AP Computer Science Principles: Student-Crafted Practice Tests For Excellence

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

What this book includes

The purpose of writing this book

When to use this book

AP Computer Science Principles Practice Exam 1

Exam 1 Answers and Explanations

AP Computer Science Principles Practice Exam 2

Exam 2 Answers and Explanations

AP Computer Science Principles Practice Exam 3

Exam 3 Answers and Explanations

AP Computer Science Principles Practice Exam 4

Exam 4 Answers and Explanations

INTRODUCTION

What this book includes,

This book includes four complete preparation tests mimicking the real AP Computer Science Principles exam. Each test contains 70 questions and their answers and explanation are at the end of each test.

The purpose of writing this book,

As a former student who previously took this exam, I tried numerous AP Computer Science Principles preparation books, but none of them contained questions that were comparable to those on the actual test. As result, I took matters into my own hands and developed the ideal practice exams to help you get accustomed to the exam's format and question type.

When to use this book

To get the most out of this book and be able to answer all the questions, use it after thoroughly studying the full material. To prepare for the actual exam, don't forget to time yourself and use a 70-questions answer sheet!

AP Computer Science Principles Practice Exam 1

1. A company that develops a social media platform wants to assemble a diverse team of content moderators from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Which of the following is NOT considered a benefit of assembling such a team?

(A) Assembling a diverse team can help in understanding and addressing cultural nuances and sensitivities when moderating user-generated content.

(B) Assembling a diverse team can provide a wider range of language skills to effectively moderate content in different languages.

(C) Assembling a diverse team can lead to more accurate and unbiased content moderation decisions.

(D) Assembling a diverse team can streamline the content moderation process and eliminate the need for manual review and oversight.

2. Which of the following best describes one of the benefits of using pseudocode in the problem-solving process?

(A) Pseudocode allows programmers to directly execute the code and observe its behavior.

(B) Pseudocode eliminates the need for thorough planning and documentation.

(C) Pseudocode helps programmers communicate and collaborate effectively with non-technical stakeholders.

(D) Pseudocode provides a way to represent code using the lowest-level programming language available.

3. Which of the following actions are considered important principles of ethical computing?

I. Respecting the privacy and security of individuals' personal information.0

II. Acknowledging and respecting the intellectual property rights of others.

III. Engaging in responsible and ethical behavior while using and developing computer systems.

(A) I and II only

(B) I and III only

(C) II and III only

(D) I, II, and III

4. A social media platform tracks the number of followers for each user's profile. The follower count is updated whenever a user gains or loses followers and is displayed on their profile page.

At one point, a user's follower count suddenly showed a negative value, while the counts for other users were displayed correctly. Which of the following is the most likely explanation for this error?

(A) The user's follower count exceeded the maximum value allowed by the data type used to store the count.

(B) A programming error occurred during the calculation of the follower count, resulting in a mathematical inconsistency.

(C) The platform's server encountered an issue when processing the user's follower count due to high traffic or server overload.

(D) The platform's algorithm for updating follower counts experienced a data sampling error when processing the user's data.

5. A company offers a discount on a product based on two conditions: the customer must be a loyalty program member, and the purchase amount must exceed a certain threshold. The expression below determines whether a customer is eligible for the discount.

(isLoyaltyMember = true) AND (purchaseAmount > 100)

Which of the following pairs of values indicates that a customer is eligible for the discount?

(A) isLoyaltyMember = false, purchaseAmount = 150

(B) isLoyaltyMember = true, purchaseAmount = 90

(C) isLoyaltyMember = false, purchaseAmount = 90

(D) isLoyaltyMember = true, purchaseAmount = 120

6. Which of the following is NOT a benefit of collaboration in developing a computing innovation?

(A) Collaboration allows for the division of tasks, reducing the size and complexity for individual team members.

(B) Collaboration enhances error detection and correction during the development process.

(C) Collaboration restricts the input of multiple perspectives, limiting the diversity of ideas during development.

(D) Collaboration fosters the resolution of differences of opinion through open dialogue and constructive discussions.

7. Assume that the list originalList contains positive integer values and that the list newList is initially empty. The following code segment is intended to copy all prime numbers from originalList to newList so that the numbers in newList appear in the same relative order as in originalList. The code segment may or may not work as intended.

Line 1: FOR EACH number IN originalList

Line 2: {

Line 3: IF (isPrime(number))

Line 4: {

Line 5: INSERT (newList, 1, number)

Line 6: }

Line 7: }

Which of the following changes, if any, can be made so that the code segment works as intended?

(A) Changing line 1 to FOR EACH number IN newList

(B) Changing line 3 to IF (isComposite(number))

(C) Changing line 5 to APPEND (newList, number)

(D) No change is needed; the code segment is correct as is.

8.  In which of the following situations would it be best to use a heuristic in order to find a solution that runs in a reasonable amount of time?

(A) Sorting a list of numbers in ascending order, which requires comparing every pair of numbers in the list.

(B) Finding the shortest path between two points on a map by considering all possible paths.

(C) Checking if a specific value exists in a hash table by looking up the value directly.

(D) Calculating the average of a set of numbers by summing all the numbers and dividing by the count.

9. In the following procedure, the parameter limit is a positive integer.

PROCEDURE printSquares(limit)

{

num ← 1

REPEAT UNTIL (num > limit)

{

DISPLAY(num * num)

num ← num + 1

}

}

Which of the following is the most appropriate documentation to appear with the printSquares procedure?

(A) Prints the squares of all positive even integers up to the limit.

(B) Prints the squares of all positive odd integers up to the limit.

(C) Prints the squares of all positive even integers greater than the limit.

(D) Prints the squares of all positive odd integers greater than the limit.

10. A program includes the following code segment:

PROCEDURE swapListElements(numList, j, k)

{

newList ← numList

newList[j] ← numList[k]

newList[k] ← numList[j]

RETURN(newList)

}

Which of the following is the most appropriate documentation to appear with the swapListElements procedure?

(A) Returns a copy of numList with the elements at indices j and k interchanged. The value of j must be between 0 and the value of k, inclusive.

(B) Returns a copy of numList with the elements at indices j and k interchanged. The values of j and k must both be between 1 and the length of numList, inclusive.

(C) Interchanges the values of the elements at indices j and k in the numList parameter. The value of j must be between 0 and the value of k, inclusive.

(D) Interchanges the values of the elements at indices j and k in the numList parameter. The values of j and k must both be between 1 and the length of numList, inclusive.

11. Three students are collaborating on the development of a website. Which of the following strategies is LEAST likely to facilitate collaboration among the students?

(A) Having all three students participate in regular group meetings to discuss project milestones and assign tasks.

(B) Using a version control system to manage code changes and allow seamless integration of individual contributions.

(C) Assigning each student a specific section of the website to work on independently without any communication or coordination.

(D) Utilizing a shared online document for brainstorming ideas, sharing design mockups, and providing feedback on each other's work.

12. A student is developing a mobile application for a fitness tracking program. Which of the following is LEAST likely to be an input provided by a user using the application?

(A) The user's current heart rate

(B) The user's desired weight loss goal

(C) The user's preferred workout duration

(D) The user's favorite healthy recipe

13. A web developer is designing a website that needs to handle a high volume of user traffic. Which of the following considerations is LEAST likely to affect the website's ability to handle increased user traffic?

(A) The size of the website's HTML and CSS files

(B) The number of images and media files on the website

(C) The website's responsiveness and loading speed

(D) The complexity of the website's JavaScript code

14. A programming language uses 8-bit binary sequences to represent nonnegative integers. For example, the binary sequence 01100101 represents the corresponding decimal value 101. Using this programming language, a programmer attempts to multiply the decimal values 150 and 200 and assign the product to the variable result. Which of the following best describes the result of this operation?

(A) The correct product of 30,000 will be assigned to the variable result.

(B) An overflow error will occur because 8 bits is not large enough to represent either of the values 150 or 200.

(C) An overflow error will occur because 8 bits is not large enough to represent 30,000, the product of 150 and 200.

(D) A round-off error will occur because the decimal values 150 and 200 are represented as approximations due to the fixed number of bits used to represent numbers.

15. A weather monitoring system keeps track of the highest and lowest temperatures recorded throughout the day. If temp represents the most recent temperature reading, which of the following algorithms correctly updates the values of the highest and lowest temperatures?

(A) If temp is greater than the lowest temperature, set the lowest temperature equal to temp. Otherwise, if temp is greater than the highest temperature, set the highest temperature equal to temp.

(B) If temp is less than the lowest temperature, set the lowest temperature equal to temp. Otherwise, if temp is greater than the highest temperature, set the highest temperature equal to temp.

(C) If temp is less than the lowest temperature, set the lowest temperature equal to temp. Otherwise, if temp is less than the highest temperature, set the highest temperature equal to temp.

(D) If temp is greater than the lowest temperature, set the lowest temperature equal to temp. Otherwise, if temp is less than the highest temperature, set the highest temperature equal to temp.

16. A game has a deck of 52 cards, numbered from 1 to 52. The game requires drawing two cards at random from the deck. The cards should be selected in such a way that any possible pair of cards is equally likely to be drawn. Which of the following algorithms can be used to accomplish this?

(A) Step 1: Assign each card a unique integer from 1 to 52.

Step 2: Generate a random integer n from 1 to 26. Select the card that is currently assigned integer n and display its value.