Have students practice creating an infographic as an option for the Visual Artifact component of the CSP Performance Task: Explore.
Choose an appropriate IDE that fits course goals. For AP CS, use an IDE that doesn’t autofill to give students more practice writing code on their own
Take extra time to encourage beginner students to learn more about CS, by (1) promoting AP CS and (2) using a final project for students already taking AP CS
Use College Board’s AP Central for additional resources (e.g., software, videos, and other teaching material) when teaching AP CS courses.
If your CS course requires supplemental resources, consider applying for a grant from the government or from interested businesses.
If your school lacks the resources necessary to hold a practice exam, consider talking to a local college or university for help.
Walk students through clicking on links in Java Docs to figure out unknown words and concepts (like iterable) by exploring the detailed explanation; plus the AP test expects students to read Java Docs online.
Break down the structure of the internet and define keywords, even though students may have surface familiarity with them, to ensure that your class learns this crucial CSP material.
Have students make themselves cheat sheets so they are able to quickly look up syntax, which keeps them from spending too much time looking up these facts.
Incorporate the Computer Science Principles seven big ideas explicitly with every topic covered throughout the course, especially when having class discussions so students can clearly see course goals.
Pick an article from the ACM TechNews newsletter for students to read, summarize, and write a reflection on to find relevant and appropriate CS articles for AP CSP social implications assignments.
Create a classroom routine where students write regularly using a discussion board to help students get practice writing in a computer science context for the Computer Science Principles Performance Tasks.
Have students complete practice CSP Performance Tasks so that students can get feedback and coaching on their performance before the actual test where you’re not allowed to help.