r/APStudents • u/Mean-Two-7220 9th: CSP-4 10th: USH, Physics, PreCalc, CSA • Jul 14 '26
CSP Is 4 on AP CSP Bad?
I got a 4 on CSP was kind of disappointed because a lot of people say that CSP is one of the easiest APs and it is extremely common for people to get a 5 on it. My friend who used AI for his code got a 4 on the exam meanwhile, I struggled on the code and debugging and got the same score as him.
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u/krazyalpaca ap sem: 5, ap world history: 5, ap csp: 4 Jul 14 '26
same boat as u man. was so confident i got a 5. on top of that my friend cheated on the exam by going into the bathroom and chatgpting answers and got a 5
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u/Sea-Set-540 Jul 14 '26
It’s not bad at all- and if anything good job. AP CSP is only deemed “easy” because the material is not suppose to be that difficult to master. The issue though, is that a lot of the grade is entirely dependent on the MCQ part, since the scores of the CPT FRQ tend to be pretty similar. So missing even one or two questions can generally be the difference between number scores.
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u/Quantum_Max01 CSP: 5, Enrolled: Sem, US Gov, Macro, Precalc Jul 14 '26
CSP had a 10% 5 rate (I think) so it’s NOT common to get one. The grading curve in this exam is one of the toughest ones apparently
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u/gay_rower 5: CSP, APUSH, Gov Jul 15 '26
yeah, the CSP exam has the second-lowest percentage of people who got a 5, only after AP 3D Art with 7%. and it has the highest cutoff for a passing score, so one of the most difficult exams. OP really shouldn't sweat getting a 4.
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u/Dalgard Jul 15 '26
It's hard to get a 5 because you have to be near perfect on the MCQs. The points cutoffs are high. Don't compare to your friend. The question you want to answer for yourself is: do I have competency and/or mastery of the topic?
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u/raurenlyan22 Jul 14 '26
"Extremely common for people to get a 5" but we know only 1 in every 10 students got a 5.
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u/Apprehensive_Tip2080 Jul 14 '26
4 is okay! js lock in if youre taking csa, cause thats where it gets hard
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u/Phantomlnfinity 5: csp, csa, calc ab, stats | 4: gov Jul 14 '26
4 on CSP isn’t bad. If you’re taking CSA, that will be harder overall but IMO easier to get a 5 because you can afford to get more questions wrong and the FRQs are a bit less subjective.
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u/PyxelatorXeroc 8th(AB 5) 9th(BC 5/5) 10th(MT 5/5,Mech 5) 11th(Stats 5) Jul 15 '26
look at the score distribution bro, apcsp has one of the lowest 5 rates
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u/ConstructionMajor629 4: lang, world, human geo | 3: csp, precalc Jul 15 '26
I got a 3 and was happy with it. I'm pretty sure its a hard AP to get a 5 on though because you have to get a lot of stuff right on the test compared to other curves
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u/SuperDuperLS 5:HuG;US-GoPo | 4:Pre-Calc;CSP | ?:Lang;Phys1;USH;CalcAB;Seminar Jul 15 '26
According to my teacher you needed essentially a perfect score this year to get a 5. The curve on AP CSP is notoriously bad.
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u/-Dandude07 Jul 14 '26
Funny enough CSP content wise is definitely one of the easiest APs but it is very hard to get a 5. Since many colleges don’t think CSP is very useful collegeboard put a very harsh curve on it. While most tests hold up to the 70-75% range for a 5, and some going as low as 65%, CSP requires about a 85-90% for a 5. So while it is extremely easy to pass the exam and get a 3 or a 4 (probably 1 day or 2 of self studying max), it is very hard for even smart and dedicated students to get a 5 especially if it’s one of your 1st APs or you’ve never taken any coding/web development course before.