APCS: AP Computer Science A @sfhs

The first quarter exam will be Thursday October 11 8:23-9:53 In room 304. The average of the two quarter exams is worth 20% of your grade. The first quarter exam is a cumulative exam that covers the summer assignment, and chapters 1 through 7 of the textbook. There will be multiple choice and free response questions. Each portion (Multiple Choice and Free Response) is worth 50 percent, just like the AP Exam. On the actual AP Exam, the multiple choice question pace is 2 minutes, 15 seconds each, and the free response questions pace is about 15 minutes each. The AP Exam will be at noon, Friday May 17, 2019.

It is a good idea to review your homework, the powerpoint slides (in Google Classroom), and the quiz questions posted at PlusPortals. The file is called “Qtr 1 Quiz Review Chapters 1-6”. Password for the PDF of the questions is the Franciscan virtue for this quarter! To check your work, go to Google Classroom or use game code **024682** on quizizz.com

Don't forget that you don't need a computer to practice writing code at https://codingbat.com/java. "Warm up" and "logic" are good categories to practice. You also may wish to try these practice free response quizzes from the past.

Things to watch out for:

1. not initializing a field ( fields are private, to encapsulate)
2. accidentally making a local variable instead of initializing a variable
3. remember to make methods public, and don't forget to use () for the parameter list, even if there are none
4. local variables are never public nor private
5. dangling else statements (p 148)
6. forgetting to have a method return something of the correct type
7. not to add a System.out.print were no printing is requested (This can be a 1 or 2 point 'Extraneous code that causes side effect' penalty on the AP Exam)
8. using local variables that you don't declare ( also a AP scoring penalty)
9. changing a value referenced by parameter or destroying data in a parameter (also a scoring penalty)
10. return statement on a constructor, or a method that isn't supposed to return something (a 'void' method). This too has a AP scoring penalty)

Finally, please remember to get a good night's rest and a healthy breakfast! Good Luck!