--- title: "AP Computer Science Principles Online Coaching | Live Classes" description: "Thirty per cent of AP CSP is written about your project in the exam room, in 60 minutes. Live online coaching that prepares the writing, not just the code." canonical: https://learn.modernagecoders.com/ap-computer-science-principles-online-coaching source: src/pages/ap-computer-science-principles-online-coaching.html --- > Thirty per cent of AP CSP is written about your project in the exam room, in 60 minutes. Live online coaching that prepares the writing, not just the code. Start here ## The three courses behind this page The Principles course is the one this page describes. The other two are where students go before it and after it. [![AP Computer Science Principles Exam Prep course thumbnail](/images/ap-computer-science-principles.webp) AP / 01 AP Computer Science Principles Exam Prep The course this page describes. The seventy-question paper and the written responses about the student's own Create task, rehearsed under time. Open the syllabus →](/courses/ap-computer-science-principles-exam-prep-course)[![AP Computer Science A Exam Prep course thumbnail](/images/ap-computer-science-a.webp) AP / 02 AP Computer Science A Exam Prep The Java programming AP, usually taken after Principles by students heading toward a computing degree. Open the syllabus →](/courses/ap-computer-science-a-java-exam-prep-course)[![AP Statistics Exam Prep course thumbnail](/images/ap-statistics.webp) AP / 03 AP Statistics Exam Prep The other AP most often taken alongside these two, and the one that makes the data unit here considerably easier. Open the syllabus →](/courses/ap-statistics-maths-exam-prep-course) The course ## AP Computer Science Principles, taught live and paced to your entry date One course, two formats. A batch of five to eight students working toward the same session, or one to one where the project design and the written responses get rebuilt around this particular student. | What you get | In a batch of five to eight | One to one | | --- | --- | --- | | Project design review | Once, before the build starts | Twice, and again if it drifts | | Prompt rehearsals under time | Four, on the same schedule | Six or more, scheduled to the student | | Reference document review | Group critique, then rewrite | Line by line, with the teacher | | Multiple-choice sets | Weekly, marked and returned | Weekly, weighted to weak topics | | Who else is in the room | Students sitting the same session | Nobody | | Starting mid-year | Wait for the next batch | Start this week | | Monthly fee | USD 100 | USD 150 | | Trial | First class free, no card | First class free, no card | [Open the full syllabus](/courses/ap-computer-science-principles-exam-prep-course) Book the free first class The short answer AP Computer Science Principles is College Board's broad, language-agnostic computing course. The end-of-course exam is 70 multiple-choice questions in 120 minutes, worth 70 per cent: 57 single-select, 5 single-select attached to a reading passage, and 8 multiple-select. The Create Performance Task, which students build across the year with nine hours of in-class time, is worth the other 30 per cent, but it is assessed by two written-response questions in the same exam session, in 60 minutes, covering four distinct prompts, with only the student's Personalized Project Reference available. Modern Age Coders teaches it live online, one to one or in batches of five to eight, from USD 100 a month, first class free. Module by module ## The eight modules, and the classes each one takes Content first, project second, written responses throughout. The order is deliberate: a student needs the vocabulary before they build something they will have to describe in it. 01 ### How data is represented and compressed 5 classes - Binary, hexadecimal, and why representation choices matter - Lossy against lossless compression, with the trade stated - Why this unit is banked early: it needs no programming 02 ### The internet, networks and fault tolerance 5 classes - Packets, routing, protocols and redundancy - What fault tolerance actually means and how it is achieved - The vocabulary the multiple choice uses, drilled 03 ### Programming in Python, in the exam's words 6 classes - Variables, selection and iteration, named as the prompts name them - Lists as the structure the Create task will need - Procedures with parameters, and why a parameter is the point 04 ### Algorithms, and being able to point at one 5 classes - What counts as an algorithm for these prompts, precisely - Building one that combines selection and iteration deliberately - Saying out loud which segment it is, until it is automatic 05 ### Designing a Create task worth writing about 4 classes - Scoping a project that will contain a list, a procedure and an algorithm - Rejecting ideas that leave nothing to say in the written responses - Planning the nine hours of build time so it is not spent in spring 06 ### The Personalized Project Reference as an exam aid 4 classes - Building it to be read at speed under pressure - Testing it by answering prompts from it and finding the gaps - Fixing the reference rather than trying to remember more 07 ### The four prompts, under time, on paper 6 classes - Sixty minutes, about their own program, repeatedly - Marked against the published expectations rather than intent - The specific sentences that earn each point 08 ### Full multiple-choice papers, weighted to the awkward thirteen 7 classes - Timed sets over-representing multiple-select questions - Reading-passage questions treated as a comprehension skill - Pacing across 70 questions in 120 minutes The part almost nobody prepares for ## The project is not marked. Writing about it under time is. This is the structural fact that decides AP Computer Science Principles scores, and it surprises most families the first time it is explained. Students build a program across the year as the Create Performance Task, with nine hours of class time set aside for it, and they produce code, a video and a Personalized Project Reference. It feels like the project is the assessment, because that is where the effort goes. It is not. Those thirty percentage points are awarded for two written-response questions answered in the exam room, in sixty minutes, covering four distinct prompts about the program the student built. The only thing they may consult is their own Personalized Project Reference. So the failure mode is specific and common. A student produces something genuinely good in March, and in May cannot explain in writing which segment of their code is the algorithm, why a particular list was necessary, or how a procedure with a parameter changed the program's behaviour. The project was fine. The account of it was not. Which means the Personalized Project Reference is not paperwork, it is the exam aid the whole thirty per cent rests on, and it should be built to be used under time rather than submitted and forgotten. We treat it that way from the first week the project starts. The assessment, exactly ## How AP Computer Science Principles is actually scored Every figure below is College Board's own. Where a total looks unusual, that is because the written responses about the project sit inside the same three-hour exam session. | Component | What it is | Time | Weight | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Multiple choice | 70 questions, four answer options each | 120 minutes | 70% of the score | | Composition | 57 single-select, 5 with a reading passage, 8 multiple-select | Within the 120 | Part of the 70% | | Written responses | 2 questions covering four distinct prompts | 60 minutes | 30% of the score | | What they are about | The program the student built themselves | In the exam room | The whole 30% | | The only aid allowed | The student's Personalized Project Reference | Brought in | Decides the 30% | | Create task build time | Program code, video and the reference | 9 hours in class | Not separately scored | | Whole session | Both parts together | 3 hours | 100% | Read the composition row carefully, because it is where easy marks leak. Eight of the seventy multiple-choice questions are multiple-select, meaning more than one option is correct and partial guessing is punished. Five more come attached to a reading passage, which is a comprehension task wearing a computing costume. Thirteen of seventy questions therefore behave differently from the other fifty-seven, and a student who has only practised standard single-select questions meets them cold. Where marks are lost ## Six things that cost AP CSP students points they had earned Every one of these is a student who did the work and could not convert it, which is the most frustrating way to lose a grade. ### A Personalized Project Reference built to be filed, not used It is the only thing a student may consult while writing for thirty per cent of the grade. If it does not clearly show the list, the procedure and the algorithm segment, it is decoration. We build it as an exam aid from day one. ### Not being able to name the algorithm in their own program Students routinely point at the whole program. The prompts want a specific segment, with its selection and iteration identified. Practising that sentence out loud, repeatedly, is worth more than another feature. ### A project too simple to write four prompts about The commonest quiet failure. A program with no meaningful list, no student-developed procedure with a parameter and no real algorithm leaves the student with nothing to say. We check that at the design stage, not in April. ### Treating the eight multiple-select questions as ordinary ones More than one option is correct and partial guessing is punished. Thirteen of the seventy questions behave differently from the rest, and students who have only drilled single-select meet them cold. ### Ignoring the reading-passage questions Five questions attach to a passage and are as much comprehension as computing. They are very learnable and are usually the first marks a rushed student throws away. ### Never writing the responses under time Sixty minutes, on paper, about your own code, is a specific skill. Students who have done it four times in practice behave completely differently from students meeting it first in May. The year, phase by phase ## How we sequence AP Computer Science Principles across a year Two live classes a week, one to one or in a batch of five to eight, with the project running alongside from the middle of the year rather than crammed into spring. 1. #### Weeks 1 to 8: computing systems, networks and data The content that carries a large share of the multiple choice and needs no code. The internet, data representation, compression, and how information is stored and moved. Taught early because it is the part a student can bank while their programming is still forming. 2. #### Weeks 6 to 14: programming, in Python, to the exam's vocabulary Lists, procedures with parameters, selection and iteration, taught with the words the prompts use, so that a student who writes an algorithm knows they have written one and can point at it later. 3. #### Weeks 12 to 22: the Create task, designed for what has to be written about it The project starts here, not in spring, and it is scoped at the design stage so that it will genuinely contain a list, a student-developed procedure with a parameter, and an algorithm. This single conversation prevents the commonest failure. 4. #### Weeks 18 to 26: the Personalized Project Reference, built as an exam aid Written to be used at speed under pressure rather than filed. The student practises answering prompts from it, discovers what is missing, and fixes the reference rather than the memory. 5. #### Weeks 24 to 30: the four prompts, rehearsed under time Sixty minutes, on paper, about their own program, four or more times before the real one. This is the phase that separates two students with equally good projects. 6. #### Final weeks: full multiple-choice papers, including the awkward thirteen Timed sets that deliberately over-represent multiple-select and reading-passage questions, because those are the ones that behave differently and where prepared students gain on unprepared ones. Choosing between them ## AP Computer Science Principles or AP Computer Science A? Two different qualifications that share a name and very little else. | | AP Computer Science Principles | AP Computer Science A | | --- | --- | --- | | Subject | Computing broadly: data, systems, impact | Programming in Java | | Language | Any, chosen by the school | Java, specified | | Multiple choice | 70 questions, 120 minutes | 42 questions | | The other component | Written responses about your own project | Four free-response coding questions | | Typical year | Grade 9 to 11 | Grade 11 or 12 | | Best for | A first exposure, or a broad interest | A student aiming at a computing degree | The honest summary: Principles is broader and lighter on code, and it is language-agnostic, so it suits a first exposure or a student whose interest is computing rather than programming specifically. [AP Computer Science A](/ap-computer-science-a-online-classes) is a Java programming course that behaves like a first university module. Many students take Principles first and CSA after, which is a sensible order, and taking only Principles is a perfectly respectable choice for a student going into a non-computing degree. Being straight about it ## What we will not tell you about AP Computer Science Principles **We will not write any part of the project.** The Create Performance Task is the student's own work and College Board treats that seriously. We teach, we ask hard questions, we point at the part that is not really an algorithm yet. We do not supply code, and a tutor who does is putting a student's score at risk rather than helping it. **We do not guarantee a score.** Nobody can. What we control is coverage, marked practice, and how many times a student has written about their own program against the clock before May. **We do not know your university's credit policy.** Recognition of a Principles score varies by institution and department, and several treat it differently from CSA. Check the specific published policy rather than any tutor's summary, ours included. **We will tell you if CSA is the better use of the year.** For a student already comfortable programming and aiming at a computing degree, Principles can be the less useful of the two, and we would rather say so on the free class. Outcomes ## What a student can do by the end of the course Each of these is a thing the student either does or does not do in front of a teacher, which is why they appear here instead of a predicted grade. ### Point at the algorithm in their own program and name its parts Identifying the specific segment, its selection and its iteration, in a sentence, without hesitating. This is the single highest-value sentence in the whole qualification. ### Write four prompt responses in sixty minutes On paper, about their own code, using only their Personalized Project Reference, having done it several times before the real one. ### Build a reference that survives contact with the exam Not a form that was filled in, but a document they have already used under time and improved because using it exposed what was missing. ### Explain why a list was necessary in their program Rather than that one was present. The prompts ask about purpose and the difference between those two answers is worth marks. ### Handle multiple-select questions without guessing Recognising them instantly, and working option by option rather than hunting for the single best answer, which is a different technique. ### Answer reading-passage questions as comprehension Reading for what is claimed rather than for what they already know about computing, which is where those five questions are won. ### Explain data representation and compression trade-offs Lossy against lossless, with a real reason for choosing one, which recurs across the multiple choice in several disguises. ### Pace seventy questions across a hundred and twenty minutes Practised often enough that time management is a habit rather than a source of panic in the last twenty questions. The catalogue ## The courses this sits inside AP Computer Science Principles is taught from the Python track. The courses below are what students on this page most often take before, alongside or after it. I ### The AP courses The two Advanced Placement computing qualifications AP / 01 #### AP Computer Science Principles Exam Prep The course this page describes. The seventy-question paper and the written responses about the student's own Create task, rehearsed under time. [Open the syllabus](/courses/ap-computer-science-principles-exam-prep-course) AP / 02 #### AP Computer Science A Exam Prep The Java programming AP, usually taken after Principles by students heading toward a computing degree. [Open the syllabus](/courses/ap-computer-science-a-java-exam-prep-course) AP / 03 #### AP Statistics Exam Prep The other AP most often taken alongside these two, and the one that makes the data unit here considerably easier. [Open the syllabus](/courses/ap-statistics-maths-exam-prep-course)II ### The programming underneath What the Create task is actually built with PREP / 01 #### Python for Teens The language we teach Principles in. A student who is fluent here writes a Create task worth having something to say about. [Open the syllabus](/courses/python-complete-masterclass-teens) PREP / 02 #### Data Science for Teens Real data handling, which makes the representation and compression unit concrete rather than abstract. [Open the syllabus](/courses/data-science-course-for-teens-python-data) PREP / 03 #### Git and GitHub for Teens Committing the Create task as it is built, so there is a history rather than a folder, and a portfolio at the end of the year. [Open the syllabus](/courses/git-github-version-control-course-for-teens) PREP / 04 #### AI Literacy for Kids For a younger sibling. The honest version of what these systems do, taught before anyone hands them a magic answer box. [Open the syllabus](/courses/ai-literacy-for-kids-course)III ### Where it leads After Principles NEXT / 01 #### AI and Machine Learning for Teens The natural continuation for a student whose interest was the data and impact side rather than the syntax. [Open the syllabus](/courses/ai-ml-masterclass-teens) NEXT / 02 #### Java Programming for Teens The bridge into AP Computer Science A for a student who decides, after Principles, that they want the programming route. [Open the syllabus](/courses/java-programming-masterclass-for-teens) NEXT / 03 #### Data Structures and Algorithms For students continuing into a computing degree, this is where the algorithm vocabulary from Principles becomes real machinery. [Open the syllabus](/courses/data-structures-algorithms-masterclass-college) NEXT / 04 #### IB Diploma Computer Science For students moving between curricula, or weighing an AP route against the IB one. [Open the syllabus](/courses/ib-diploma-computer-science-course) NEXT / 05 #### Cambridge IGCSE Computer Science 0478 The Cambridge route into the same material, taken two years earlier and assessed very differently. [Open the syllabus](/courses/igcse-computer-science-0478-course) Fees ## What AP Computer Science Principles coaching costs Billed monthly in US dollars, identical in every country outside India, with nothing to pay to begin and nothing owed once you stop. Free first class USD 0 no card required - Taught rather than sold - A real diagnostic on the exam itself - You watch it, then decide Book it Group batch USD 100 a month, billed in US dollars - Five to eight students, one teacher throughout - Live video, never a recording - Past-paper work between classes, marked by the teacher - Certificate on completion Start here One to one USD 150 a month, billed in US dollars - Private teaching, paced to the entry date - The only way to get a weekday morning slot - Syllabus rebuilt around the papers the student is weakest on Enquire What families say ## Rated 4.9 across 547 Google reviews Real reviews from real families. We neither write nor commission them. ★★★★★ "The one step solution for my son. Modern Age Coders make learning coding so simple that kids love it. The teachers explain complex concepts clearly with practical exercises and interactive content." Ria Mukherjee Parent ★★★★★ "Modern Age Coders has been a game-changer for me. I struggled to grasp IT concepts and coding before joining, but their classes transformed everything. I can now confidently write complex programs with ease." Samriddha Mondal Student ★★★★★ "One of the most wonderful education centres out there. Education is not limited to school syllabus but focuses on skill development." Vansh Agarwal Student ★★★★★ "My child Dhairya is really enjoying the Modern Age Coders classes. This is his first online class and he eagerly looks forward to it. I can already see his improvement, and the teachers are very cooperative." Sonam Oswal Parent of Dhairya ★★★★★ "Modern Age Coders have wonderful teachers who teach in a clear, easy and practical way. The teacher boosts students' confidence and inspires them to learn without hesitation." Sonu Goyal Parent ★★★★★ "I highly recommend this computer coding class! The teachers are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about coding." Ritu Kedia Parent The other nine ## The other exams we prepare students for Same method, different specification. If your child sits more than one of these, or you are choosing between curricula, these pages set out what each actually asks for. [AP Computer Science AJava](/ap-computer-science-a-online-classes)[Cambridge IGCSE 0478Python, VB, Java](/cambridge-igcse-computer-science-tuition)[Cambridge A Level 9618Python, VB, Java](/cambridge-a-level-computer-science-online-classes)[UK GCSE Computer SciencePython](/uk-gcse-computer-science-tutoring)[IB Diploma Computer ScienceJava or Python](/ib-computer-science-online-tuition)[USACOC++, Java, Python](/usaco-preparation-online-coaching)[Informatics olympiadsC++](/ioi-olympiad-informatics-training)[PCEP and PCAPPython](/python-certification-pcep-pcap-course)[Canadian Computing CompetitionC++, Java, Python](/canadian-computing-competition-ccc-prep) AP Computer Science Principles questions ## What parents and students ask about AP CSP ### 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. Read next ## Principles is the easier course to sit and the harder 5 to earn. Ten per cent of Principles candidates scored a 5 in 2026 against twenty five per cent in Computer Science A. The comparison, and the one question that settles which order to take them in. [AP CSP vs AP CSA: which to take first](/blog/ap-csp-vs-ap-csa-which-to-take-first) Enrol ## Book the free first class, and get an honest read on the project If your child has already started a Create task, bring it. The most useful ninety minutes we can give you is a straight answer on whether that program will support four written prompts, because that judgement is worth more in December than any amount of revision in April. If the project has not started, we will instead look at how the student explains a piece of code out loud, which predicts the written responses better than anything they can tell us about themselves. Rather read first? [The full course syllabus](/courses/ap-computer-science-principles-exam-prep-course), [AP Computer Science A](/ap-computer-science-a-online-classes), or [how we teach](/how-we-teach). [WhatsApp us](https://wa.me/919123366161?text=Hello%20Modern%20Age%20Coders.%20I%20am%20interested%20in%20AP%20Computer%20Science%20Principles%20online%20coaching.) · [+91 91233 66161](tel:+919123366161) · [contact@modernagecoders.com](mailto:contact@modernagecoders.com) Live classes only, one to one or in a small batch, taught from India at a time that works for the student. We do not sell recordings. The form opens a conversation, not an enrolment. --- *Canonical: https://learn.modernagecoders.com/ap-computer-science-principles-online-coaching*