AP Computer Science Principles FRQ how to answer the written responses.
The AP Computer Science Principles FRQ — officially the written response section — is 30% of your score, and it is unlike any other AP: the questions are about a program you built yourself. Here is what the four written-response prompts ask, how they are scored, and how to write answers that earn the points.
What the AP CSP written responses look like
Section II of the end-of-course exam gives you 60 minutes to answer two questions containing four distinct prompts, and every one is about your own Create Performance Task program. You answer them with your Personalized Project Reference — screenshots of a procedure and a list from your code — open in front of you. Because this moved onto the exam in 2024, you are not writing new code under time pressure; you are explaining code you already wrote.
The four prompts are fixed in what they target: your program’s purpose and function, an algorithm you developed, how you tested and debugged it, and how your program uses a list and a student-developed procedure to manage complexity.
The four written-response prompts
How the AP CSP written responses are scored
Each prompt is scored against a rubric, point by point, and the points reward specific, accurate references to your own code — not general knowledge. The algorithm response only earns full marks if the algorithm genuinely includes sequencing, selection, and iteration; the abstraction response needs a real list and a student-developed procedure with a parameter that actually reduces complexity. Vague or generic answers, or ones that describe code your reference does not show, lose points.
This is why the Create task and the written responses are inseparable: a program built with the rubric in mind — one containing a meaningful algorithm, a list, and a procedure with a parameter — makes every written response easier to earn.
Where students lose the most points
How to prepare for the written responses
Build your Create program to satisfy the rubric on purpose: include an algorithm with sequencing, selection, and iteration; a list that stores meaningful data; and a student-developed procedure with a parameter that manages complexity. Then make a clean Personalized Project Reference and rehearse describing each of those elements in plain, precise language.
Use the full AP CSP review guide to connect the written responses to the rest of the exam, and run a practice raw score through the score calculator to see where you land.
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers — written by humans, not a chatbot.
What is the AP Computer Science Principles FRQ?
It is the written response section of the end-of-course exam: two questions with four prompts about the program you built for the Create Performance Task, worth 30% of your score and answered in 60 minutes.
How many written response questions are on the AP CSP exam?
Two questions containing four distinct prompts — program design, algorithm development, errors and testing, and data and procedural abstraction — all about your own program.
Do I write code on the AP CSP written responses?
No. You explain the program you already built, using your Personalized Project Reference — you are not writing new code during the exam.
How are the AP CSP written responses scored?
Each prompt is scored against a rubric that rewards specific, accurate references to your own code — the purpose, an algorithm with sequencing, selection, and iteration, a list, a student-developed procedure with a parameter, and your testing.
What is the Personalized Project Reference?
Screenshots of your program code — a procedure and a list — that you create during the Create task and can look at while answering the written responses on the exam.