Is AP Computer Science A easy or hard? Read on to discover why we’ve given AP Comp Sci A a difficulty rating of “Quite Easy”, based on our unparalleled, deep-dive analysis of 2024 (and historic) pass rate data and over 3200 course reviews from alumnae.

An overview of the data: how hard is AP Computer Science A?

Here’s an overview of all the data we’ve analysed on AP Comp Sci A, from both 2024 pass rates and alumnae reviews:

• AP Computer Science A is considered quite easy, with class alumnae rating it 4.2/10 for overall difficulty
  • That makes it the 4th-easiest class out of the 28 large AP classes we surveyed
• The pass rate is about average vs other AP classes, with 66% graduating with a 3 or higher
• AP Computer Science A is a relatively small class (approximately 98,000 entries a year)
• And 98% of alumnae would recommend the class

Alumnae recommendations: the tl;dr

AP Comp Sci A alumnae reviewers rated the class as enjoyable, especially with prior programming knowledge and a good grasp of the concepts underlying the course. More on that below!

Taking a visual comparison:

Here’s a fun visual on how AP Computer Science A compares to other classes, by difficulty, the amount of study time required, and class size:

We’ve only highlighted the computer science classes – AP Comp Sci A and AP Computer Science Principles. But you can see the full multi-coloured version of this chart in our popular, definitive difficulty ranking of ALL the AP classes!

Psst: we’ve also got a deep-dive into AP Computer Science Principles if you want a full comparison of computer science tracks!

Behind the scenes: our Data Analyst and methodology

Analysing AP class data: the methodology

We want to be transparent about how we research, collect and analyse the AP data we use to provide you with our assessments and recommendations. This methodology gives a brief outline of our source material and analytical processes:

Please click here to learn more about our rigorous editorial policies here at Exam Study Expert.

Source material for AP data:

We use two primary sources of data:

1. Pass rate data from College Board itself, including the proportion of students who pass overall (3+ score) and the proportion of students who score a 5. This data is taken from the College Board website plus tweets from Head of AP Trevor Packer, which include the score breakdown and numbers of students taking each class.
2. Student reviews posted by users from r/APStudents who actually took the AP courses (as of 2024 the dataset includes 3,295 reviews). These reviews include a rating for:
   • Overall difficulty rating
   • Difficulty if self-studying
   • How much time is required

The data we post is based on College Board’s June data release and may shift slightly as late-arriving exams are scored. This shift has historically been negligible.

How we evaluate and use the data on AP classes:

We consider class alumnae’s difficulty ratings to be the most reliable indicator of difficulty, more so than pass rate.

Pass rate, or percentage of students scoring a certain grade, is a misleading metric for two main reasons:

1. Some classes attract highly able students, so may have a high pass rate, but this is more a reflection of the calibre of students taking the class. This particularly applies to language classes.
2. Research has shown that popular, widely taken AP classes tend to have lower passing rates. So, a low passing rate could indicate a larger variety of student skill, not necessarily class difficulty.

Our assessments of course difficulty

We have given each every AP class a graded ranking of difficulty, primarily based on class alumnae difficulty ratings. Many other important factors are taken into consideration when making our recommendations for how easy or hard you may find the AP course.

The rankings are determined as followed:

• Very Easy – scores less than 4.0
• Quite Easy – scores between 4.0 and 4.9
• Moderate Difficulty – scores between 5.0 and 5.9
• Quite Hard – scores between 6.0 and 6.9
• Very Hard – scores more than 7.0

You should take every available metric into account when making your choice of AP classes. Remember that some students tend to find certain fields easier or harder than others, based on pre-existing experience.

And remember, as College Board’s Trevor Packer reminds us, an AP score is only one indicator of student learning and achievement.

A deep dive into the 2024 exam data on AP Computer Science A

If you want to know more about how AP Comp Sci A stacks up against the average AP class, and against previous years’ results: read on for five charts that set out all the data you could want.

1. Difficulty: a look at the ratings

AP Computer Science A is considered quite easy, with class alumnae rating it 4.2/10 for overall difficulty, making it the 4th-easiest class out of the 28 large AP classes we surveyed.

2. The AP Comp Sci A pass rate in 2024

In 2024, the AP Comp Sci A pass rate was 66%, about average in comparison with other AP classes.

A notable percentage of students attained a 5 (24%) – in fact the highest percentage of passing grades, which is impressive. On the other hand, far more students than average received a 1 (23%).

3. So, how does this compare to the last five years?

Over the many years we’ve been doing this analysis, we’ve learnt that AP pass rates can fluctuate wildly – although some subjects remain steady. So to get a better picture, let’s examine the score distribution for the past five years of exams – all the way back to 2020.

The AP Computer Science A score distribution is one of those that has not varied significantly over the past 5 years of exams. In fact, there has only been a variation of 2% across the five years.

4. How time consuming will AP Computer Science A be?

AP Comp Sci A is rated as quite low study time required relative to other AP classes.

N.B. A survey of AP alumnae asked for a rating out of 10 for time needed to study each class, with 1 = least time needed, 10 = most time. The average rating for AP Computer Science A was 4.0/10 (vs the average across all AP classes of 5.4/10).

5. How hard is it to self-study for AP Comp Sci A?

AP Computer Science A is rated as quite easy to self-study relative to other AP classes.

N.B. A survey of AP alumnae asked for a rating out of 10 for how easy each class is to self study, with 1 = easiest to self study, 10 = hardest to self study. The average rating for AP Computer Science A was 4.3/10 (vs the average across all AP classes of 5.7/10).

Reviewing the course: 104 alumnae share their experiences

If you’re looking forward to taking AP Comp Sci A, it’s important to take both the positive and negative feedback in context. There are multiple factors that could contribute to a great or poor experience of the class, such as a particularly weak teacher and your personal preferences as a learner.

An impressive 98% of AP Computer Science A alumnae would recommend the class.

The majority of the reviews focus on the importance of understanding programming concepts, exam techniques, and having prior programming knowledge.

1.      AP Comp Sci A is skill based: make sure you understand the concepts

“Your success in this course really depends on how well you grasp early programming concepts. This is not one of those APs that you can study for a little and get a 5, it is more skill based.”- Score: 4

“Make sure you get a very good grasp of what OOP (Object-Oriented Programming) is, because if you understand the flow of a program, you are in very good shape for the exam. Looking up common algorithms (particularly sorting algorithms) would probably be pretty useful too. Stack overflow can be very useful too but don’t copy without figuring it out yourself.” – Score: 4

“Do all the reading assigned to you. Also understand why something in a program is happening the way it is so that you can fix it; don’t just randomly adjust code til it works – you learn nothing that way.” – Score: 5

“Make sure you understand the early concepts. The test doesn’t not go very in depth, so it’s not too hard. If a FRQ isn’t making sense, you need to take a breath and start underlining the steps. They aren’t meant to get you to overthink, but if you can resist that then they’ll be straightforward. … All in all, I found it to be a really fun class; however, it could be difficult if you have a bad teacher; mine was really good.” – Score: 5

“It’s not that hard but you really need to understand the concepts. Luckily the number is not overwhelming. Also, read REALLY carefully. I wasted multiple 10 minutes in practice tests (luckily) because I missed a bracket.” – Score: 5

2.      Most students recommend learning programming before taking AP Comp Sci A

“Actually create programs. You can get through the class purely based on conceptual knowledge, but practical application of the knowledge will help on and beyond the AP test.’ – Score: 5

“Learn coding beforehand. I took a free online course on edX the summer before and breezed through the class. Practice all the official released FRQ’s before the exam.” – Score: 5

“You should have some coding knowledge, especially if you plan on self studying. Otherwise, you will have a hard time.” – Score: 3

“I would recommend learning some basic Java over the summer because knowing some beforehand definitely helped me in the class. I would also recommend doing some practice FRQs because I feel that doing them definitely did help with preparation for the test (although we did them during class). Overall easy 5” – Score: 5

“Very accessible class even without prior programming experience” – Score: 5

“’I came in with prior programming experience, though it should be noted none in Java. Even then, it was really just learning the syntax and the little differences in how Java handles things like classes and algorithms and structures compared to other languages.” – Score: 5

3.      Some students found the exam easy, others found it required focus

“FRQs are the easiest thing I have ever seen since they give WAY too much time to do them. I quintuple-checked my answers and half the testing room fell asleep.” – Score: 5

“Pay attention in class. There are a lot of not intuitive specific cases in Java that you have to know. The AP test will specifically ask you questions on these cases. Don’t assume you know something just because it seems right.” – Score: 5

“Concepts not too hard at all, but memorization of little facts is definitely required for the AP Exam. AP Exam MCQs were harder than expected; it is easy to make a small error that leads to an incorrect answer that is in fact a choice. In other words, it is very hard to catch small errors on the MCQs.” – Score: 4

“For MCs, it’s important to be able to walk through every step of a program and know what’s going on, like pass by value, pass by reference, etc. For FRQs, they’re really quite straightforward and never require more than around 10/15 lines of code. Super easy if you spend some time writing programs. FWIW, I got a 99 in the class and a 5 on the exam with minimal review, but I’d chalk it up to prior experience so YMMV.” – Score: 5

4.      Experiences with self-studying were largely positive

“I took this as an online course, so I basically self-studied it. I took it as a freshman, and it wasn’t that hard. I would recommend studying 1 hour a day starting from January and it should be an easy 5. Use Barron’s for sure.’ – Score: 4

“Basically self-studied 6 weeks before exam and got a 4.” – Score: 4

“I rated it difficult to self study because my teacher was the biggest resource in helping me with it.” – Score: 5

“If you don’t know java or any cs language, don’t self study it unless you can appropriately allocate your time. It takes a lot of time to get used to object oriented programming. If you already know how to code, go for self studying. It may even be less work than the actual class.” – Score: 3

What does it take to succeed in the AP Comp Sci A exam?

Well, a good starting place is knowing what’s required of you – and what the experts say went well (or not!) this year:

What is AP Computer Science A? Course Outline & Requirements

According to College Board:

“AP Computer Science A introduces students to computer science through programming. … The course emphasizes object-oriented programming and design using the Java programming language.”

Prerequisites for AP Comp Sci A are: successful completion of a first-year high school algebra course (recommended). Students should be able to “use a Cartesian (x, y) coordinate system to represent points on a plane”. Prior computer science experience is not required.

The course has a lab requirement: “a minimum of 20 hours of hands-on, structured lab experiences to engage students in individual or group problem solving”.

You will develop skills in:

• Determining required code segments to produce given outputs
• Determining the results of given codes and values
• Writing and implementing program code
• Testing code for correctness, equivalence and errors
• Describing the behaviour and conditions that produce results

The exam consists of one 3-hour exam, with 50% (90 minutes) of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and 50% (90 minutes) for four free-response questions.

For more details, see: College Board’s AP Computer Science A course page.

Takeaways for success from the Head of AP

Every year as the exam results come out, College Board’s Head of AP, Trevor Packer, offers an update on what’s gone on in each subject this year, including what people found easy and hard.

In 2024, Trevor made the following comments about the AP Computer Science A exam results:

• “MC questions: This year’s students scored very well across all units, with esp. strong performance on Primitive Types (Unit 1) & Boolean Expressions / if Statements (Unit 3). Even higher: 23% earned all points possible on Iteration (Unit 4).”

• “Free-response scores: Students did an amazing job with Q2 (writing of a Scoreboard class for a game); ~30% of students earned all 9 possible points.”

• “As with last year, the most challenging free-response question on this year’s AP Computer Science A exam was Q4 on 2D Array; to earn a 3+ score, students typically needed to obtain some of these points, and to earn a 5, most of these 9 points. https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap24-frq-comp-sci-a.pdf“

How to (self) study for AP Comp Sci A, with advice from alumnae

Let’s turn back to those alumnae reviews. Many students who’ve taken the course also have great advice on how to study – and self-study – for the exam, including what to practice and the best resources. We’ve collated a selection for you:

1. Practicing for the exam (especially FRQs) is vital for success …

“Practice FRQs frequently! Multiple choice should be easy to answer as they are generally more basic, logical questions. Answer FRQs from previous years!” – Score: 5

“Practice the FRQs. You need to familiarize yourself with the format and the types of questions. It takes time to get used to Object Oriented Programming. Make sure to spend a lot of time on that.” – A Score: 3

“Make sure to practice writing and shortcuts to tracing code throughout the year or in detail before the exam; one of the best resources is old AP FRQs! u got this :)” – Score: 5

“Do a bunch of practice exams and questions, and you’ll be good to go. I started seriously prepping about a week before and was fine.” – Score: 5

“Know your loops, and do a lot of practice FRQs” – Score: 5

2. … including writing code by hand!

“Practice writing code on paper and know the actually process your compiler goes through so you don’t make silly mistakes during the exam!” – Score: 5

“Make sure to practice handwriting code it’s very different then just typing” – Score: 5

3. There are some helpful coding resources available

“If you can solve most of the CodingBat challenges, you will be able to do well on FRQs. The BluePelicanJava textbook helped me out a lot” – Score: 5

“Solve the problems before writing down code for the free response section. For working on projects, “Rubber Ducky” bugs. Also, most compilers have a debugging section that shows what is being called and how variables are being changed.” – Score: 5

“Coding Bat, interactive python Java review, Practice it, and barrons” – Score: 5

“Be sure to do all the practice tests and then review your answers in the book. Barron’s book is very useful. There are also many other websites that help such as codingbat which have good practice exercises.” – Score: 5

4. Success in AP Comp Sci A often comes down to consistent preparation!

“Do the in-class assignments but also program on your own. Make a cheat sheet with syntax for variable declarations and loops, i.e. Java Quick Reference, and review that. Practice combinatorics.” – Score: 5

“Actually pay attention, the information is crucial for the test. You must know vocab, begin practicing open responses from the start of the course – at least looking at them.” – Score: 1

“Do as many programming assignments as possible. Do worksheets if your teacher has them. Trace code yourself” – Score: 5

“When studying, I would do like multiple choice problems like everyday throughout the year personally. Not too hard, and not too time consuming. Do like 5 problems a day and I would say you’re perfect” – Score: 3

Best books and test prep resources for AP Computer Science A

If you’re looking for the best books to study to help you ace AP Comp Sci A, we’ve crunched the numbers on the available textbooks. Check out the winners, according to reviews from successful AP students, in our overview of the best AP study guides for every subject.

Where next?

Find out how AP Computer Science A compares to other classes: click here for our popular, definitive overview of all AP Classes ranked by difficulty.

Or compare how AP Comp Sci A compares to the other computer science courses with our deep-dive into AP Computer Science Principles.

If you’ve found our analysis helpful, have a question for our Data Analyst and AP expert, William – or just have some thoughts to share: please leave a comment below and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. Good luck!