Completing Your Explore Performance Task
(Prompt 2e)
Congratulations! If you are reading this chapter, you are close to finishing your Explore Performance Task.
This chapter focuses on the final steps for submitting your Explore Performance Task, which include:
1.your citations (Prompt 2e).
2.preparing documents to be submitted.
3.using the Digital Portfolio.
Allow 1 to 2 hours to organize your sources and submit your Explore Performance Task to the College Board.
I.
ORGANIZING YOUR RESPONSE TO PROMPT 2e
A.Prompt 2e asks you to provide a list of all online or print sources you used to create and/or support your responses to the prompts regarding your computational artifact. The list you provide in response to this prompt does not count against your word count.
B.To get full credit for Prompt 2e, do the following:
1.Cite at least three sources. At least two of the sources listed must have been created after the end of the previous academic year.
i.Your citations for online sources require the information listed below. Most of this information is public. If you have trouble finding any of it, try searching for the URL of your source on the website whois.com. If any information listed below is not available, omit it in your response.
The permanent URL
Author
Title of site
Source (Who is responsible for this URL? This could be a person or a company.)
Date retrieved
Date reference was written or posted
ii.Print sources require the following information:
Author
Title of excerpt/article and magazine or book
Page number(s)
Publisher
Date of publication
iii.Interview sources require the following information:
Name of person interviewed
Date on which interview occurred
Person’s position
2.Note that each source should be numbered, relevant, credible, and easily accessed.
There is no word or page count limit for this prompt, so take the time to make a clear presentation. Consider creating two sections. Title the first section “Citations Related to Artifact,” and title the second section “Citations in Written Responses.”
CONVERTING FILES TO FINAL VERSIONS BEFORE SUBMITTING
A.You will need to submit two pieces of your Explore Performance Task to the College Board:
1.Your computational artifact
2.Your written responses
B.Keep in mind these important details about the computational artifact.
1.Remember, your artifact can be any one of the following:
i.A video or audio file that is less than 1 minute in length and under 30 MB in size.
ii.A PDF that is less than three pages.
2.The artifact must be saved with one of the following file extensions: .mp3, .mp4, .wmv, .avi, .mov, .wav, .aif, or .pdf.
i.To find the file extension, look at the properties of the file.
ii.If the file is a document, convert it to print as a PDF.
iii.If the file is a video or audio file, use your video or audio editor to convert the file to an appropriate file type. If this is not possible, find an online tool that you can use to convert the file.
3.The artifact needs to clearly state your computing innovation.
4.If you used outside sources for any part of the artifact, cite these sources in Prompt 2e. Put superscripts on the artifact or explain in Prompt 2e where these sources were used.
C.Keep in mind these important details about your written responses.
1.Use the College Board template so that Prompts 2a through 2e are shown and your responses appear below each prompt.
2.After you have entered your responses into the template, you will need to convert the template to a PDF for submission.
As a final check, refer to Appendix E for your Explore Performance Task checklist. This checklist summarizes the key requirements based on the latest Scoring Guidelines.
III.
USING THE DIGITAL PORTFOLIO TO SUBMIT YOUR TASK
A.Before you press the “Final Submit” button on your Digital Portfolio, spend some time making sure you are maximizing your score. Be sure you can answer “yes” to each of these questions:
| Prompt | Requirement | Yes | No |
| 1 | Does your artifact illustrate, represent, or explain the computing innovation’s purpose, function, or effect? | ||
| 1, 2a | Does your artifact identify the innovation? | ||
| 2a | Did you identify and state a plausible fact about the innovation’s purpose or function? | ||
| 2b | Was your artifact created using a computational tool? | ||
| 2b | Did you explain how you created the artifact well enough so anyone can understand? | ||
| 2c | Did you identify a beneficial effect of the innovation? | ||
| 2c | Did you identify a harmful effect of the innovation? | ||
| 2c | Did you explain how these effects impact a society, a culture, or an economy? | ||
| 2d | Did you identify the data that the innovation uses? | ||
| 2d | Did you explain how the innovation consumes, produces, or transforms data? | ||
| 2d | Did you identify one data storage, data privacy, or data security concern in this computing innovation? (Be sure the concern is connected to the innovation.) | ||
| 2d | Did you explain how the data storage, data privacy, or data security concern could harm an individual or larger group? | ||
| 2e | Do you provide online citations of at least three sources? | ||
| 2e | Are these citations used in your written responses (with superscripts or “according to” phrasing)? | ||
| Did you check your word counts? Keep the word count within the specified guidelines. The template provided by College Board will do this for you. |
B.When you are ready, follow these steps to submit:
1.Communicate with the teacher who is your school point of contact and let him/her know you plan to submit your task.
2.Go to digitalportfolio.collegeboard.org and log in.
3.Find your class and click on the Explore Performance Task.
4.Follow directions to upload your artifact.
The site will prompt you to check the version you are uploading.
Upload your artifact.
Verify that this is the version you want to submit. Then, either submit this version, or upload a different version.
5.Follow directions to upload your written responses (Prompts 2a–2e). Again, you will be prompted to verify that this is your final version.
Celebrate! You have just submitted the Explore Performance Task, which will become 16 percent of your AP Computer Science Principles score. Take a moment to reflect on all that you’ve learned.
Your next step is the Create Performance Task, where you are the main innovator.