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Computer Science A Course Requirements
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The AP Program unequivocally supports the principle that each individual school must develop its own curriculum for courses labeled "AP." Rather than mandating any one curriculum for AP courses, the AP Course Audit instead provides each AP teacher with a set of expectations that college and secondary school faculty nationwide have established for college-level courses. AP teachers are encouraged to develop or maintain their own curriculum that either includes or exceeds each of these expectations; such courses will be authorized to use the "AP" designation. Credit for the success of AP courses belongs to the individual schools and teachers that create powerful, locally designed AP curricula.
The AP Computer Science A course should be designed by your school to provide students with a learning experience equivalent to that of an introductory college course in Computer Science. Your AP Computer Science A course should emphasize object-oriented programming methodology with a concentration on problem solving and algorithm development, and include the study of data structures, design, and abstraction. The AP Computer Science A course is compatible with those topics that are covered in a typical college CS1 course in accordance with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) / Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) guidelines. The syllabus submitted for 2007-2008 must reflect the inclusion of the GridWorld Case Study.
Students entering AP Computer Science A should already have taken an algebra course.
All students who are willing to accept the challenge of a rigorous academic curriculum should be considered for admission to AP courses. The College Board encourages the elimination of barriers that restrict access to AP courses for students from ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in the AP Program. Schools should make every effort to ensure that their AP classes reflect the diversity of their student population.
High schools offering this exam must provide the exam administration resources described in the AP Coordinator's Manual.
Requirements
To request authorization to label a course "AP," complete the following two steps:
- Complete and submit an AP Course Audit form, on which the teacher and principal attest that their course includes or exceeds the following curricular requirements delineated by college and university faculty.
- Submit an electronic copy of the course syllabus that demonstrates inclusion or improvement on the curricular requirements (see Syllabus Preparation Guidelines). If your course does not include one or more of the curricular requirements but merits designation as a college-level course, see Instructions for Submitting Materials for the process for describing alternate approaches to the course.
 Syllabus Preparation Guidelines
Instructions for Teachers
Instructions on how to submit AP Course Audit materials via the Web will be posted on AP Central and mailed to principals in January 2007.
Curricular Requirements
- The teacher has read the most recent AP Computer Science Course Description, available as a free download on the AP Computer Science A Course Home Page.
AP Computer Science A Course Home Page
- The course includes all of the topics listed in the "Computer Science A" column of the Topic Outline in the AP Computer Science Course Description.
- The course teaches students to design and implement computer-based solutions to problems in a variety of application areas.
- The course teaches students to use and implement commonly used algorithms and data structures.
- The course teaches students to develop and select appropriate algorithms and data structures to solve problems.
- The course teaches students to code fluently in an object-oriented paradigm using the programming language Java. The course teaches students to use standard Java library classes from the AP Java subset delineated in Appendixes A and B of the AP Computer Science Course Description. (Note: Students who study a language other than Java in AP Computer Science must also be taught to use Java, as specified in the AP Java subset.)
- The course teaches students to read and understand a large program consisting of several classes and interacting objects, and enables students to read and understand the current AP Computer Science Case Study posted on AP Central.
- The course teaches students to identify the major hardware and software components of a computer system, their relationship to one another, and the roles of these components within the system.
- The course teaches students to recognize the ethical and social implications of computer use.
Resource Requirements
- The school ensures that each student has a college-level textbook for individual use inside and outside of the classroom and has access to the AP Computer Science Case Study posted on AP Central.
- The school ensures that each student has individual access to a computer (i.e., one student per computer) for at least three hours a week for conducting programming assignments and tasks; three hours are the bare minimum and additional time is desirable. The computer system must be able to compile in seconds programs comparable in size to the current AP Computer Science Case Study. (This access can be made available at any time during the school day or outside of school and need not be made available to all students in the AP course simultaneously.)
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