BIG IDEA 3 · 30–35% OF THE EXAM · 18 TOPICS
Algorithms and Programming
The largest Big Idea by far, and the one that's mostly code. Variables, expressions, conditionals, loops, lists, procedures, then algorithm efficiency and its limits. Every topic here builds on the one before it — read them in order the first time.
What the College Board expects you to walk away understanding
- Programs store and manipulate values with variables, expressions, and lists; data abstraction manages complexity.
- Algorithms are built from sequencing, selection, and iteration, and can be expressed in many forms.
- Procedures with parameters provide procedural abstraction, and libraries let programmers reuse others' procedures.
- Randomness and simulation let programs model uncertain and real-world processes.
- Algorithms differ in efficiency; some problems have no reasonable-time solution, and some have no solution at all.
Topics in this Big Idea
Night-before review
Every key term and exam tip from this big idea on one printable page.
□Big Idea 3 cheat sheetprint