Students in AP Computer Science Principles are gearing up to present their practice create tasks on Wednesday and Thursday to finish off the fall semester. This task is based on the create task students will have to complete in the spring as part of their AP test.

“I chose to have students complete this task because it’s a practice run,” teacher Alexa Hamilton said. “So it really gets them used to helping each other when I do not have the ability to help them, so they’re not as reliant on me when we get to the real thing.”

The AP Computer Science exam has two parts: a multiple-choice test and a create performance task. According to AP Central’s page on the AP Computer Science exam, during the create performance test, “students will develop a computer program of their choice” and will be given “at least 12 hours of in-class time to complete” the creation of their program.

Several students created games for users to play and just have fun.

“We built a mini golf game,” sophomore Ram Bonthala said. “So we constructed a game wherein the user has to select the direction and the power, and they were able to just, like, play the game.”

But other students took it up a notch and decided to attempt creating a solution to serious problems, like loneliness and other mental health issues.

“I built this game called Blobify, where the game holds a conversation with you in order for your mood to be elevated in case you’re feeling lonely,” sophomore Aswikha Karthikeyan said. “And after the conversation, you have an option of three games to choose from in order to elevate your mood even more.”

To Hamilton, it was very important that students learn how to manage their time and be productive in class through this task.

“I really want students to understand that when I give them time to work in class, they have to do it in class,” Hamilton said. “It will be a lot more beneficial to do it than to wait and try and do it at home last minute, because this is not something that turns out well that way.”

But for both students and Hamilton, the most exciting part of this assignment was the ability to unleash their creativity and create a unique program.

“I think I was most excited about, like, making this game my own,” Karthikeyan said. “At first I was thinking about it like it was just another project, but I began to become more invested in it. So I was trying to make it as, like, usable as possible and make it more, like, it looks legit.”