OFFICIAL 2012 AP Computer Science A Thread

<p>honestly, a 20 - 25 is not in the 5 range even with a nice curve. The 30 in the FRQ might have gotten you a 5 if your MC could have been in the 30s range too. But a 4’s not bad! ;)</p>

<p>Yeah I’m with the general consensus. I finished just as time was running out for the multiple choice. The FRQs we’re incredibly easy, but a few questions on them (not specific so as to show the question):</p>

<p>Points taken off for using static variables instead of instance variables?</p>

<p>How many points off for stupidly using for(x = 0; x < arr.length - 1; x++) to traverse through an array arr?</p>

<p>So nothing on search/sorts, nothing on programming design, 1 question on abstract classes, 1 on inheritance/polymorphism, lots of questions on loops, recursion, and arrays. Speaking for myself, I got all the easier topics…</p>

<p>Anyone else feel like the Gridworld FRQ is just copying the reference code? How does that encourage problem-solving?</p>

<p>28+ MC and 32+ should be a 5 imo.
And yeah the FRQ was pretty much copying and adding like 8 lines of code.</p>

<p>@Garfield I know exactly what you mean.</p>

<p>I will not be missing Grid World.</p>

<p>wait, has anyone not taken the test yet…?</p>

<p>@Garfield Yeah that’s what I did for the GridWorld FRQ. I had like 20 minutes left and I saved that for last. Then 2 minutes before time I copied reference code and then I realized I was done.</p>

<p>does anyone know what the curve might be. and also did the answer choices seems wierd on the mc.</p>

<p>@ aperso: I don’t know how reliable this is, but: </p>

<p>[AP</a> Pass - AP Computer Science Calculator](<a href=“http://appass.com/calculators/computerscience]AP”>AP Computer Science Test Score Calculator - AP Pass)</p>

<p>I’m predicting the bottom curve for a 5 this year will be 60 points. But that’s juts my opinion. And yes, I had some weird weird patterns o.O</p>

<p>I agree the patterns were weird. That makes me feel better :p</p>

<p>@Garfield
Yep. I pretty much just trimmed and pieced together code from certain method that determines a certain ability.</p>

<p>lol I got freaked out midway through the mc because i noticed there were a lot of answer choices clustered together.</p>

<p>Probably got a 5. The MC was bs though. There was way too much recursion and loops. I had to put C for the last 5. FRQ was easy. On the first question did anyone else only have like 2 lines? BTW, what was the answer to the abstract class question? I had no idea on that one.</p>

<p>MC was TERRIBLY TIME CONSUMING
And I’m worried because the multiple choice curve isn’t determined by us, it’s determined by college students who are administered the test. noooooooooo</p>

<p>and why are people talking about reusing reference code? did you have to do that</p>

<p>It was a little disheartening turning each page just to see another giant block of code that you had to read through. The questions themselves weren’t hard, per se, but took a long time and a lot out of you. I think it is kind of silly that they just test how well you can follow for loops, recursive methods, and so on without testing a lot for knowledge of concepts or design…</p>

<p>On the bright side, the curve should be lower this year simply due to the fact that you couldn’t take your time on the multiple choice to make sure you had the right answer. I think 58 or higher should be a five.</p>

<p>@asperso I didn’t copy anything from the appendix (of course I used methods from that case study but did not copy any lines from the pre-made classes). I am almost 100% sure I got a 9 for that question.</p>

<p>@hkchaos yeah I didn’t reuse any code either. Makes me feel better about my frq score.</p>

<p>@aperso I think people that reused code just simply didn’t use super. Essentially using super removes any need to reuse reference code.</p>

<p>@fostered I agree.</p>

<p>In my opinion, the AP Computer Science test does NOT test your knowledge of java. It’s a test of endurance and tolerance. Your merely compiling code in your head, which is what the computer does in the first place. If you miss one little thing (which is very easy to do), you will mess up your answer entirely. There is no way to find the answer quickly, you literally have to run the entire code. When you think you may have just found a pattern, you realize there’s an exception that nullifies that idea. At least keep the code segments short. Every question has a story behind it (I find it insane that certain questions took up 2 pages!!). Simply reading the question takes too much time, let alone processing it.</p>

<p>The FRQ is much better at testing your knowledge, although the case studies are another example of something that does NOT. Sure, they’re a good example of polymorphism, but its still based on how well you know the case study, not the concept. I will never use the case study at any point in my future career.</p>

<p>yeah in the gridworld one you were supposed to put “extends Bug”
and to use the act method you would just put “super.act()”</p>