Overview

This blog shows some of the questions that I either got wrong or forced me to think about the answer for a little while before getting it right. It also goes into detail on questions I got wrong and what I can do better to not make that same mistake on a question like that for the future.

My Score

The final exam was 66 questions for a grand total of 67 points. I earned a score of 65/67 (97%), as shown below:

My score indicates that I have a very solid understanding of all the concepts on the exam; however, there were a few questions that I got wrong and would like to go over as well as questions that forced me to think for a while before I arrived at the correct answer. It is important that I review these questions, as I will know how to tackle these questions at a much faster pace when I take the actual AP exam.

Questions to Review

Questions I got wrong

Question 32

The first question to review is question 32, shown below:

The correct answer was D, which is shown in the image of the question. Question 32 involved figuring out which pseudocode segment could be used to calculate the finalGrade using the procedure calls given in the table. While the concept behind this question was not particularly difficult, I ended up getting this question wrong, as I likely assumed that by subtracting the smallest of the scores in the list of scores that it would also drop the lowest score. This caused me to choose C, which divided the sum after subtracting the lowest score by the length of the list before the lowest score was moved, which was incorrect. I now know that I should carefully read what is on the code segment, as not doing so here is what caused me to get this exact question wrong. For a question like this, I need to make sure that I look at the important parts of each choice and to not overthink it, as doing so could make me lose valuable time and in fact make it more likely for me to choose the wrong answer.

Question 67

The next question to review is question 67, shown below:

This question had two correct answers, which were A and B as shown above. I chose A as one of the answers, but I ended up choosing C instead of B for the second answer, resulting in me getting the question wrong. For this question, I had to keep track of everything that was happening as the procedure NumOccurences iterated through wordList. I was able to successfully do this for A, as I could see that the count of “birch” would be increased to one the first time that it was seen before count would be reset to 0 after moving on to the next work. For the other choice, however, I failed to see that option C would display the intended result, since the word oak is the last element of the list and only occurs once, displaying the result 1. B is the other correct answer because while “count” for the word maple becomes 1 the first time it is equal to the targetWord, the count resets after moving on to the word “oak”, which causes the program to display 0 as the result instead of 1. This is why I believe that this question will be an especially important one to review while we study for the AP exam. One way I can improve my confidence with questions like these is to write down what is happening rather than just trying to do everything in my head, as if I do it in my head, I will be more likely to make a mistake.

Questions I got right but took me some time to answer

Question 26

The next question to review is question 26, shown below:

The correct answer to this question was A, which was the missing code shown above While the concept behind this question was not particularly difficult, similar to the last question reviewed, I had to keep track of what was happening and where the robot was on the grid. Whether the robot had to move forward or rotate right, I needed to make sure that I noted down where the robot was and imagine what it would like if the robot were to rotate in a certain direction. As previously mentioned, one way I can improve my ability to answer these questions with more confidence is to perhaps write or even draw out what is happening, as I know that we will be provided with some paper for the AP exam. While it may not be necessary, especially for a computer science class, I have sometimes found it helpful when I write stuff down, as I can clearly see what is happening and am more easily able to pick the correct answer.

Question 38

The last question to review is question 38, shown below:

The correct answer for this question was C, which is highlighted in green above. This question is quite different from the ones I have previously reviewed, as this one tested my ability to take a scenario and “translate” it into pseudo code. While the scenario given was pretty basic, which made it relatively easy to choose the correct answer, it is important that I try to find more practice problems like this, as the real AP Exam could give a much more challenging questions. While doing this is not challenging, if I ended up misinterpreting the scenario, I could have gone down the wrong path searching for the answer and thus choose the wrong answer. It is important that I learn to familiarize myself with these kinds of questions by maybe finding some online or putting emphasis on these kinds of questions to review for the AP exam, as that will definitely put me on the path to doing well.

Question 56

The last question to review is question 56, shown below:

The correct answer for this question was D, which is that the program displays odd integers from 1 to 19. Similar to some of the questions that I have reviewed for this exam and other exams we have completed in the past, the tricky part of this question was that I had to keep track of everything that was going on. For this particular question, I had to note down the sums as well as any patterns in terms of if all of the results were odd or even While doing this is not challenging, if I added wrong or lost track of what was happening, I would end up 1. losing valuable time and 2. risk getting the question wrong. It is important that I learn to familiarize myself with these kinds of questions by practicing more questions like these for the AP exam, as that will definitely put me on the path to doing well.

Final Reflection/Personal Takeaways

Overall, I am very happy with the score that I earned, as it shows that I have a good understanding of what we have studied in this class so far and shows me that I can answer multiple choice questions like these really well. The questions that I reviewed here were also a learning experience for me, as it made me realize how I can approach those kinds of questions in the future to ensure that I reduce the risk of getting them wrong. I like having these opportunities to test myself on what we have learned so far and seeing how well I do, as they almost always are a true learning experience for me. These kinds of tests show me what my strengths and weaknesses are and tell me how I can improve, and I really hope that I reflect great improvement in answering MCQ questions as we continue to do more of them in the future leading up to the AP exam.