Advanced Placement- Math and Computer Science

The Advanced Placement program is offered by the College Board for students in high school who want to do extra credit courses that can save them from introductory courses in college. They offer 38 courses in all and one Capstone Diploma course as of now and students can choose as many courses as they want and do them parallelly with their high school subjects.

The courses are graded on a range of 1-5 where 3 is the passing grade for all courses. The courses offered are not from similar fields of study and range from Biology and Chemistry to courses like Music Theory and Calculus which allows the student to have the freedom to choose courses that are thematically closest to the subject they choose to do their degree in. Students can also choose language courses that can make them stand apart from other high-achieving students in the admission process.

Courses Offered in AP Math and Computer Science

The courses offered in AP Math and Computer Science are-

• Calculus AB
• Calculus BC
• Computer Science A
• Computer Science Principles
• Statistics

AP Calculus AB and BC

The two sections of the course are related to mathematical practice which deal with the skills students have to develop throughout the course and the course content which deals with the subject content of the course.

Mathematical Practices Required for AP Calculus AB and BC

• Implementing Mathematical Processes
• Connecting Representations
• Justification
• Communication and Notation

Course Content for AP Calculus AB and BC

1. Limits and Continuity
2. Differentiation: Definition and Fundamental Properties
3. Differentiation: Composite, Implicit, and Inverse Functions.
4. Contextual Applications of Differentiation
5. Analytical Applications of Differentiation
6. Integration and Accumulation of Change
7. Differential Equations
8. Applications of Integration
9. Parametric Equations, Polar Coordinated, and Vector-Valued Functions
10. Infinite Sequences and Series

Exam Structure of AP Calculus AB and BC

Section 1- Multiple-Choice

• Part A: Graphing without Calculator- There will be 30 questions in this section which have to be answered within 60 minutes. This section holds a 33.3% weightage of the entire paper.
• Part B: Graphing with Calculator- There will be 15 questions in all in this section which has to be completed in 45 minutes. This section holds a 16.7% weightage.

Section 2- Free-Response

• Part A: Graphing with Calculator- This section contains only 2 questions but it holds a 16.7% weightage and is given a total of 30 minutes.
• Part B: Graphing without Calculator- This contains 4 questions in all and holds a weightage of 33.3%. It is given a total of 60 minutes in all.

AP Computer Science A

This course has been designed to make students learn about computer science through programming. The basic concepts in the course include designing solutions to problems, using data structures to organize data, developing algorithms to process data, and analyzing potential solutions. The course is focused mainly on the Java programming language. This course is equivalent to a first-semester course in computer science at the college level.

The course framework contains computational thinking practices which state the skills the student must develop and practice on and the course content which includes the information regarding the topics present.

Computational Thinking Practices Required for AP Computer Science A

• Program Design and Algorithm
• Code Logic
• Code Implementation
• Code Testing
• Documentation

Course Content for AP Computer Science A

1. Primitive Types
2. Using Objects
3. Boolean Expressions and if Statements
4. Iteration
5. Writing Classes
6. Array
7. ArrayList
8. 2D Array
9. Inheritance
10. Recursion

Prerequisites for AP Computer Science A

Students are recommended to have completed a first-year high school algebra course and have a strong foundation in linear functions and problem-solving strategies. Students must know how to use a Cartesian coordinate system.

Exam Structure for AP Computer Science A

Section 1
Multiple-Choice- There will be 40 questions in this section that take up 50% of the exam weightage. This section is given a 90-minute time frame.

Section 2
Free-Response- This section contains 4 questions in all with a total of 90 minutes time duration. Each of these questions has a 12.5% weightage with each of them having 9 points. The question format is as follows-

1. Methods and Control Structures
2. Class
3. Array/Array-List
4. 2D Array

AP Computer Science Principles

This course focuses on the foundational concepts of computer science and lets students explore the relationship between computing/ technology and the real world. The framework of the course is split into computational thinking practices which focus on the skills students should develop and the course content which depends on the subjects and topics enlisted in the course.

Computational Thinking Practices in AP Computer Science Principles

• Computational Solution Design
• Algorithms and Program Development
• Abstraction in Program Development
• Code Analysis
• Computing Innovations
• Responsible Computing

Course Content in AP Computer Science Principles

1. Creative Development
2. Data
3. Algorithms and Programming
4. Computer Systems and Networks
5. Impact of Computing

Exam Structure of AP Computer Science Principles

Section 1- Multiple-Choice- This section contains 70 questions in all and has a time frame of 120 minutes. The section has a total of 70% exam weightage in all.

Section 2- Create Performance Task- Students are required to turn in all three AP Computer Science Principles components. By the deadline, submit the performance task as final through the AP Digital Portfolio. They have a year to finish this assignment. Later in the test, there will be questions about this task. This section contains 4 questions which has a 30% weightage.

AP Statistics

The AP Statistics course contains four main parts namely exploring data, sampling and experimentation, probability and simulation, and statistical inference. The course is equivalent to a semester of a non-calculus-based college course. The course framework includes course skills the student must work on and course content that depends upon the subjects and topics mentioned in the course.

Course Skills Required in AP Statistics

• Selecting Statistical Methods
• Data Analysis
• Using Probability and Simulation
• Statistical Argumentation

Course Content in AP Statistics

The course content includes 9 units in statistics which are as follows

1. Exploring One-Variable Data
2. Exploring Two-Variable Data
3. Collecting Data
4. Probability, Random Variables, and Probability Distributions
5. Sampling Distributions
6. Inference for Categorical Data: Proportions
7. Inference for Quantitative Data: Means
8. Inference for Categorical Data: Chi Square
9. Inference for Quantitative Data: Slopes

Prerequisites for AP Statistics

Students must complete a second-year course in algebra which is recommended for students who have mathematical knowledge and quantitative reasoning skills. Students who have a strong mathematical background generally take AP Statistics along with AP Calculus in their junior or senior year.

Exam Structure for AP Statistics

Section 1-Multiple-Choice- This section contains 40 questions in all and has a weightage of 50%. It has to be completed in 90 minutes.

Section 2-Free-Response- This section contains 6 questions in all and it takes up 50% of the total weightage.

• Part A: Questions 1-5- Takes up 37.5% of the weightage and has to be completed in 65 minutes.
• Part B: Questions 6: Investigative Task- Takes up 12.5% of the weightage and has to be completed in 25 minutes.