Materials

The AP Computer Science A course typically consists of the following content areas:

1. Primitive Data Types (mostly int, double, boolean)
2. Objects, Classes, and Methods
3. Boolean Expressions and Conditional Statements (if, if-else)
4. Iteration (for-loops, while-loops)
5. Object-oriented design
6. Array and ArrayList lists of data
7. 2-dimensional Arrays
8. Inheritance
9. Recursion

Course Materials available on this website

The materials listed here I've developed for use in my own teaching. They are freely available for students and teachers to use.

Coming December, 2022!

College Board materials

• Course and Exam Description
• Course Overview - a brief, 2-page look at the course and its topics
• Java Quick Reference - the "Java subset" that specifies most Java syntax that you'll need to know for the exam
• Past Exam Questions
• College Board Test Review Playlist [YouTube]

Online textbooks, references, practice problems

• CSAwesome [Runestone] - Comprehensive, interactive, with practice problems.
• PracticeIt - University of Washington practice problems
• CodingBat - Nick Parlante's free live coding problems to build your skills
• Downey & Mayfield. Think Java: How to think like a computer scientist (2nd edition). Free online.
• Skylight Publishing Java Methods, (4th edition).
• Skylight Publishing's Solution to Past Exams

Teacher's Websites

• crashwhite.com/apcompsci - class website written for Richard White's classes
• APCS @ Lowell High School - a strong program taught using Processing and GitHub, for Art Simon and Raymond Chan's classes

CS Blogs, Podcasts, Twitter accounts, etc.

• Computer Science Teacher, @AlfredTwo - Alfred Thompson's blog, Twitter
• C'est la Z, @zamansky - Mike Zamansky's blog, Twitter
• Mark Guzdial's blog (CS Education)
• Barbara Ericson's blog (CS Education)

Videos

• Introduction to Sorting: What's the Fastest Way to Alphabetize Your Bookshelf? [KQED, YouTube video]
• 15 Sorting Algorithms in 6 Minutes - a classic
• The Collatz Conjecture [Numberphile, YouTube]

Other Stuff

• Online Parsons Problem Creator
• Nifty Assignments - Nick Parlante's projects page