods 

• Arrays

  • Introducing arrays 

• Control statements

  • Overview of while, do, and for loops 

  • Solving problems with loops 

  • Overviewing control statements 

  • Introducing for and while loops 

• Objects

  • Creating new objects 

• Classes

  • Wrapper classes for numbers 

  • Explaining 'static' 

• Object-oriented programming

  • Overview of classes in Java 

• Interfaces

  • Implementing an interface 

• Inheritance

  • Subclasses, extends, and superclass 

  • Common Java classes: Object, Integer, Double, Random, Math, List, and ArrayList 

  • Inheritance and polymorphism 

• Best practices

  • Program design and development