AP COMPUTER SCIENCE
PRINCIPLES EXAM LATEST
UPDATE 2026
Metadata - answer- data about data, like a camera storing the location, aperture, shutter
speed, etc. for a digital photo
Sequencing - answer- code flows line by line, one after another, like a recipe
Overflow - answer- error that results when the number of bits is not enough to hold the
number, like a car's odometer "rolling over"
Round-off - answer- error that results when the number of bits is not enough to represent
the actual number, like 3 digits to represent π as 3.14
Lossy - answer- Compressing data in a way that throws some data away and makes it
almost impossible to recover the original, great compression, like JPEG images
Lossless - answer- Compressing data in a way that preserves all data away and allows full
recovery of the original, good compression -- usually not as good as lossy, like PNG images
Selection - answer- a boolean condition to determine which of two algorithmic paths are
taken, aka if-then
,Iteration - answer- using a looping control structure, like while, for, foreach, repeat,
repeat-until, etc.
Reasonable Time - answer- polynomial in the number of steps an algorithm takes in the
worst case based on the input size
Not reasonable time - answer- Usually exponential in the number of steps, like doubling
every time your input grows by one
Heuristic - answer- using a "rule" to guide an algorithm, like always walking toward the
north star if you were stuck in a forest
Undecidable - answer- A problem that is so difficult, we can't ever create an algorithm
that would be able to answer yes or no for all inputs, like determining if a user's program run on
some input would always stop and not run forever
Linear Search - answer- Going one by one vs starting in the middle and going left/right like
looking for a word in the dictionary
Crowdsourcing - answer- Asking lots of users online to help with something, like funding a
project, or running SETI@Home to help look for extraterrestrial signals
Creative Commons - answer- An alternative to copyright that allows people to declare
how they want their artistic creations to be shared, remixed, used in noncommercial contexts,
and how the policy should propagate with remixed versions
Open Access - answer- A policy that allows people to have read access to things, e.g.,
libraries or online data
, Moore's Law - answer- The # of transistors on a chip doubles every two years
Peer-to-peer Networks - answer- A system where one user's computer connects through
the Internet to another user's computer without going through an intermediary "centralized"
computer to manage the connection
Digital Divide - answer- The idea that some communities / populations have less access to
computing than others
ISP - answer- Internet Service Provider
How does internet communication arrive at its destination? - answer- Speech on the
Internet goes from the source to an ISP, into the cloud, out of the cloud to another ISP, and to its
destination
How can the government control speech on the Internet? - answer- 1) It can try to control
the speaker or the speaker's ISP, by criminalizing certain kinds of speech. But that won't work if
the speaker isn't in the same country as the listener.
2)It can try to control the listener, by prohibiting possession of certain kinds of materials. In the
U.S., possession of copyrighted software without an appropriate license is illegal, as is
possession of other copyrighted material with the intent to profit from redistributing it.
3) The government can try to control the intermediaries.
How can Internet posters evaded being convicted for defamation/slander on the Web? -
answer- The posters could evade responsibility as long as they remained anonymous, as
they easily could on the Internet.
PRINCIPLES EXAM LATEST
UPDATE 2026
Metadata - answer- data about data, like a camera storing the location, aperture, shutter
speed, etc. for a digital photo
Sequencing - answer- code flows line by line, one after another, like a recipe
Overflow - answer- error that results when the number of bits is not enough to hold the
number, like a car's odometer "rolling over"
Round-off - answer- error that results when the number of bits is not enough to represent
the actual number, like 3 digits to represent π as 3.14
Lossy - answer- Compressing data in a way that throws some data away and makes it
almost impossible to recover the original, great compression, like JPEG images
Lossless - answer- Compressing data in a way that preserves all data away and allows full
recovery of the original, good compression -- usually not as good as lossy, like PNG images
Selection - answer- a boolean condition to determine which of two algorithmic paths are
taken, aka if-then
,Iteration - answer- using a looping control structure, like while, for, foreach, repeat,
repeat-until, etc.
Reasonable Time - answer- polynomial in the number of steps an algorithm takes in the
worst case based on the input size
Not reasonable time - answer- Usually exponential in the number of steps, like doubling
every time your input grows by one
Heuristic - answer- using a "rule" to guide an algorithm, like always walking toward the
north star if you were stuck in a forest
Undecidable - answer- A problem that is so difficult, we can't ever create an algorithm
that would be able to answer yes or no for all inputs, like determining if a user's program run on
some input would always stop and not run forever
Linear Search - answer- Going one by one vs starting in the middle and going left/right like
looking for a word in the dictionary
Crowdsourcing - answer- Asking lots of users online to help with something, like funding a
project, or running SETI@Home to help look for extraterrestrial signals
Creative Commons - answer- An alternative to copyright that allows people to declare
how they want their artistic creations to be shared, remixed, used in noncommercial contexts,
and how the policy should propagate with remixed versions
Open Access - answer- A policy that allows people to have read access to things, e.g.,
libraries or online data
, Moore's Law - answer- The # of transistors on a chip doubles every two years
Peer-to-peer Networks - answer- A system where one user's computer connects through
the Internet to another user's computer without going through an intermediary "centralized"
computer to manage the connection
Digital Divide - answer- The idea that some communities / populations have less access to
computing than others
ISP - answer- Internet Service Provider
How does internet communication arrive at its destination? - answer- Speech on the
Internet goes from the source to an ISP, into the cloud, out of the cloud to another ISP, and to its
destination
How can the government control speech on the Internet? - answer- 1) It can try to control
the speaker or the speaker's ISP, by criminalizing certain kinds of speech. But that won't work if
the speaker isn't in the same country as the listener.
2)It can try to control the listener, by prohibiting possession of certain kinds of materials. In the
U.S., possession of copyrighted software without an appropriate license is illegal, as is
possession of other copyrighted material with the intent to profit from redistributing it.
3) The government can try to control the intermediaries.
How can Internet posters evaded being convicted for defamation/slander on the Web? -
answer- The posters could evade responsibility as long as they remained anonymous, as
they easily could on the Internet.
