• Mr. Kurzius
  • Room 31
  • Period A1, 2025–26

College Board significantly revised the AP Computer Science A course for the 2025–26 school year. Be aware of this in case you find yourself doing some extra reading on the course. Here is a list of changes in case you are curious what changed: AP Computer Science A Revisions for 2025–26.

Course Description

AP Computer Science A introduces students to computer science through programming. Fundamental topics in this course include the design of solutions to problems, the use of data structures to organize large sets of data, the development and implementation of algorithms to process data and discover new information, the analysis of potential solutions, and the ethical and social implications of computing systems. The course emphasizes object-oriented programming and design using the Java programming language.

AP Exam

The AP CSA exam is Friday, May 15 at 12 p.m. and consists of two 90 minute sections. The first section consists of 42 multiple choice questions and is worth 55% of your exam grade. The second section has four free response questions where you will write code and is worth the remaining 45%. You can find more details on the AP Computer Science A exam page.

Units of Study

  1. Using Objects and Methods Here you’ll learn how to use methods to manipulate objects in Java.

  2. Selection and Iteration This unit focuses on controlling the flow of a program with decision-making structures and loops.

  3. Class Creation How to encapsulate objects and methods into classes, and the benefits on doing so in the first place.

  4. Data Collections The final unit is all about how to manage large amounts of data using arrays and similar data structures.

Text and Resources

Rather than a physical textbook we will use the online curriculum CSAwesome by Runestone Academy, along with its assignments.

And here are the related College Board resources.

Grading

  • The official grade book exists on Canvas, with Genesis only having a (possibly unreliable) copy
  • There are about four quizzes each marking period
  • There is also one exam at the end of each marking period
  • All work is due the day of a quiz or exam and late work will receive only partial credit
  • Grading is point-based, though assignments are worth roughly 10%, quizzes 40%, and the marking period exam 50% of your grade