Practice APEs with feedback
Each exam here is realistic APE (Advancement Programming Exam) practice, set up as a GitHub repository. Each time you push (send your commits to GitHub), you get a practice score and a lesson to read for each miss. The score is practice only. It is not a department record, and it does not count as passing the APE. The official APE site decides everything about the real exam.
1. Join the practice organization
You need a GitHub account with your @ewu.edu address on it, verified. Check at github.com/settings/emails. If the address is missing or marked Unverified, add it and click the link GitHub emails to it.
Join the practice organization
On the join page, click Sign in with GitHub, then accept the invitation at github.com/orgs/EWU-CSCD211-Practice/invitation. If GitHub asks for two-factor authentication (a second code at each sign-in), set it up and open that address again.
2. Accept a practice exam
| Practice exam | Good to know | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Practice exam 1 | Opens in IntelliJ as 1 project | Accept |
| Practice exam 2 | An Eclipse project; the parts you write sit between //startMethod and //endMethod |
Accept |
| Practice exam 3 | Each folder opens on its own; the README includes the instruction sheet | Accept |
Each link opens Classroom 50. Sign in with GitHub, click Accept assignment, then Open repository. If Classroom 50 says you are not enrolled, or that it couldn't finish setting up your access, accept the invitation from step 1 first, then open the link again. Always work in the repository Classroom 50 makes for you; a copy in your own GitHub account gets no feedback. If a link does not open, copy its address into your browser:
- Practice exam 1:
https://classroom50.org/EWU-CSCD211-Practice/ape/assignments/practice-spring-2023/accept?k=n5wjwdj7 - Practice exam 2:
https://classroom50.org/EWU-CSCD211-Practice/ape/assignments/practice-summer-2019/accept?k=n5wjwdj7 - Practice exam 3:
https://classroom50.org/EWU-CSCD211-Practice/ape/assignments/practice-fall-2012/accept?k=n5wjwdj7
3. Take it like the real exam
Copy the repository to your computer (clone it). On its GitHub page, click the green Code button and copy the HTTPS address. In IntelliJ, click File, then New, then Project from Version Control, paste the address, and click Clone. Practice exam 2 is an Eclipse project: clone it the same way, and if IntelliJ asks which configuration to use, choose Eclipse. Its README also shows Eclipse and VS Code. Practice exam 3 opens 1 folder at a time; its README shows how.
Give it 4 hours in 1 sitting, the time the real exam allows, with only the Java API documentation open (the version the official FAQ links). Push once when the time is up, and keep that first score as your honest one. After that first push, push as often as you like. The README in your repository lists the problems and their files, and shows how to push.
The official Practice Exams page says:
"The actual exam may have topics not addressed on this practice exam."
4. Read your feedback
On your repository's GitHub page, click the Pull requests tab, then the pull request named Feedback. Do not click Merge or Close on it. It updates about a minute after each push. If it has not changed 20 minutes after a push, tell your CSCD 211 instructor. It shows:
- your practice score, then PASSED or NOT YET (whether the score reaches 75, the pass line this practice uses; the official site publishes no pass line for the real exam)
- each check you missed (a test run on your code, or a rule below), with what it expected and what your code gave
- a lesson on this site for each miss
Begin with the problem it names first. Read its lesson, change your code, and push again.
The rules
Change only the lines between //startMethod and //endMethod, in the files the README lists, and keep each method header. A private helper method or field between the markers is fine. An import line sits above the markers, so write a full name such as java.util.ArrayList instead (IntelliJ adds an import when you accept its suggestion on a red class name).
A changed Main or test file costs nothing here, because the grader uses the original files. On the real exam, the instruction sheet quoted below says any other change can cost that part 0 points.
The Practice APE Exam Instructions (the instruction sheet for practice exam 1) say:
"Do not attempt to modify, delete or view any existing .class files. Do not delete or modify the existing comments including “//startMethod”, “//endMethod”. Furthermore, only modify the source files specified. Any other modifications will result in 0 points for that part."
"Code that does not compile will receive 0 points for that problem. Code that compiles but has an infinite loop or an infinite execution will receive 0 points for that problem."
The Upcoming APE General Instructions Preview, also on the official Practice Exams page, adds:
"Do not attempt to modify, delete any existing .txt files."
"If you use Java built-in sort() method for the Sorting problem, you will get 0 points for sorting. If you use loops in the recursion problems, you will get 0 points for recursion."
Official site: the Practice APE Exam Instructions, item 2, and the Upcoming APE General Instructions Preview, item 3, both on Practice Exams.
Official text read from inside.ewu.edu/csape on 2026-09-10. Where this page and that site disagree, the site is right.