2022 AP Student Samples and Commentary - AP Computer Science A FRQ 1

2022

Computer Science A

Sample Student Responses

and Scoring Commentary

Inside:

Free-Response Question 1

Scoring Guidelines

Student Samples

Scoring Commentary

trademarks of College Board. Visit College Board on the web: collegeboard.org.

AP Central is the ocial online home for the AP Program: apcentral.collegeboard.org.

AP®ComputerScienceA2022ScoringGuidelines 

©2022CollegeBoard

ApplyingtheScoringCriteria



Applythequestionscoringcriteriafirst,whichalwaystakesprecedence.Penaltypointscanonlybe

deductedinapartofthequestionthathasearnedcreditviathequestionrubric.Nopartofaquestion(a,b,c)

mayhaveanegativepointtotal.Agivenpenaltycanbeassessedonlyonceforaquestion,evenifitoccurs

multipletimesorinmultiplepartsofthatquestion.Amaximumof3penaltypointsmaybeassessedper

question.



1‐PointPenalty

v)Array/collectionaccessconfusion([] get)

w)Extraneouscodethatcausesside‐effect(e.g.,printingtooutput,incorrectpreconditioncheck)

x)Localvariablesusedbutnonedeclared

y)Destructionofpersistentdata(e.g.,changingvaluereferencedbyparameter)

z)Voidmethodorconstructorthatreturnsavalue



NoPenalty

 Extraneouscodewithnoside‐effect(e.g.,validpreconditioncheck,no‐op)

 Spelling/casediscrepancieswherethereisnoambiguity*

 Localvariablenotdeclaredprovidedothervariablesaredeclaredinsomepart

 private or public qualifieronalocalvariable

 Missing public qualifieronclassorconstructorheader

 Keywordusedasanidentifier

 Commonmathematicalsymbolsusedforoperators(×•÷≤≥<>≠)

 [] vs. () vs. <>

 = insteadof == andviceversa

 length/size confusionforarray, String, List, or ArrayList; withorwithout ( )

 Extraneous [] whenreferencingentirearray

 [i,j] insteadof [i][j]

 Extraneoussizeinarraydeclaration,e.g., int[size] nums = new int[size];

 Missing ; wherestructurecl

earlyconveysintent

 Missing { } whereindentationclearlyconveysintent

 Missing ( ) onparameter‐lessmethodorconstructorinvocations

 Missing ( ) around if or while conditions



*Spellingandcasediscr

epanciesforidentifiersfallunderthe“NoPenalty”ca

tegoryonlyifthecorrectioncan

beunambiguouslyinferredfromcontext,forexample,“ArayList”insteadof“ArrayList”.Asacounterexample,

notethatifthecodedeclares "int G=99, g=0;", thenuses "while (G < 10)" insteadof

"while (g < 10)", thecontextdoesnotallowforthereadertoassumetheuseofthelowercase

variable.





AP®ComputerScienceA2022ScoringGuidelines 

©2022CollegeBoard

Question1:MethodsandControlStructures 9points



Canonicalsolution



(a)



public int getScore()

{

int score = 0;

if (levelOne.goalReached())

{

score = levelOne.getPoints();

if (levelTwo.goalReached())

{

score += levelTwo.getPoints();

if (levelThree.goalReached())

{

score += levelThree.getPoints();

}

if (isBonus())

{

score *= 3;

}

return score;

}



4points

(b)

public int playManyTimes(int num)

{

int max = 0;

for (int i = 0; i < num; i++)

{

play();

int score = getScore();

if (score > max)

{

max = score;

}

return max;

}

5points

 

  



AP®ComputerScienceA2022ScoringGuidelines 

©2022CollegeBoard

(a)

getScore



ScoringCriteria DecisionRules 

1 Calls getPoints, goalReached, and

isBonus

Responseswillnotearnthepointifthey 1point

 failtocall getPoints or

goalReached ona Level object

 call isBonus onanobjectotherthan

this (useof this isoptional)

 includeparameters





2 Determinesifpointsareearnedbasedon

goalReached returnvalues



Responsescanstillearnthepointevenif

they

1point

 calculatethescoretotalincorrectly

 call goalReached incorrectly

 failtodistinguishallcasescorrectly

Responseswillnotearnthepointifthey

 failtouseanested if statementor

equivalent



3 Guardsupdateofscoreforbonusgame

basedon isBonus returnvalue

Responsescanstillearnthepointevenif

they

1point

 triplethecalculatedscoreincorrectly

 updatethescorewithsomethingother

thantripling

 call isBonus incorrectly



Responseswillnotearnthepointifthey

 usethe isBonus returnvalue

incorrectly



4 Initializesandaccumulatesappropriate

score(algorithm)

Responsescanstillearnthepointevenif

they

1point

 callmethodsincorrectly,aslongas

methodcallsareattempted

 failtoreturnthescore(returnisnot

assessed)



Responseswillnotearnthepointifthey

 calculatethescoretotalincorrectly

 triplethecalculatedscoreincorrectly

 Totalforpart(a) 4points





AP®ComputerScienceA2022ScoringGuidelines 

©2022CollegeBoard

(b)

playManyTimes



ScoringCriteria DecisionRules



5 Loops num times



Responsescanstillearnthepointevenif

they

1point

 returnearly

6 Calls play and getScore Responseswillnotearnthepointifthey 1point

 calleithermethodonanobjectother

than this (useof this isoptional)

 includeparameters

7 Comparesascoretoanidentifiedmaxorto

anotherscore



Responsescanstillearnthepointevenif

they

1point

 makethecomparisonoutsidetheloop

 call getScore incorrectly

 failtocall play betweencallsto

getScore



8 Identifiesthemaximumscore(algorithm) Responseswillnotearnthepointifthey 1point

 failtoinitializetheresultvariable

 compareascoretoanidentifiedmaxor

toanotherscoreoutsidetheloop

 failtocall play exactlyonceeach

timethroughtheloop



9

Returnsidentifiedmaximumscore



Responsescanstillearnthepointevenif

they

1point

 calculatethemaximumscoreincorrectly



Responseswillnotearnthepointifthey

 assignavaluetotheidentified

maximumscorewithoutanyloopor

logictofindthemaximum



  Totalforpart(b) 5points

 Question‐specificpenalties  

None  

  Totalforquestion1 9points























1 2 3 4 e









 

   





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� �rl)

�'JI/ I ·\





Pa2









 w Do w 





 

 

   



Q1 Sample A 1 of 2



I Imnt: 





1

2

3









 

.

,'   







 



'.

 I









>  





0059342









  















•·- J

Q1 Sample A 2 of 2











   

)

















     

 r,   

inf = o;

 







� 





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Q1 Sample C 2 of 2

Computer Science A 2022 Scoring Commentary

Visit College Board on the web: collegeboard.org.

Question 1

Note: Student samples are quoted verbatim and may contain spelling and grammatical errors.

Overview

This question tested the student’s ability to:

• Write program code to call methods.

• Write program code to satisfy method specifications using expressions, conditional statements,

and iterative statements.

More specifically, this question assessed the ability to use Level objects, call methods within and

outside the current class, use nested if logic to calculate a correct score for each level depending on

whether that level and all previous levels’ goals were met, iterate a specific number of times to

identify a maximum score, and use method return values in conditional expressions.

In part (a) students were asked to declare and initialize a numeric score variable and then call the

getPoints and goalReached methods from the Level class on the instance variables

levelOne, levelTwo, and levelThree in order to calculate a correct score for each level,

depending on whether that level and all previous levels’ goals were met. Students then had to

evaluate the returned value from isBonus to determine if the score for the game is tripled before

being returned.

In part (b) students were asked to declare and initialize a maximum value variable, iterate num times

to call the play method, and compare the value returned from getScore to the identified

maximum, replacing the maximum as needed in the loop after a correct comparison. The students

then had to return the identified maximum score.

Sample: 1A

Score: 8

In part (a) point 1 was earned by using the correct syntax to call each method, without parameters, at

least once. The methods of the Level class, getPoints and goalReached, are correctly called

on the instance variables levelOne, levelTwo, and levelThree. The isBonus method is

also called correctly. Point 2 was earned by using goalReached return values to determine if

points should be included in the score. Responses can earn point 2 even if they do not correctly

determine which points should be added to the score or if they do not call goalReached correctly.

Point 3 was earned by correctly using the result of isBonus to determine if a bonus should be

added to the score. Responses can still earn point 3 even if they do not calculate the bonus correctly

or if they call isBonus incorrectly. (The isBonus call is assessed in point 1.) Point 4 was earned

because the variable sum is initialized and used to calculate the correct score. Responses can still

earn point 4 even if the return statement is omitted. Calculation of a correct score for levels 2 and

3 depends on whether or not the goal was reached on previous levels. When the condition used to

check if a previous level’s goal has been reached is missing or incorrect, or if the bonus is incorrectly

computed, point 4 is not earned.

Computer Science A 2022 Scoring Commentary

Visit College Board on the web: collegeboard.org.

Question 1 (continued)

In part (b) point 5 was earned because the response correctly uses a for loop to iterate num times.

Point 6 was not earned because the play and getScore method calls are incorrect. The response

uses the class name, Game, to access the methods, which is incorrect since neither play nor

getScore is a static method. The methods are members of the Game class, as is the method being

written. Therefore, the correct method calls are play() and getScore(). Responses may

include the this keyword in calls to these methods. Point 7 was earned because the response

compares an identified maximum variable, highScore, with another score. This point can be

earned even if the getScore method is called incorrectly or if the values being compared are

incorrect. However, the values compared must be identified scores or maximum values. Point 8 was

earned because the response implements the correct algorithm to identify the maximum score. The

play method must be called exactly once each time through the loop, and the maximum score must

be appropriately updated in order for this point to be earned. The response correctly initializes the

maximum value variable, highScore, and updates that variable inside the loop as needed. Point 9

was earned by returning the identified maximum score stored in highScore. To earn this point,

there must be logic to find the maximum or there must be a loop and calculations on the variable that

is returned. The value returned does not have to be the correct maximum score, nor even a

maximum, to earn this point.

Sample: 1B

Score: 5

In part (a) point 1 was not earned because the isBonus method is called incorrectly. The method

call Game.isBonus() is incorrect since isBonus is not a static method and is a member of the

same class as the method being written. Responses may include the this keyword in the method

call (this.isBonus()). The getPoints and goalReached methods are called correctly, but

all three method calls must be correct in order to earn this point. Point 2 was not earned. Even

though the goalReached method is called correctly, there is no attempt to add points only if the

goals of the current level and all previous levels are reached. In order to earn this point, there must

be code that includes level 2’s points in the score only if the goals of levels 1 and 2 are reached or

code that includes level 3’s points in the score only if the goals of levels 1, 2, and 3 are all reached.

This point could have been earned if either the level 2 points or the level 3 points were correctly

handled. Point 3 was earned because the isBonus return value is used to determine whether the

bonus should be added. Point 4 was not earned because points from levels 2 and 3 are added to the

score if the goal of the current level is reached, regardless of whether the previous levels’ goals were

reached. To earn this point, both the level 2 points and level 3 points must be correctly handled.

In part (b) point 5 was earned because the for loop starts at 1 and loops while i <= num, so

the body of the loop is executed exactly num times. Point 6 was not earned because the response

incorrectly uses the class name, Game, to access the play and getScore methods. Point 7 was

earned because the if statement compares a score with the identified maximum variable,

highScore. This point was earned, even though the response calls getScore incorrectly,

because the incorrect method call is assessed in point 6. Point 8 was earned because the response

correctly identifies the maximum score by declaring a maximum variable, highScore; initializing it

Computer Science A 2022 Scoring Commentary

Visit College Board on the web: collegeboard.org.

Question 1 (continued)

to zero; and updating it as needed in the loop after a correct comparison. Point 9 was earned by

returning the identified maximum, highScore.

Sample: 1C

Score: 2

In part (a) point 1 was not earned because the isBonus method is called incorrectly. All method

calls must be correct in order to earn this point. Point 2 was not earned. Even though the

goalReached method is called correctly, there is no attempt to add points only if the goals of the

current level and all previous levels are reached. Point 3 was earned because the isBonus return

value is used to determine whether the bonus should be applied. The incorrect call to isBonus

does not affect this point as the correctness of the method call was assessed in point 1. Point 4 was

not earned because the sequential if statements in the response do not accumulate the appropriate

score. Note that no points were deducted for the missing return statement in part (a).

In part (b) point 5 was earned because the for loop iterates exactly num times. Point 6 was not

earned because the response calls the play and getScore methods on an object other than

this. Point 7 was not earned because there is no comparison of a score with another score or with

an identified maximum value. Point 8 was not earned because the response does not correctly

identify a maximum score. There are no comparisons in the loop, and the loop creates a new Game

object in each iteration, which eliminates the possibility of a maximum. Point 9 was not earned

because there is no return statement and no variable to hold a score or calculated value that could

be returned.