Hi guys, I’m a high school freshman enrolled in AP CSP this year, and my class is practically a free period. The teacher is clueless about computer science and everyone just BS’s the assignments. This doesn’t surprise me, considering that the course (as well as the teacher) is new at our school this year, but I’m really concerned about how I will perform on the AP Tasks and Exam. I have learned next to nothing in the course so far and I am almost sure that I won’t learn much in the next few months due to the teacher’s incompetence. I really want to do well on the exams and tasks (a 5) but I have no idea what to do for the Create Task (I have almost no programming skills) and what to study for the exam. Can anyone point me in the right direction for learning programming for the Create Task and computer science for the AP exam?
Hi guys, I was just wondering if anyone had a recommendation as to when to start on the AP Tasks to ensure a 5 as the final grade. I have programming skills that next to none so I was wondering if anyone could help me learn a programming language well enough so that I could do the Create Task.
DD finished the first part of the task a month ago. They are starting work on the second. It seems she is having a dramatically different experience from you. Her class is a lot of work. I’m sorry this isn’t a positive experience for you, because it is a great skill to learn. See if this helps:
https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-csp-student-task-directions.pdf
We also bought her a book with some practice tests and overview of concepts covered on the exam. Khan Academy can help you with the programming instructions.
@Groundwork2022 OK, thank you so much! My class is actually semester-long (and I do absolutely no work whatsoever in it), so we haven’t got a chance to start on the performance tasks yet. I’ll likely begin working on it sometime next week after I get a chance to learn some coding and learn some AP CSP concepts. Also, do you happen to know the name of the book you bought for your D? I would like to take a look at it too see if I should buy it to review some terms for the AP exam.
P.S. there was a typo on the original post, so I’m gonna correct it: “I have programming skills that are next to none…”
@skompella9892 The Book is called “Crash Course AP Computer Science Principles”. FWIW, DD’s teacher did not grade or comment on their artifacts in order to maintain test integrity. However, she did go over everything that was expected and walked them through the submission process. I think they got a day or two in class to work on them as well.
@Groundwork2022 Only a day or two? I thought it was required for students to get 8 hrs for the Create Task and 12 hrs for the Explore Task of class time…also thanks for the name of the book. 
If I am not mistaken, she worked on some of it at home (trying to make up for too many snow days, perhaps?). I just remember she was excited to be working on the project and chatted about it some.
Did your class code/program Crossy Road, Wheel of Fortune, and Battleship games?
I ended up doing my create task the week before it was due, though I’ve had extensive programming experience. Honestly, it depends on what you want to do - if it’s a website, I’d recommend sites like Codecademy. If you want to just do a desktop application or something, your class should have taught at least some Python/Java/Javascript. Each respective language has its own tools for creating applications - Google and Stack Overflow will be your best friends!
As long as you work smarter (use your resources and look up stuff you don’t know) and not harder, the task will be very manageable. I did a desktop flashcard application in C# for my Create task - nothing special or fancy.
You really don’t need to buy any textbook for this class or to learn how to program (unless you’re really interested in the fundamentals of a language, in which case go ahead!). There’s an incredible amount of resources on the internet for programming, it’s just up to you the effort you put in to look for them. I hope I answered your question!
@adamint Thank you so much for the advice! We use a block coding program called Snap! and I don’t really like it because of how limited it is in terms of blocks I can use and programs I can create. That’s why I wanted to learn a different program to do my Create Task (I have a very basic knowledge of Java, so maybe I’ll use that).
@Groundwork2022 No, we haven’t. Our class is pretty much a free period and that’s why I’m so concerned about the AP Create Task and the AP exam.
@skompella9892 Wow. You are doing the right thing in preparing on your own then. I was going to say DD found the artifact to be much less work than programming those games.
Awesome! If you (or anyone else on this thread) wants to use Java, do yourself a favor and use one of the provided libraries - JavaFX is amazingly simple, and with Gradle you’ll be able to add other tools you’ll want to use. Again, StackOverflow is your friend.
Don’t worry too much about how ‘good’ your program is - the graders care much more about the code quality and basic functionality - so just make sure that you adhere to proper conventions and best practices for whatever language you decide to use
If you don’t know where to learn introductory programming for the task, Jetbrains (the company behind IntelliJ IDEA) has an amazing (and FREE) educational tool for learning Java/Python/Kotlin/Scala at https://www.jetbrains.com/education/