CSAwesome APCSA
Advanced Placement Computer Science A
CSAwesome is the free, College Board endorsed AP Computer Science A curriculum. Run it on JuiceMind and your class keeps the CSAwesome lessons it already knows while gaining a real Java sandbox, console input, per-student grading, code-level feedback and unit quizzes.
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
CSAwesome follows the four units of the AP Computer Science A Course and Exam Description that took effect in fall 2025. Exam weightings and class-period counts are the College Board's; topic counts are CSAwesome's own lesson totals for each unit.
Unit 1 — Using Objects and Methods
15-25% of the exam. Students start writing and running Java, then move from primitive types and expressions into calling methods on objects and working with Strings. Ends with the Receipt lab.
Unit 2 — Selection and Iteration
25-35% of the exam. The point where programs stop running strictly top to bottom: if statements, Boolean operators and De Morgan's laws, then while loops, for loops, nested loops and loop analysis. Pairs with the Magpie lab.
Unit 3 — Class Creation
10-18% of the exam. Students move from calling other people's classes to writing their own — abstraction, constructors, instance variables, accessors and mutators, static members and the this reference. Pairs with the Virtual Pet lab.
Unit 4 — Data Collections
30-40% of the exam, the largest unit on it. Arrays and ArrayLists, reading data from text files, 2D arrays, then the searching, sorting and recursion topics the course closes on — plus the data ethics and data set material new to the 2025 framework.
Unit 5 — Inheritance (optional)
Inheritance and polymorphism were removed from the AP CSA exam in the 2025 framework. CSAwesome keeps the unit as optional enrichment for classes that want to go further.
Why Teach CSAwesome on JuiceMind
CSAwesome has traditionally been housed on Runestone. Running it on JuiceMind keeps the same curriculum and adds the classroom tooling teachers ask for most — and most of it is free.
Benefit #1
Free
Sandbox IDE
Students and teachers get a code sandbox inside JuiceMind to write, test and run their Java.
Benefit #2
Free
Student Console Input
Students can pass input into the console — not an option on Runestone, which itself recommends JuiceMind for those exercises.
Benefit #3
Free
Faster Turtle Graphics
Graphics programs that run with a noticeable delay on Runestone execute significantly faster on JuiceMind.
Benefit #4
Free
Better Score Control
Click any student to see their score and results for an assignment, rather than reading a whole-class grid.
Benefit #5
Paid
Customizable Assignments
You know your students best — the CSAwesome course arrives as a template that is fully editable.
Benefit #6
Paid
Comments and Feedback on Code
Select a student and leave full comments and feedback directly on the code they wrote.
Benefit #7
Paid
Full Student History
See every keystroke a student made while completing an assignment. Plagiarised and copy-pasted responses are flagged.
Benefit #8
Paid
Quiz Integration per Unit
Run a JuiceMind quiz for each CSAwesome unit directly within the CSAwesome interface.
Benefit #9
Paid
Group Projects
Open up assignments so that many of the exercises can be completed collaboratively in groups.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CSAwesome still free if we run it on JuiceMind?
Yes. CSAwesome is a free curriculum, and the core JuiceMind features for teaching it — the Java sandbox with console input, faster turtle graphics and per-student score views — are on the free tier. Customizing assignments, leaving code feedback, viewing full keystroke history, unit quizzes and group projects are paid features.
How is this different from running CSAwesome on Runestone?
The curriculum is the same. JuiceMind adds a full Java sandbox that accepts console input (Runestone does not, and CSAwesome points teachers to JuiceMind for those exercises), noticeably faster execution of graphics programs, a per-student grading view, inline code comments, keystroke-level submission history with copy-paste flagging, JuiceMind quizzes per unit, and group projects.
Does CSAwesome match the new AP CSA framework?
Yes. CSAwesome was revised in 2025 (CSAwesome2) and re-endorsed by the College Board for the AP Computer Science A Course and Exam Description that took effect in fall 2025 — four units, with inheritance and polymorphism moved off the exam and kept as optional enrichment.
Can I change the course for my classroom?
Yes. On a paid plan you get the CSAwesome course as a fully editable template, so you can reorder units, cut activities and add your own assignments alongside the CSAwesome lessons.