AP CS Debugger

The AP Computer Science A (AP CSA) exam is undergoing significant changes for the 2025-26 school year, affecting both students and teachers preparing for the May 2026 exam. Here’s a clear breakdown of what’s new and how you can prepare effectively.

What’s Changing?

Course Content Updates

• Inheritance Removed:
• Previously essential topics like inheritance (formerly Unit 9) and polymorphism are no longer required. This adjustment aligns AP CSA more closely with introductory college courses, which typically introduce these topics later in the curriculum.
• New Topics Added:
• There’s now an emphasis on working with text files and data sets. Specifically, students will learn to read files using Java’s File and Scanner classes, a practical skill beneficial for modern programming and data analysis.
• Unit Consolidation:
• The course units have been streamlined from 10 units down to 4 larger, integrated units. This creates a more cohesive and flexible learning experience.

Exam Format Changes

Multiple-Choice Section:

• Increased to 42 questions (previously 40).
• Each question now has only 4 answer choices (previously 5).
• This section now accounts for 55% of the total exam score (up from 50%).

Free-Response Section:

• Still contains 4 questions, but total scored points have reduced from 36 to 25.
• Question 3 (Data Analysis) will exclusively use ArrayList, removing arrays from this question.
• The free-response portion now makes up 45% of the total exam score (down from 50%).

Why These Changes?

The College Board updated the AP CSA exam based on extensive feedback from college faculty and surveys. These updates better reflect the expectations and curriculum structure found in introductory college-level programming courses. New questions sets and practice tests will roll out sometime during the summer of 2025.

Quick Reference Summary

Further Resources

• College Board AP CSA Future Revisions
• AP CSA Exam Tips
• CompuScholar AP CSA Updates
• GoCobi AP CSA Curriculum Update