How is AP Computer Science Principles scored?
The end-of-course exam is 70 multiple-choice questions in 120 minutes, worth 70 per cent. The Create Performance Task is worth the other 30 per cent, and it is assessed by two written-response questions in the same exam session, in 60 minutes, covering four distinct prompts about the student's own program. The whole session is three hours.
So the project itself is not marked?
The program, video and Personalized Project Reference are developed across the year with nine hours of class time, but the thirty percentage points come from what the student writes about them in the exam room. That is why a good project and a poor written account scores badly, and why we rehearse the writing separately from the building.
How much does the coaching cost?
A group batch of five to eight students is USD 100 a month and one to one is USD 150 a month, billed in US dollars, the same figures everywhere we teach outside India. There is no enrolment fee and no minimum term, and the first class is free without a card.
Are classes live or recorded?
Every class is live, one to one or in a batch of five to eight students, taught from India to students worldwide. We do not sell recordings in place of classes, because a recording cannot read a student's project and tell them there is no real algorithm in it yet.
Does my child need to know how to program first?
No. Principles is designed as a first course and the programming it requires is modest. What matters more is whether the student can be precise about what their own code does, and that is taught here rather than assumed.
Which language do you teach it in?
Python, because the exam is language-agnostic and Python gets out of the way fastest. If a student's school teaches it in something else we will work in that instead, since the prompts care about lists, procedures with parameters, selection and iteration rather than about syntax.
Will you help write the Create task?
We will teach, question and review. We will not supply code. The Create Performance Task must be the student's own work and College Board takes that seriously, so a tutor who writes any part of it is putting a score at risk rather than protecting it. What we do is refuse to accept a project that is too thin to write four prompts about.
What makes a project too thin?
No meaningful list, no student-developed procedure that takes a parameter and does something with it, and no algorithm combining selection and iteration. A project missing those leaves the student with nothing to say in the written responses. We check that at the design stage in the middle of the year rather than in April.
What are the multiple-select questions?
Eight of the seventy questions have more than one correct answer, and partial guessing is punished. Five more come attached to a reading passage. Thirteen questions therefore behave differently from the other fifty-seven, and our timed practice deliberately over-represents them.
Should my child take CSP or CSA?
Principles is broader and lighter on code and suits a first exposure or a wider interest. AP Computer Science A is a Java programming course for students aiming at a computing degree. Many take Principles first and CSA after, which is a sensible order. For a student already programming confidently and heading into computer science, we will sometimes say CSA is the better use of the year.
Will it count for university credit?
That depends on the institution and often the department, and several treat Principles differently from CSA. Check the specific university's published policy rather than any tutor's summary, ours included. What the score reliably shows is completion of a recognised course at a known standard.
How much work is there between classes?
Timed question sets that the teacher marks, plus project work in the middle third of the year. Two to four hours a week during term, more in the final phase. Work that is not marked is not worth setting, which is why batches are capped at eight.
Can my child join mid-year?
One to one, yes, and that is usually the right format for a mid-year start, particularly if the project has not been scoped well. Group batches run to a schedule and a February joiner will be behind in a way the batch cannot slow down for.
What happens in the free first class?
A short diagnostic rather than a sales call. If the student already has a project we look at it and say honestly whether it will support four prompts. If not, we look at how they explain a piece of code, because that predicts the written responses better than anything else.
What happens after we send the form?
A mentor calls you to arrange the free class. Nothing is charged and no card is requested. Tell us the exam date and whether the Create task has been started, because those two facts decide whether a batch or one to one is the honest recommendation.
