AP Computer Science Principles Drill Guide: Multiple Choice, Create Task and a 12-Week Plan

TUTORZONE EXAM DRILL GUIDE · AP COMPUTER SCIENCE PRINCIPLES

Marks come from two places: the end-of-course multiple-choice exam and the Create performance task done in class. This page is method only: how to drill the multiple choice by concept group, how to read the code-tracing items, what depth the written responses need, a twelve-week split, how to pace each block, and the usual mark losses with an error log. For questions with answers, use the original mock below.

AP CSP drilling technique: written responses need a definition plus an example (packets + routing, lossless + lossy). 70 multiple choice in 120 min is about 1 min 40 s each.

Subject-specific weighting for this timetable: Twelve weeks in four blocks. Weeks 1-3 cover the big ideas across the board – creative development, data, algorithms and programming, systems and networks, the impact of computing – one three-line table each (definition, example, counter-example), with examples taken from systems the student actually uses. Weeks 4-6 are code tracing only: write every variable value out by hand before checking, and log whether the error was a boundary condition, an index or a loop count. Weeks 7-8 drill the internet and security (packets, routing, redundancy, encryption, certificates), narrating the full path from send to display for each item. Weeks 9-10 move to the Create task: program description first, then the two written responses, each with a definition plus an example from the code. Weeks 11-12 are timed whole papers, one a week at 120 minutes for 70 questions, and the last two weeks only redo the recurring error-log patterns.

Three columns, never copying out questions: concept (can you give the definition and one example – packets plus routing plus reassembly), code (boundary, index or loop count), written response (mechanism rather than function). Three entries in one column within a week means next week drills only that column. The written response is the one that surfaces last: fluent prose that never explains the mechanism scores nothing, so from week 9 check every answer against the scoring requirements the moment it is written.

Released multiple-choice papers are not published; AP Central offers only the sample and practice questions inside the course description, so question volume has to come from school mocks and original papers. The Create performance task requirements are updated each year – video length, number of written responses and scoring rows can all change – so drill against the current version rather than last year’s. The workable split is sample questions for concept coverage and original mocks for speed, never memorised answers.

Is this page a mock paper or a drilling guide?
This is the AP Computer Science Principles drilling guide: assessment structure, drill order, a 12-week timetable, pacing, common mark losses and the error-log method. For questions with answers, use the AP Computer Science Principles mock papers linked under Related.

By topic or by year first?
By topic. Eight to ten years of the same topic back to back is what exposes repeating errors; going straight to whole papers just repeats the same batch under time pressure.

How should the error log be written?
Do not copy out questions. Per error record four things: question reference, which step failed (concept, wording, calculation), what the mark scheme requires, and the correct action next time.

Must the Create performance task be done in class?
Yes – it is completed under school supervision during class time, so the task cannot be taken home. That changes what you practise: not “write something beautiful” but “finish code, video and the written responses inside the limit”. Run a small program of your own through the whole sequence once on the clock and see whether the time goes into coding or writing; most people lose it to rewriting the code while writing the responses. Freeze the code first, then write.

How do I stop missing options on the multi-select items?
The stem tells you how many options to pick – count it first, then judge each option on whether the statement is true on its own, never on whether it sounds related. After answering, recount your ticks: a mismatch means a miss or an extra. Write one line of reasoning beside each multi-select item while practising, and within a fortnight the pattern is clear – usually two true statements with only one ticked.

Related: AP Computer Science Principles original mock with answers · practice area