There is something about AP exam review days, in any subject, that are both satisfying and stressful. Satisfying, because I’ve reached the point where I’ve taught everything I’ve needed to teach in the subject and that is just such a good feeling. Stressful, because now I worry about the best way to prepare my students for the exams!
For AP Computer Science A, if I finish recursion before our Spring Break at the end of March, I usually try and do the AP Exam Labs. I feel like starting the AP exam review too early just leads to some burnout for me and the students, so the labs do a great job of entertaining them during class and reviewing most of the information for them. I usually explain what each lab is and then have them vote on which one they would like to do (or do first, if we have enough time for more).
After Spring Break, we have the whole month of April to review before our 2024 exam date of Wednesday, May 8th at noon local time. Planning a whole month of review can be a little daunting, so to give you some ideas, here is how I like to lay it out!
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Weekly Plan
I like to break down the weeks, and on each day, we work on something different to help prepare us for the exam. I find that this really helps with student burnout; doing the same thing every day (like content review) really drags, so I like mixing it up!
Here is my breakdown:
- Multiple Choice Monday
- Content Review Tuesday
- Free Response Question Wednesday
- Content Review Thursday
- Fun Friday
Multiple Choice Monday
On Mondays, I like to work together as a class through various secure MCQs from the teacher dashboard. Students get 90 minutes to work through 40 multiple-choice questions, which is about 2.25 minutes per question. I will print out 3 pages of 4 questions to prepare for the day. It looks something like this:
I will give them one page to start (Questions 1 – 4) and give them 9 minutes to complete all 4 questions. After the time is up, I will go through the answers and explain how I got the answers. I try and give some advice on how to quickly eliminate certain answer choices, and just good multiple choice test-taking strategies too. Once we are done with those 4, I will pass out the next four (Questions 5 – 8) and continue with the process. This takes up my 50-minute class period very nicely on Mondays. Make sure to collect the MCQs before they leave, because those secure questions cannot leave the classroom.
If you need additional multiple-choice questions (that are not secure AP exam questions), I also have a 120 Multiple Choice Question packet that you can use as well!
Content Review Tuesday/Thursday
On these days, we do the following:
- Complete the unit information on the Crunch Sheet
- Go through MCQ tips on the unit
- Walk through 3 sample MCQs
The slides in my resource contain the information on the crunch sheet, as well as MCQ tips and three never-before-seen multiple-choice questions and their answers.
The crunch sheet will take the longest. You can also post the answers to the crunch sheet in your LMS and have students use the first 15 minutes of class to write down the information from the key, then talk about the tips and the MCQs together. This works really well if you have slower writers, and if they do not finish in the 15 minutes, they can complete it after the tips and questions.
At this point, you might be asking, “What is a crunch sheet?” This is a sheet that I made that “crunches” all the information in the entire course in a concise, 5-page way. The only place you can get my editable crunch sheet is in my FREE resource: Goldie’s AP CSA Exam Review Guide. In here, you will get the blank crunch sheet (that students fill in on the content review days), plus the answer keys (as both a PDF and in a PowerPoint presentation).
Free Response Question Wednesday
Each Wednesday, we have a focus question from the AP exam. The AP exam breaks down exactly what topic will be covered on each free response question:
4 Questions | 1 Hour 30 Minutes | 50% of Exam Score
- Question 1: Methods and Control Structures—Students will be asked to write program code to create objects of a class and call methods, and satisfy method specifications using expressions, conditional statements, and iterative statements.
- Question 2: Classes—Students will be asked to write program code to define a new type by creating a class and satisfy method specifications using expressions, conditional statements, and iterative statements.
- Question 3: Array/ArrayList—Students will be asked to write program code to satisfy method specifications using expressions, conditional statements, and iterative statements and create, traverse, and manipulate elements in 1D array or ArrayList objects.
- Question 4: 2D Array—Students will be asked to write program code to satisfy method specifications using expressions, conditional statements, and iterative statements and create, traverse, and manipulate elements in 2D array objects.
I print off a single FRQ from the question group on that topic from the AP Classroom and give students a set time to complete it. We then exchange papers and I have them grade someone else’s FRQ while we walk through the rubric. I make sure to point out some tips when working with free response questions, how to process all the information they give you, how to think about the test cases, and then what to focus on when you answer the question.
Fun Friday
On Fridays, I give students either one of my tracing circuits or have a Jeopardy-style game for them to play.
- Tracing Circuit I has tracing problems from Units 1 – 5. I allow students to choose one partner and they work through the circuit together. They are not allowed an IDE for this activity. Tracing Circuit II has tracing problems from Units 6 – 10.
You can purchase these activities on TPT or in the Emporium
- The Jeopardy-style games contain multiple choice questions that have not been used in my assessments or in my multiple-choice question packet.
You can purchase these activities on TPT or in the Emporium
Practice Exam Days
I also set up some time for students to work through a mock practice exam. I use one of the secure practice exams given in the AP dashboard (and I make sure not to use any questions from this exam on multiple choice Mondays). By the time the bell rings, and we get settled into class, students get about 40ish minutes each day to work through the exam. I give them the MCQs first and when they are done with those (in whatever time they finish), then I collect them from that student and give them the FRQs. On the last day (or two) before the exam, we grade the MCQs and FRQs and talk about any questions they had. We grade what they have done (and if some didn’t finish that is okay; it is hard to start and stop such an intense exam). The practice exams are not allowed to leave class, so they work on them in class, and then I collect them after every class period. Secure exams are not allowed to leave class!
If you have the option, Saturday mornings also make for a great, uninterrupted time to take a mock practice exam. It can be tough with student schedules, however, and of course, it will be optional for them (I always like to provide donuts and juice as an incentive), but if you are able to do it for some students, they would really benefit from the extra practice.
My FREE AP CSA Exam Review Guide
What is included?
AP Exam Prep Plan: A calendar with information on how I structure my AP CSA exam review.
AP Exam Crunch Sheet: A review sheet that condenses all the information from AP CSA into 5 pages.
Content Review Slides: PowerPoint slides that go through the contents of the Crunch Sheet, give some tips for completing the MCQs, and have 1 to 3 multiple choice practice problems for each unit to go over as a class.
Classroom Slides: Example slides for Multiple Choice Mondays, FRQ Wednesdays, and Fun Fridays.
You can get this FREE resource on TPT or in the Emporium
Summary
And that is my April AP exam review plan! There are plenty of other resources you can use to help your students review for the exam as well. Here are some links to what I have:
FREE – Goldie’s AP CSA Exam Review Guide
FREE – AP® Computer Science A 2024 AP Exam Tips
Goldie’s AP CSA 120 Multiple Choice Question Packet
AP Computer Science A Circuit Reviews
AP Computer Science A Jeopardy-style Review Games
Here are some links to some websites that people have used for online AP CSA exam review:
2022 AP College Board YouTube Review Videos
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