Sem 1 Study Guide
The first semester exam will be on December 17, 2025 In Room 204. The average of the two quarter exams is worth 20% of your grade. The first semester exam is a cumulative exam that covers Unit 1 through Unit 4.13.
On the actual AP Exam in May, the multiple choice question pace is 2 minutes each, and the free response questions pace is about 22 minutes each). The AP Exam will be at noon, Friday May 15, 2026.
It is a good idea to review your code from homework (Runestone) and the labs. Don't forget that you don't need a computer to practice writing code at https://codingbat.com/java. "Warm up" , "logic", String-1, String-2, String-3, Array-1, Array-2, Array-3, and AP-1 are good categories to practice.
To practice free response questions try
- AP CSA FRQ Practice @ albert.io
- 2024 Practice Sessions 5, 7, and 8 See
2024 Reviewin classTopics(or go to AP Classroom and selectAP Computer Sci A, thenCourse Guide, thenReview, then look for2024 AP-Exam On-Demand Review) - Sem 1 FRQ Practice @AP Classroom
- SFHS Java (runestone) 1.10, 2.13, 3.11, 4.9, 5.13, 5,16, 6.7 (But anything from units 1-6 will help)
- AP Questions from 2019 1,2,& 4 (skip #3 because it requires chapter 11 stuff)
To Practice multiple choice questions try
- ArrayList Practice @ albert.io
- AP CSA MCQ Practice @ albert.io
- 2024 Practice Sessions 1, 2, 3 and 4 @AP Classroom (Just skip Question 2 in seesion 3 since it is about Arraylists, our next chapter in the book)
- Sem 1 MC Practice @APClassroom
Things to watch out for:
- Constructors should initialize the class's fields (fields are
private, to encapsulate) - When initialzing fields in a constructor, Do not mention its type- this accidentally makes a local variable instead of initializing the classes field that has the same name.
- Remember to make fields
privateand methodspublic, - Remember local variables are never public nor private
- Remember method names should use () for the parameter list, even if there are no parameters
- Watch for dangling else statements (p 148) - without brackets, the last
elsebelongs to the previousif - Do not add a
System.out.printwhen no printing is requested (This can be a 1 or 2 point Extraneous code that causes side effect penalty on the AP Exam) - Do not use local variables before first declaring them ( also a AP scoring penalty).
- Variables are declared ONLY ONCE, not every time.
- Do not assign a value to a parameter inside a method unless you are asked to (also a AP scoring penalty called Destruction of data)
- Never use
returnin a constructor - Remember to
returnsomething of the same type as a method's header. - Do not
returnsomething when writing avoidmethod ( a method that isn't supposed to return something (This too has a AP scoring penalty)
Finally, please remember to get a good night's rest and a healthy breakfast! Good Luck!
PS: I have found other helpful free online tutorials for the Basics at LearnJavaOnline.com.