The source document can be found here and includes answers to FRQs, but not the questions themselves. The general guidelines that accompany each answer set is reproduced below.

Applying the Scoring Criteria

Apply the question scoring criteria first, which always takes precedence. Penalty points can only be deducted in a part of the question that has earned credit via the question rubric. No part of a question (a, b, c) may have a negative point total. A given penalty can be assessed only once for a question, even if it occurs multiple times or in multiple parts of that question. A maximum of 3 penalty points may be assessed per question.

1-Point Penalty

  • Array/collection access confusion ([] get)
  • Extraneous code that causes side-effect (e.g., printing to output, incorrect precondition check)
  • Local variables used but none declared
  • Destruction of persistent data (e.g., changing value referenced by parameter)
  • Void method or constructor that returns a value

No Penalty

  • Extraneous code with no side-effect (e.g., valid precondition check, no-op)
  • Spelling/case discrepancies where there is no ambiguity1
  • Local variable not declared provided other variables are declared in some part
  • private or public qualifier on a local variable
  • Missing public qualifier on class or constructor header
  • Keyword used as an identifier
  • Common mathematical symbols used for operators (× • ÷ ≤ ≥ <> ≠)
  • [] vs. () vs. <>
  • = instead of == and vice versa
  • length/size confusion for array, String, List, or ArrayList; with or without ( )
  • Extraneous [] when referencing entire array
  • [i,j] instead of [i][j]
  • Extraneous size in array declaration, e.g., int[size] nums = new int[size];
  • Missing ; where structure clearly conveys intent
  • Missing { } where indentation clearly conveys intent
  • Missing ( ) on parameter-less method or constructor invocations
  • Missing ( ) around if or while conditions

  1. Spelling and case discrepancies for identifiers fall under the “No Penalty” category only if the correction can be unambiguously inferred from context, for example, ArayList instead of ArrayList. As a counterexample, note that if the code declares int G=99, g=0;, then uses while (G < 10) instead of while (g < 10), the context does not allow for the reader to assume the use of the lower-case variable. ↩