AP Computer Science A: Curricular Requirements

• The teacher has read the most recent AP Computer Science Course Description
• The course includes all of the topics listed in the "Computer Science A" column of the Topic Outline in the AP Computer Science Course Description.
• The course teaches students to design and implement computer-based solutions to problems in a variety of application areas.
• The course teaches students to use and implement commonly used algorithms and data structures.
• The course teaches students to develop and select appropriate algorithms and data structures to solve problems.
• The course teaches students to code fluently in an object-oriented paradigm using the programming language Java. The course teaches students to use standard Java library classes from the AP Java subset delineated in Appendixes A and B of the AP Computer Science Course Description. (Note: Students who study a language other than Java in AP Computer Science must also be taught to use Java, as specified in the AP Java subset.)
• The course teaches students to read and understand a large program consisting of several classes and interacting objects, and enables students to read and understand the current AP Computer Science Case Study posted on AP Central.
• The course teaches students to identify the major hardware and software components of a computer system, their relationship to one another, and the roles of these components within the system.
• The course teaches students to recognize the ethical and social implications of computer use.

Resource Requirements

• The school ensures that each student has a college-level textbook for individual use inside and outside of the classroom and has access to the AP Computer Science Case Study posted on AP Central.
• The school ensures that each student has individual access to a computer (i.e., one student per computer) for at least three hours a week for conducting programming assignments and tasks; three hours are the bare minimum and additional time is desirable. The computer system must be able to compile in seconds programs comparable in size to the current AP Computer Science Case Study. (This access can be made available at any time during the school day or outside of school and need not be made available to all students in the AP course simultaneously.)