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AP Computer Science Principles Medium practice

15 questions

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Medium practice

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Question 1

A binary search will only work correctly on a list that:

A.Contains only positive integersB.Is sorted in orderC.Has a length that is a power of 2D.Contains no duplicate values

Question 2

A pipeline to process data consists of three sequential stages that cannot be parallelized: Stage 1 takes 2 seconds, Stage 2 takes 8 seconds, Stage 3 takes 3 seconds. A programmer proposes splitting Stage 2 into four equal parallel tasks (each 2 seconds) running on four processors simultaneously.

What is the total pipeline time after this optimization?

A.4 secondsB.7 secondsC.13 secondsD.3.25 seconds

Question 3

A list scores ← [85, 92, 78, 90, 65] is passed to the procedure below. What value does mystery(scores) return?

PROCEDURE mystery(list)
{
  best ← list[1]
  FOR EACH item IN list
  {
    IF (item > best)
    {
      best ← item
    }
  }
  RETURN best
}

A.65B.85C.92D.410

Question 4

The following pseudocode is intended to find and return the minimum value in a list nums (which has at least one element).

PROCEDURE findMin(nums)
{
   minVal ← nums[1]
   FOR EACH n IN nums
   {
      IF n < minVal
      {
         minVal ← n
      }
   }
   RETURN minVal
}

What does findMin([8, 3, 6, 1, 5]) return?

A.8B.3C.1D.5

Question 5

Consider the following program development scenario:

A student writes pseudocode describing the algorithm.
She tests the pseudocode logic on paper with sample inputs.
She codes the algorithm in a programming language.
She runs the code and discovers it does not handle the case where the input list is empty.
She revises the code to handle empty input and tests again.

At step 4, the student is performing which activity?

A.Program designB.DocumentationC.TestingD.Abstraction

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Question 6

The Internet protocol stack is organized into layers, where each layer provides services to the layer above it and uses services from the layer below it. Which of the following BEST describes why this layered (abstraction) model is useful?

A.The layered model forces all Internet traffic to travel through a central server that manages routing for the entire Internet.B.The layered model allows each layer to be changed or upgraded independently without affecting other layers, as long as the interface between layers stays the same.C.The layered model encrypts each layer's data before passing it down, providing security at every level.D.The layered model eliminates packet loss by duplicating packets at each layer.

Question 7

A data analyst trains a machine learning model to predict loan approval using historical loan data. She later discovers that the historical data reflects past discriminatory lending practices that denied loans to certain demographic groups at higher rates. The model learns from this pattern and replicates it.

This scenario BEST illustrates which concern about data?

A.Data compression — the training data was compressed, removing important information.B.Metadata corruption — the timestamps on the records were inaccurate.C.Bias in data — the training data reflects historical discrimination, causing the model to perpetuate it.D.Lossy encoding — some loan applications were discarded during digitization.

Question 8

A company hosts its website on a single server in one data center. The website goes down whenever the data center loses power. Which of the following upgrades would MOST improve the website's fault tolerance?

A.Upgrading the server's processor to a faster model.B.Compressing the website's files so they take less storage space.C.Encrypting all connections using HTTPS.D.Replicating the website on servers in multiple geographically distributed data centers, with traffic rerouted automatically when one center goes down.

Question 9

A social media platform's recommendation algorithm suggests content based on a user's past engagement. Over time, the user primarily sees content that reinforces their existing beliefs.

Which of the following BEST describes a potential harmful effect of this computing innovation?

A.The algorithm is a beneficial innovation because it shows users content they find interesting, increasing engagement.B.The algorithm creates a "filter bubble" that limits exposure to diverse viewpoints, which can reinforce misinformation and reduce critical thinking.C.The algorithm is harmful only because it requires too much computing power, wasting energy.D.The algorithm is harmful because it requires users to pay subscription fees to see recommended content.

Question 10

A serial (sequential) version of a program takes 60 seconds to run. A parallel version uses 4 processors and contains a portion that cannot be parallelized, which takes 10 seconds. The parallelizable portion takes 50 seconds when run serially. What is the runtime of the parallel version?

A.15 secondsB.22.5 secondsC.50 secondsD.60 seconds

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Question 11

A survey of 10,000 adults asks: "Do you use social media daily?" Results show 68% say yes. A researcher concludes that 68% of all humans use social media daily.

Which flaw in this data analysis is MOST significant?

A.The sample size is too small — surveys need at least 1 million respondents to draw valid conclusions.B.The survey uses lossy compression, which distorted the responses.C.The conclusion overgeneralizes from a non-representative sample — adults surveyed in one context may not represent all humans (including children and people without internet access).D.The binary yes/no encoding of responses is insufficient and introduces rounding errors.

Question 12

What value does the following pseudocode display?

nums ← [3, 7, 2, 8, 5, 1, 9]
count ← 0
FOR EACH n IN nums
{
  IF (n > 4)
  {
    count ← count + 1
  }
}
DISPLAY count

A.3B.4C.5D.7

Question 13

A nonprofit creates an online platform connecting volunteers with local food banks, matching volunteer skills and schedules with food bank needs. The platform was built using donated server time and open-source software.

Which of the following BEST explains how this computing innovation addresses both a social problem AND a concern about equitable access to computing resources?

A.It addresses neither: the platform still requires users to have Internet access, which not everyone has.B.It addresses the social problem (food insecurity) by matching volunteers with food banks, and the equitable-access concern by using donated resources and open-source software, keeping costs low for the nonprofit.C.It addresses the social problem only; equitable access to computing requires giving every person a free device and internet connection.D.It addresses the equitable-access concern only; food banks already have enough volunteers without a computing platform.

Question 14

A program that reads a list of numbers and finds the maximum value contains the following bug: when all numbers are negative, it always returns 0. A developer adds a test case with the input [-5, -1, -3] expecting the output -1 but gets 0. After investigation, she realizes the maximum variable was initialized to 0 instead of the first list element.

Which of the following describes the COMPLETE process used to find and fix this bug?

A.Testing only — creating a test case that exposed the incorrect output.B.Testing to reveal the bug, then debugging to locate and fix the initialization error.C.Debugging only — investigating the code until the initialization error was found.D.Abstraction — hiding the initialization detail behind a helper method.

Question 15

Which of the following BEST describes an undecidable problem in computer science?

A.A problem that computers cannot solve because modern processors are too slow.B.A problem for which no algorithm can exist that always correctly determines a yes/no answer for every possible input.C.A problem that is difficult to solve but becomes solvable with better algorithms.D.A problem with more than one correct answer, making it hard for an algorithm to decide which to return.

AP Computer Science Principles Medium practice — Free with Answer Explanations | Test Practice Hub