AP Computer Science Principles Create Task Examples: What Really Works for the 2026 Submission

Let’s be real for a second. The College Board is picky. You’ve probably spent weeks staring at a blinking cursor in VS Code or Scratch, wondering if your "Weather App" is actually sophisticated enough to snag those points. It’s a common panic. When looking for ap computer science principles create task examples, most students fall into the trap of overcomplicating the wrong things. They try to build the next Instagram when the rubric actually just wants to see if you understand how data flows through a list and how a procedure handles parameters.

The Create Performance Task (CPT) isn't a test of your artistic ability or how "cool" your app is. It's a technical demonstration. I’ve seen students submit visually stunning games that fail because their "algorithm" was just a series of if statements without any real logic complexity. Conversely, I’ve seen ugly, text-based calculators get a perfect score because the student checked every box on the rubric.

The Logic Behind a High-Scoring Project

To get the full points, you need a program that functions. That’s the baseline. But the real meat of the grade comes from your written responses regarding your list and your procedure.

College Board updated the requirements recently to ensure students aren't just "copy-pasting" code. You have to show how your list manages complexity. If you could replace your list with two or three independent variables and the program still works fine? You’re going to lose points. The list must be essential. It needs to hold data that the program iterates through or accesses dynamically.

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Think about a "Study Flashcard" app. It’s one of the classic ap computer science principles create task examples for a reason. You have a list of questions and a list of answers. When the user clicks "Next," an index variable changes, and the app pulls the corresponding data from those lists. Without the lists, you’d have to create a hundred different variables for a hundred questions. That is what "managing complexity" actually means in the eyes of a grader.

Real Examples That Actually Pass

Let’s look at some specific ideas that balance "doable" with "gradable."

1. The Personalized Workout Generator
Instead of just listing exercises, the user inputs their fitness level (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced). The program filters a master list of exercises. It picks five random ones that match the user's level and stores them in a "Today’s Workout" list.

• The List: The master exercise database.
• The Procedure: A function called filterExercises(level) that uses a loop to check the "level" property of each item.
• Complexity: It shows selection (the if statement), iteration (the for loop), and sequencing.

2. Budget Tracker with Category Spending
This is a bit more math-heavy but very solid. The user enters an expense and a category (Food, Fun, Rent). The program appends the cost to a list. Then, a procedure calculates the total spent in a specific category.

• The List: expenseAmounts and expenseCategories.
• The Procedure: calculateTotal(categoryName). It loops through the categories, finds matches, and sums the values from the corresponding index in the amounts list.

3. Simple Inventory Manager for a Club
Imagine a school club needs to track t-shirt sizes. The app lets you add a name and a size. It stores them. Then, it can search for a name and tell you what size that person ordered.

• The List: memberNames and shirtSizes.
• The Procedure: findSize(searchName). It iterates through the names, and if it finds a match, it returns the size from the same position in the second list.

Why Most Students Trip Up on the Procedure

I’ve graded plenty of practice runs, and the "Procedure" section is where the most heartbreaks happen. You need a student-developed procedure that has at least one parameter. This parameter must affect how the procedure runs.

If you have a function called movePlayer() but it doesn't take any arguments, you're in trouble. If you change it to movePlayer(direction), and the code inside uses that direction to decide whether to change the X or Y coordinate, you’ve just satisfied the requirement. It's a small change, but it's the difference between a 3 and a 5.

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Handling the "List" Requirement Without Losing Your Mind

There is a specific part of the written response that asks how your program would be different if you didn't use the list. Don't just say "it would be harder to write." Be specific. Name the variables you would have had to create. Explain how the code would become repetitive and prone to errors.

One of the best ap computer science principles create task examples I saw involved a "Music Playlist" creator. The student explained that without a list, they couldn't allow the user to add an infinite number of songs. They would have been capped at a pre-set number of variables (like song1, song2, song3). That is a perfect explanation of managing complexity.

The Myth of the Complex UI

You don't need a 3D engine. You don't even need good graphics. In fact, many students using Scratch get bogged down in "costumes" and "backdrops" and forget to write the actual logic.

If you're using Python or JavaScript (App Lab), focus on the console or simple UI elements first. Make sure the data flows correctly. Can you add an item to the list? Can you delete it? Does your loop actually visit every item? Solve the math and the logic before you worry about what color the "Submit" button is.

Common Pitfalls in the Written Responses

The College Board is very specific about "iteration." This means a loop. If your program doesn't have a for each or a while loop that goes through your list, you haven't met the criteria.

Another big one: the "Selection" (the if statement) must be inside the procedure. If you have an if statement out in your main code but not in your specific student-defined function, it might not count toward that specific rubric point.

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Checking Your Own Work

Before you submit, do a "blind" read of your code. If you handed your program to someone who had never seen it, could they find the one procedure that does the heavy lifting?

1. Find your list. Is it being used to store data that changes during the program?
2. Find your procedure. Does it take a parameter? Does it have a loop? Does it have an if statement?
3. Check your video. Does it show the program running? Does it show the input and the output? If your app is a quiz, show yourself answering a question correctly and incorrectly.

Turning a Boring Idea Into a Winner

Kinda stuck on an idea? Take a boring one and add a filter. Instead of a "To-Do List," make it a "Priority To-Do List." The user assigns a priority (1, 2, or 3) to each task. The program then has a button to "Show Only High Priority."

Suddenly, you have a list (tasks), a parameter (the priority level), a loop (going through all tasks), and selection (checking if the task priority equals 3).

That’s a perfect CPT. It’s not revolutionary. It’s not going to be the next big startup. But it follows the rubric to a T.

What to Do Right Now

Stop scrolling through lists of ideas and pick one. Seriously. The biggest mistake is switching projects three weeks before the deadline because you saw a cooler ap computer science principles create task examples on Reddit.

• Step 1: Define your list. What data is it holding?
• Step 2: Define your "Main" procedure. What is the one thing this app does with that data?
• Step 3: Write the "Skeleton" code. Just get the list to print to the console first.

Once the logic works, the rest is just window dressing. If you can explain your code clearly in the written response, you're golden. The graders are looking for reasons to give you points, not reasons to take them away. Give them exactly what they’re asking for by following the rubric like it’s a recipe.

Focus on the data. The rest follows.