AP Computer Science Principles Final
Exam 2026 Questions and Answers
Overflow - Correct 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 - Correct 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 - Correct 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 - Correct 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
Metadata - Correct answer-data about data, like a camera storing the location,
aperture, shutter speed, etc. for a digital photo
Sequencing - Correct answer-code flows line by line, one after another, like a
recipe
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, Selection - Correct answer-a boolean condition to determine which of two
algorithmic paths are taken, aka if-then
Iteration - Correct answer-using a looping control structure, like while, for,
foreach, repeat, repeat-until, etc.
Reasonable time - Correct answer-polynomial in the number of steps an algorithm
takes in the worst case based on the input size
Not reasonable time - Correct answer-Usually exponential in the number of steps,
like doubling every time your input grows by one
Heuristic - Correct answer-using a "rule" to guide an algorithm, like always
walking toward the north star if you were stuck in a forest
Undecidable - Correct 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 vs binary search - Correct answer-Going one by one vs starting in the
middle and going left/right like looking for a word in the dictionary -- binary
search requires the list to be sorted in order
APIs - Correct answer-Application Programming Interface, how you define
libraries and call them
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Exam 2026 Questions and Answers
Overflow - Correct 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 - Correct 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 - Correct 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 - Correct 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
Metadata - Correct answer-data about data, like a camera storing the location,
aperture, shutter speed, etc. for a digital photo
Sequencing - Correct answer-code flows line by line, one after another, like a
recipe
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1
, Selection - Correct answer-a boolean condition to determine which of two
algorithmic paths are taken, aka if-then
Iteration - Correct answer-using a looping control structure, like while, for,
foreach, repeat, repeat-until, etc.
Reasonable time - Correct answer-polynomial in the number of steps an algorithm
takes in the worst case based on the input size
Not reasonable time - Correct answer-Usually exponential in the number of steps,
like doubling every time your input grows by one
Heuristic - Correct answer-using a "rule" to guide an algorithm, like always
walking toward the north star if you were stuck in a forest
Undecidable - Correct 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 vs binary search - Correct answer-Going one by one vs starting in the
middle and going left/right like looking for a word in the dictionary -- binary
search requires the list to be sorted in order
APIs - Correct answer-Application Programming Interface, how you define
libraries and call them
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
