This was CS50 AP 1617

Erin Carvalho, David J. Malan

CS50 for AP Computer Science Principles (AP CSP), otherwise known as CS50 AP, is an adaptation of CS50 for high schools that satisfies the College Board’s curriculum framework for AP CSP, which means that students in high school can take CS50 for “advanced placement” (i.e., college-level) credit, provided their school offers it. AP CSP exists alongside AP Computer Science A (AP CS A), an introduction to Java that some schools have long offered. Whereas AP CS A has a prescribed curriculum, AP CSP is a framework that any number of courses can implement, much like AP English Literature and Composition can be taught using any number of books. Officially endorsed by the College Board, CS50 AP exists alongside other endorsed curricula from CS50’s friends at Code.org, UC Berkeley, and beyond. Among the curricula, CS50 AP is, by design, perhaps the most rigorous, a programming-centric superset of what’s expected in AP CSP, curricularly and technologically identical to CS50 itself. Additionally expected by the College Board, though, for AP credit are three assessments:

A Create performance task, essentially equivalent to CS50’s final project, which “focuses specifically on the creation of a computer program through the collaborative and iterative process of programming.”

performance task, essentially equivalent to CS50’s final project, which “focuses specifically on the creation of a computer program through the collaborative and iterative process of programming.” An Explore performance task, which “requires students to identify a computing innovation, explore its impact, and create a related digital artifact — ex. digital art, video — accompanied by a written response.”

performance task, which “requires students to identify a computing innovation, explore its impact, and create a related digital artifact — ex. digital art, video — accompanied by a written response.” An End-of-Course Exam, with “single-select and multiple-select questions.”

AP CSP officially debuted in the fall of 2016, with 47,216 students around the world submitting those assessments in the spring of 2017, 73.8% of whom “passed” the course, scoring a 3, 4, or 5 on the College Board’s 5-point scale. Among those students, meanwhile, were 671 CS50 AP students, 83.8% of whom passed, with the distribution of CS50 AP students’ scores (in red) slightly right-skewed toward 4s and 5s:

Similarly did CS50 AP students’ performance on AP CSP’s two performance tasks (collectively worth 40% of students’ 5-point scores) skew rightward toward the assessments’ highest quartile:

And CS50 AP students’ performance on AP CSP’s end-of-course exam (worth 60% of students’ 5-point scores) also skewed rightward toward that assessment’s highest quartile:

Congratulations to all! And, all scores aside, here’s a look at CS50 AP itself!