CodeHS AP Computer Science Principles (CSP) Practice Exam

These questions are part of the practice quiz. Start practicing

• Which numbering system is base 8 and uses digits 0 through 7?
• What word describes the act of writing instructions for a computer?
• Which term describes information about a file such as its size, color depth, and resolution?
• Which encryption scheme uses two different keys for encryption and decryption?
• What word completes the acronym ASCII: American Standard Code for Information Interchange?
• Which term describes the initial set of data as collected, prior to any cleaning or processing steps?
• Which base uses digits 0-7?
• If a JavaScript function does not return a value, what is returned by default?
• Which of the following is true about the end of an array when using common array methods?
• Which pair of words best completes the sentence: Lower level protocols guarantee higher level protocols will function without stating specifically how this will be accomplished?
• What is the primary difference between symmetric and asymmetric encryption?
• What term refers to the gap between people with ready access to computers and the Internet and those without?
• Which term describes extremely large datasets that traditional data processing methods can't handle?
• Which protocol provides reliable, ordered and error checked delivery of a stream of packets?
• Which statement about Moore's Law is accurate?
• What term refers to the visual elements of a program through which a user interacts with the application?
• What is a Unicode code point?
• What is the hexadecimal digit that represents decimal 15?
• Which compression discards information to reduce size and cannot recover the discarded data?
• Which extension denotes a graphics format that supports lossless data compression and is commonly used on the web?
• Which extension is a lossless image format widely used on the web?
• Which encryption method uses a fixed substitution of letters with no repeating patterns, producing ciphertext?
• Which document typically accompanies a dataset to provide context, purpose, and provenance?
• What term refers to the endings of file names that indicate the format for how the underlying bits are organized?
• Which concept is defined as simplifying problems by focusing on general features and ignoring details?
• Which HTTP method is typically used when the request should be idempotent and have no side effects on the server?
• Which is a counting-based loop that increments a variable each iteration?
• Which statement about a library in programming is true?
• Which binary value represents decimal 14?
• What is the fundamental unit of a digital image, typically a tiny square or dot that contains a single point of color?
• Which control structure implements conditional statements in many programming languages?
• What is the address used to call a web page?
• What term refers to a type of data used for graphics or pictures?
• Which encryption method uses different keys for encryption and decryption?
• Why do network protocols use layering?
• Which statement best differentiates data privacy from data security?
• Why is random sampling important in data analysis?
• When would you choose a while loop over a for loop?
• Complete the term: domain name ________.
• Which of the following is an example of a high-level programming language mentioned?
• A Kilobyte is equal to how many Bytes?
• UI is an acronym for what concept in software development?
• Which extension denotes a bitmap image format?
• What does an IPv4 private address such as 192.168.0.1 signify in a local network?
• A single value of either TRUE or FALSE is called a
• What operation is used to join text strings together, such as "Hello, " + name?
• Which protocol is commonly used to deliver Hypertext documents on the web?
• Which license enables free distribution of a work and permits sharing, use, and adaptation?
• Name two common network topologies and one advantage for each.
• Which term refers to creating simple representations of complex phenomena to help learn and communicate?
• Which extension is used for a graphics format that supports lossless compression and is widely used for web graphics?
• What general distinction exists between HTTP GET and POST requests?
• What is scope in programming?
• Which statement comparing ASCII and Unicode is correct?
• Which option describes the secure transport protocol used for web traffic?
• What happens if you access an array index equal to the array length in languages like JavaScript?
• What concept dictates what portions of code can access a variable, depending on where created?
• What term refers to repeating a process, often with each repetition moving toward an end point?
• If a loop processes n items with constant work per item, and you double n, what happens to the total work?
• Which term describes the practice of creating concise representations to help understanding of complex phenomena?
• Which term describes a number system that uses 16 symbols, including A through F?
• What information does a histogram convey about a data set?
• Which practice involves finding and fixing problems in your algorithm or program?
• One Megabyte is equal to how many Kilobytes?
• Which tool or technique uses dynamic parameters to reduce a data set to viewing only similar items in a row or column?
• What is the name of a cipher that encrypts text by applying a series of alphabetical shifts based on a keyword?
• Which term describes joining text strings together (e.g., "Hello" + name)?
• Which file extension is commonly used for a lossy image format designed for photographs?
• Which of the following is a common aggregation operation that computes a single value from a set of values?
• Which term describes a question with only two possible answers?
• What is the generic term for a technique (or algorithm) that performs encryption?
• If a loop processes n items with constant work per item, what is the overall time complexity?
• Which topology is described as providing high redundancy and fault tolerance?
• 1024 gigabytes is equal to which storage unit?
• What term describes a number assigned to any device connected to the internet?
• Which encryption technique maps each letter to a chosen other letter?
• Which topology is typically easy to manage due to a central hub but can be a single point of failure?
• Which term describes the process of repeating steps toward a final result?
• What is the single unit of information in a computer?
• What is the difference between ASCII and Unicode, and why is Unicode necessary?
• In programming, a value that can be TRUE or FALSE is called a
• What is the purpose of a checksum in data transmission?
• What is the purpose of a base case in a recursive function?
• What is the effect of a clear, descriptive function name on debugging?
• Which option correctly expands the acronym ASCII?
• What term describes an incremental or small improvement to an item?
• Which of the following describes a primary benefit of using APIs?
• Which concept describes the comparison of the popularity of topical queries in an online search engine over time?
• How many bits are needed to uniquely represent 1,024 distinct values, and why?
• What hex value represents white in 32-bit hex color?
• In ASCII, how many bits are used to represent a character, and how is that typically stored in modern systems?
• What did Moore's Law claim about transistor counts on integrated circuits, and is it continuing at the same pace today?
• Which of the following is an example of a lossless image compression format?
• Which extension is commonly used for photographs and uses lossy compression?
• In digital graphics, which term refers to the color model that combines red, green, and blue channels to produce colors?
• What service translates URLs to IP addresses?
• What is the time complexity of a linear search on an unsorted list of n elements?
• Which characteristic describes a high-level programming language?
• Which term best describes a preliminary sketch or model used before building the final product?
• Which traversal visits a node's deepest descendants before its siblings?
• Which protocol is used for transmitting web pages over the Internet?
• In a function call, what term refers to the actual value supplied to the function?
• What extension corresponds to the Waveform Audio File Format for storing uncompressed audio data?
• Which term denotes a basic unit of data used to measure memory capacity?
• What term describes the repetition of information to reduce errors in transmission?
• Which term describes a novel or improved idea, device, or product?
• What is the universally recognized raw text format that any computer can understand?
• How do you access the third element of an array named arr in JavaScript?
• Which numbering system uses digits 0-9?
• Which unit equals 1024 megabytes?
• What term describes a value's property that tells the computer how to interpret the value?
• Complete the term: transmission ____________ protocol.
• Which term describes the attempt to decode a secret message without knowing all the specifics of the cipher?
• Which feature of high-level languages most contributes to portability across computer systems?
• Which of the following illustrates an abstraction layer and its benefit?
• Which cipher uses a keyword to determine shifts for each letter in the plaintext?
• Which unit equals 1024 bytes?
• Name a comparison-based sorting algorithm with average time complexity O(n log n).
• What condition is required for efficient binary search?
• What term refers to the original data as it was collected?
• What term describes secure web messaging where the encryption key is public and the decryption key is private?
• DNS stands for Domain Name System.
• Which term describes a single data element that defines the color value in an image?
• What is the purpose of a library in programming?
• What is pseudonymization in data privacy?
• Which encryption method involves substituting each letter with another letter according to a fixed mapping?
• If you implement a function max3(a, b, c) using nested if statements, what should it return?
• Why does using a longer symmetric key generally increase security?
• In JavaScript, what is the difference between '==' and '==='?
• What process reverses encryption to reveal the original plaintext?
• Which file extension corresponds to a commonly used lossy audio format?
• Which term best describes a technique that performs encryption?
• One Kilobyte is equal to how many bytes?
• Why is it important to create test cases that cover edge cases like empty inputs or very large inputs?
• When would you choose a while loop over a for loop?
• Which encryption technique shifts every letter by a fixed number of positions in the alphabet?
• 1024 megabytes is equal to which unit?
• Which term is a broad umbrella for methods that perform encryption?
• Which pair of words best completes the sentence: Higher level protocols use lower levels without needing to understand precisely how they work?
• Redundancy in data transmission is best described as the repetition of information to reduce errors.
• One Gigabyte is equal to how many Megabytes?
• Why is hashing a password preferable to storing it in plain text?
• Which statement about binary code is true?
• What is the generic term for a technique (or algorithm) that performs encryption?
• What data describes other data, such as the size of an image, the number of colors, or the resolution?
• Which statement best describes HTTP GET requests?
• Which term refers to extremely large datasets that traditional data processing methods can't handle?
• Which symbol represents the 'or' logical operator?
• Complete the term: uniform resource ________.
• What principle states that all Internet traffic should be treated equally by Internet Service Providers?
• Which numbering system uses digits 0-9?
• Which statement about histograms is true?
• Which statement about hashing with salt is true?
• Apply De Morgan's law to the expression ¬(A ∧ B).
• Which protocol ensures reliable, ordered delivery of a data stream between hosts?
• Which extension is a compressed archive format that can contain multiple files?
• When would you prefer a recursive solution over an iterative one?
• Which extension denotes a compressed archive format that may contain one or more files or directories?
• Which hex code is used to represent the color white in 32-bit hex notation?
• How do you add an element to the end of an array named arr in JavaScript?
• Which operator is used to negate a boolean condition?
• Which color model uses varying intensities of red, green, and blue light to reproduce colors?
• Which symbol represents the logical NOT operator?
• Which hexadecimal digit represents decimal 15?
• What happens if a recursive function never reaches the base case?
• Which type of statements run only under certain conditions?
• What is the generic term for a technique (or algorithm) that performs encryption?
• What mathematical operation returns the remainder after division?
• Which document provides background information about a dataset?
• Which term refers to describing a system by focusing on essential aspects and ignoring details?
• What best describes an API in software development?
• Which number system uses 16 distinct symbols: 0-9 and A-F?
• Which extension denotes a lossless image format widely used for web graphics with transparency support?
• Which statement best describes the difference between latency and bandwidth in network performance?
• Which statement describes the benefit of meaningful function names?
• Which graph traversal algorithm visits as far as possible along a branch before backtracking?
• In programming, what best distinguishes a parameter from an argument?
• What is the representation of processor instructions using binary digits 0 and 1 called?
• Which statement correctly describes the prerequisite and time complexity of a binary search?
• What term describes a preliminary sketch or model for something new?
• Why include an edge-case test with empty input?
• Which statement best describes a key property of lossless compression, and give examples?
• What does RFC stand for in networking standards?
• Which operator would you use to perform logical OR?
• What is the term for the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time?
• With 8 bits, what is the maximum number of distinct values that can be represented?
• What is the role of the Domain Name System (DNS) on the Internet?
• What term describes an action that causes something to happen in a program?
• Which compression preserves all original data?
• Which term describes images, diagrams, or tables created from data to highlight a data story?
• What does scalability mean in a computing system?
• What is a placeholder for information that can change during a program's execution?
• Which operator would you use to test if at least one of two conditions is true?
• What is the term for a value passed to a function to customize it?
• Why is breaking data into packets useful in network communication?
• What term describes the ability to route around broken servers on the Internet?
• The number of bits conveyed per unit of time is called the bit rate.
• Which operator is used to compare two values and returns a Boolean result, distinct from the assignment operator?
• Which extension is a graphics format with lossless compression and supports transparency?
• Which category of programming language provides little or no abstraction from hardware and maps closely to processor instructions?
• What is the 8-bit data unit called?
• What is printed by the following code when x equals 12: if (x > 10) { print('big'); } else { print('small'); }
• What term describes a problem-solving approach to find a satisfactory solution when an optimal solution is impractical or impossible?
• Which statement about DNS is true?
• HTTP stands for...
• Why is adding a salt to a password before hashing important?
• Which practice improves modularity in software design?
• Which statement about global scope is true?
• Why is it beneficial to design a function with a single responsibility and descriptive name?
• What is the time complexity of nested loops where the inner loop runs n times for each of n iterations?
• When you transform numerical data into charts or images to tell a story, this is called what?
• What describes a set of rules governing the exchange or transmission of data between devices?
• What is the precise sequence of instructions for processes that can be executed by a computer?
• Which of the following is a valid way to access the property named 'name' on an object 'person' using dot notation?
• What hex value represents black in 32-bit hex color?
• If the data set is [2, 5, 5, 7, 9], what is the median?
• What do you call a block of code that you can call repeatedly and that returns a value?
• Which option lists the symbols used in binary code?
• What is the generic term for a programming statement that uses a Boolean condition to determine whether to run a certain block of statements?
• Which symbol represents the 'and' logical operator?
• What term describes the act of repeating a process?
• What term describes a computation that groups rows from a dataset to produce a single, meaningful value such as average or sum?
• Which extension denotes an uncompressed audio file format?
• What is the main difference between HTTP and HTTPS?