An Official A+ College Ready Course
APCS Principles
Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles
Support your AP Computer Science Principles course with engaging activities and resources from A+ College Ready and JuiceMind. Access hands-on programming activities, projects, and practice exercises aligned with College Board standards and Alabama state requirements.
Course Details
Designed to integrate seamlessly into your existing computer science curriculum.
Course Information
Standards Alignment
Every unit maps to the computer science frameworks your district already reports on.
Partnership Benefits
Everything you need to deliver an exceptional computer science education experience.
Web-based IDE
No downloads, no hassles, immediately start coding with our comprehensive development environment.
Automated Grading
Give you back hours of time with intelligent code assessment and instant feedback.
Code Comments
View and provide detailed comments and feedback on your student's code.
Plagiarism Detection
Find plagiarized responses and maintain academic integrity automatically.
Customize Your Curriculum
Edit and bring your own taste to your curriculum by changing or making new additions.
Start Course Now!JuiceMind Quizzes
Student EngagementKahoot-like platform that features Multiple Choice, Select the error, drag and drop, and Fill in the Code questions.
Group Projects
Collaborative LearningStudents can collaborate on shared workspaces to complete various coding activities.
Parsons' Problems
Scaffolded CodingGive students confidence by dragging and dropping shuffled code blocks into the correct order to assemble a working solution.
Unplugged Activities
Hands-On LearningStep away from the screen and spark a hands-on, collaborative activity that draws every student into the conversation.
Course Breakdown
Eight units, 260 items and about 52 hours of material. Students start in Snap! for block-based programming, switch to Python with CMU Graphics at Unit 5, and finish on a mock Create Performance Task.
Unit 1 — Getting Started with Snap!
The course opens in Snap!, the block-based environment students work in before moving to Python. Four class days, from a guided walkthrough to a unit assessment.
Unit 2 — Motion, Angles and Drawing the Internet
Four more days in Snap!. Students move a sprite, experiment with angles and turning, then step away from the screen to draw how the internet works.
Unit 3 — Algorithms, Variables, Booleans and Procedures
The largest unit in the course by both item count and contact time, numbered through Day 28. Students go from acting out a human computer simulation to writing conditionals, Boolean logic and their own procedures, closing on debugging and programming assessments.
Unit 4 — Lists, Iteration and Search
Lists end to end — building them, traversing them, manipulating them and searching them — anchored by the UPC Code Checker project and numbered through Day 30.
Unit 5 — Python with CMU Graphics: Events and Functions
The switch from blocks to text. Students move into Python with CMU Graphics, starting from position, size and colour and building up to mouse events, conditionals and their own functions.
Unit 6 — Loops, Lists and Search Algorithms in Python
Iteration and search in Python, built around the Guess the Word activity and a run of search-algorithm labs.
Unit 7 — Project: AP CSP Adventure Game
Five straight class days of independent project work on the AP CSP Adventure Game, which the unit carries in two versions.
Unit 8 — Mock Create Performance Task
A rehearsal for the AP Create Performance Task: students code a mock project, then answer sample AP exam written-response questions about it. The platform records no duration for this unit.