AP Computer Science A Labs
- Level High School
- Contact Hours 50
- Timeframe Unit
This course is home to labs meant to prepare students for the AP CS A exam. Use this course to meet the 20 lab hours required for AP CS A, or as additional coursework for students post-exam. Note that completing our AP CSA (Cortado) course provides students with well over 20 hours of hands-on, lab-like experiences that count toward this requirement.
To view explore the full course, click here.
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Consumer Review
The persuasive power of words can be seen in a variety of places such as entertainment, news, social media, and even reviews and comments. Students learn about sentiment value and how this can be used to construct or modify a review to be more positive or negative using String manipulation. This lab can be used after Unit 2: Selection and Iteration in Cortado, Unit 4: Iteration in Nitro, and Unit 3: Methods in Mocha. |
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Magpie
Students learn how to use String methods and pattern matching to create a chatbot that they can have a conversation with. Students can complete this assignment after finishing Unit 3: Class Creation in Cortado, Unit 5: Writing Classes in AP CS A (Nitro) and Unit 4: Classes and Objects in AP CS A (Mocha). |
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Picture Lab
Students learn how to write methods to modify pictures and explore how images are stored in memory. This lab introduces concepts such as nested loops, interfaces, and inheritance. This lab can be completed after Unit 4: Data Collections in Cortado, Unit 9: Inheritance in AP CS A (Nitro), or Unit 5: Data Structures in AP CS A (Mocha). However, please note that interfaces and inheritance are not included in the AP CSA exam and are considered out-of-scope topics. Students using Cortado should complete the recommended unit and review these additional topics before starting this lab. |
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Elevens
Students learn how to use Object-Oriented design to create a solitaire card game. At the end of the lab, students use a Graphical User Interface to play the game they create! Students can complete this assignment after finishing Unit 4: Data Collections in Cortado, and Unit 6: Data Structures in AP CS A (Mocha). However, please note that inheritance, abstract classes and methods and interfaces are not included in the AP CSA exam and are considered out-of-scope topics. Students using Cortado should complete the recommended unit and review these additional topics before starting this lab. |
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Battleship
Students learn how to use Object-Oriented design to implement the board game Battleship. Students can complete this assignment after finishing Unit 4: Data Collections in Cortado, Unit 8: 2D Arrays in AP CS A (Nitro), Unit 5: Data Structures in AP CS A (Mocha). |
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Pokemon Simulation
Students learn how to create a Pokémon battle game using Object-Oriented programming to implement Pokémon, trainers, and moves! Students can complete this assignment after finishing Unit 4: Data Collections in Cortado, Unit 9: Inheritance in AP CS A (Nitro), and Unit 5: Data Structures in AP CS A (Mocha). However, please note that inheritance is not included in the AP CSA exam and is considered an out-of-scope topic. Students using Cortado should complete the recommended unit and review this additional topic before starting this lab. |
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Blackjack
Students learn how to use basic data structures in Java including arrays, ArrayLists, 2-dimensional arrays, and HashMaps to create a game of Blackjack. Students can complete this assignment after finishing Unit 4: Data Collections in Cortado, and Unit 7: ArrayLists in AP CS A (Nitro), Unit 5: Data Structures in AP CS A (Mocha). However, please note that HashMaps are not included in the AP CSA exam and are considered out-of-scope topics. Students using Cortado should complete the recommended unit and review these additional topics before starting this lab. |
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Mad Libs
Students learn how to write a program that allows users to create their own Mad Lib stories! Students can complete this assignment after finishing Unit 4: Data Collections in Cortado, Unit 7: ArrayLists in AP CS A (Nitro), and Unit 5: Data Structures in AP CS A (Mocha). |
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Celebrity Lab
Students learn how to discuss class design as it relates to the game Celebrity, where a person or team tries to guess the name of a celebrity from a given clue or set of clues. This lab includes inheritance as the basis for one of the activities and also includes a Graphical User Interface. This lab can be completed after Unit 4: Data Collections in Cortado, Unit 9: Inheritance in AP CS A (Nitro), and Unit 4: Classes and Object-Oriented Programming in AP CS A (Mocha). However, please note that inheritance is not included in the AP CSA exam and is considered an out-of-scope topic. Students using Cortado should complete the recommended unit and review this additional topic before starting this lab. |
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Steganography Lab
Steganography is the practice of concealing messages or information within other non-secret text or data. Students explore the concepts of steganography and 2D arrays, hiding images or text inside of other images. This lab can be completed after Unit 4: Data Collections in Cortado, Unit 8: 2D Arrays in AP CS A (Nitro), Unit 5: Data Structures in AP CS A (Mocha). |
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