Challenges

  • The biggest challenge I ran into when taking this test was staying focused. One reason why is that I simply was not in a work conducive environment the entire time. But also the test feels very monotonous and it is difficult to focus the entire time with the amount that I need to be attentive. Thi lack of focus lead to several simple mistakes that I made.
  • Another big challenge was College Board’s trickery on some questions like the containsArt question where the answer was contained in a trick of wording, but in order to solve this problem I had to write out the code from the question into my IDE to find a solution.
  • The content and skills performance report gave insight on very valuable knowledge regarding what units I am struggling with and what units I am strong in. One such unit that I need to improve on is unit 2 “using objects”, this makes sense as I am a native python programmer which is less dependent on objects to work. Whereas I am new to java and even though I understand OOP, many details of it are new to me.

Learnings

  • I learned how my environment can affect my focus
  • I learned java methods like String.substring() and Array.set()
  • I learned that writing out the code from the question can sometimes help me understand the context and the details of the code in question.
  • College board will try to sabotage you, read the directions and code very very carefully as to not miss any details.

Improvement Plan

  • Next test I take will ideally be in only one or two sittings and only in a place where it is quiet with no distractions.
  • Need more practice with java OOP, some obscure topics like the “interface” object were new to me.
  • Generally, more practice with these questions to improve my speed, because I took way too long completing this assignment.
  • Focus on coding practice, understand key concepts deeply, review sample questions, and simulate test conditions to improve time management and familiarity.
  • Improve my contextual understanding of APCSA by watching the college board videos and getting a better understanding of how college board will try to sabotage me.