Advanced Placement

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Toastedlightly

Diamond Member
Aug 7, 2004
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I have taken AP Macro Econ, AP Micro Econ, taking AP Gov and AP Euro History. I feel AP classes are fun becasue (if it is a good teacher) they challenge you. I say take away!

<- is a Junior in HS and hitching a free ride (hoepfully) the the University of Minnesota next year.
 

Kyteland

Diamond Member
Dec 30, 2002
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Originally posted by: amdfanboy
Originally posted by: Kyteland
Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
AP Java????? WTF!
Drinking coffee just ain't what it used to be. Some kids want a head start so they offer it in high school as an advanced placement class.

LMAO.

It's AP Computer Science.
AP CompSci is taught in Pascal.

Or am I just showing my age? ;)
 

amoeba

Diamond Member
Aug 7, 2003
3,162
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Originally posted by: Kyteland
Originally posted by: amdfanboy
Originally posted by: Kyteland
Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
AP Java????? WTF!
Drinking coffee just ain't what it used to be. Some kids want a head start so they offer it in high school as an advanced placement class.

LMAO.

It's AP Computer Science.
AP CompSci is taught in Pascal.

Or am I just showing my age? ;)



you are old......
 

timosyy

Golden Member
Dec 19, 2003
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I'm in AP Compsci ... its definately Java.

Also in AP Physics C (our school only offers C). The colleges I want to go into require a 5 on the AP Physics C exam to get credit to make sure you check that as well. Also, AP Physics C is split into Mechanics or Electricity &amp; Magnetism. Some schools do both, some schools only do one. Mine only does Mechanics because we have it every other day .. some schools who have it every day do both.

In regards to the original question, neither is hard. Calc AB is actually hurting worse than Physics and CompSci combined (A's in both, bare C in Calc).

Edit: And if you're worried about free time ... I'm taking 6 APs this year (AP CompSci, AP Calc AB, AP Physics C, AP Lit &amp; Comp, AP US Govt, AP Comparative Govt.) and I still have plenty of time to hang out / do nothing / sleep / videogames. Then again, I do the "wake up at 3-4am to do homework" thing so if theres no essays in english or whatnot .. pretty much my entire day is free. I find the last-minute panic helpful in quickly completing my hw =p
 

jai6638

Golden Member
Apr 9, 2004
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thanks much for ur help guys... appreciate ...

im currently taking general physics and my professors great.... i checked his assignment sheet for the AP class and apparently they have only 10 sums worth of homework every night which imo is pretty decent.. ALlso my school only offers Ap Physics B ( Doh! ) ..


LMAO. It's AP Computer Science.

well they call it AP java in my school...


Im really not sure if i really wanna take AP european history... really boring for me.... what credits could i get if i took it in college???? could i get credits for courses much worse than that of european history? ;)

Is AP government about the functiong of the Government and about the various brances of the government or something???

I only can think of probably doing AP Physics B, Ap Java , AP caculus for now.... ive got 2 years to do it and hopefully that will be enough time..



 

amoeba

Diamond Member
Aug 7, 2003
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Originally posted by: timosyy
I'm in AP Compsci ... its definately Java.

Also in AP Physics C (our school only offers C). The colleges I want to go into require a 5 on the AP Physics C exam to get credit to make sure you check that as well. Also, AP Physics C is split into Mechanics or Electricity &amp; Magnetism. Some schools do both, some schools only do one. Mine only does Mechanics because we have it every other day .. some schools who have it every day do both.

In regards to the original question, neither is hard. Calc AB is actually hurting worse than Physics and CompSci combined (A's in both, bare C in Calc).



AP classes are interesting in that your grades doesn't really matter as much as how you score on the test. Grades matter still for high school ranking, etc, but not as much.

Also, does the OP go to a school where GPA is inflated for AP classes vs regular classes? If not, you might want to consider only taking AP for those you will definitely get credit for.

I got a 5 in mechanics but a 4 on Electro Mag. Kind of mad even to this day as I know the 4 was due soley on me mixing up my hands for the electric field for a wire with current.

 

timosyy

Golden Member
Dec 19, 2003
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AP govt. is pretty much what you described. I happen to be taking both AP US &amp; Comparative Govt so on test day I'm going to have a good 8 hours of solid government testing... haha.
 

timosyy

Golden Member
Dec 19, 2003
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AP classes are interesting in that your grades doesn't really matter as much as how you score on the test. Grades matter still for high school ranking, etc, but not as much.

Matters in the sense that it counts toward your cumulative HS GPA... and at least, for my school it gives you an extra .5.
 

amoeba

Diamond Member
Aug 7, 2003
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Originally posted by: jai6638
thanks much for ur help guys... appreciate ...

im currently taking general physics and my professors great.... i checked his assignment sheet for the AP class and apparently they have only 10 sums worth of homework every night which imo is pretty decent.. ALlso my school only offers Ap Physics B ( Doh! ) ..


LMAO. It's AP Computer Science.

well they call it AP java in my school...


Im really not sure if i really wanna take AP european history... really boring for me.... what credits could i get if i took it in college???? could i get credits for courses much worse than that of european history? ;)

Is AP government about the functiong of the Government and about the various brances of the government or something???

I only can think of probably doing AP Physics B, Ap Java , AP caculus for now.... ive got 2 years to do it and hopefully that will be enough time..



Note that even without taking the class, you can still sign up for the test. If you are really capable, learn physics C yourself out of class and take the test.

For AP computer science, do they offer AB or just A? also is AP calc BC or AB?
 

jai6638

Golden Member
Apr 9, 2004
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AP classes are interesting in that your grades doesn't really matter as much as how you score on the test. Grades matter still for high school ranking, etc, but not as much.

Please elaborate.. does that mean that scoring on the test doesnt matter??


I'm in AP Compsci ... its definately Java.

Also in AP Physics C (our school only offers C). The colleges I want to go into require a 5 on the AP Physics C exam to get credit to make sure you check that as well. Also, AP Physics C is split into Mechanics or Electricity &amp; Magnetism. Some schools do both, some schools only do one. Mine only does Mechanics because we have it every other day .. some schools who have it every day do both.

In regards to the original question, neither is hard. Calc AB is actually hurting worse than Physics and CompSci combined (A's in both, bare C in Calc).

Do u think its necessary to have basic Java knowledge ( coz i dont know anythin about java ...) to take the AP java course????
 

timosyy

Golden Member
Dec 19, 2003
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Do u think its necessary to have basic Java knowledge ( coz i dont know anythin about java ...) to take the AP java course????

Um, YES. Either that or C++ .... but if you're going into AP Compsci with nothing ... erm ...

Too many kids go into CompSci thinking "well, i'm good with computers ... I can code html .. learned that rather fast .. how hard can Java be?". I know plenty of kids who had normal compsci last year who have D's or C's this year in AP CS.

And i believe for the compsci test, you can choose either A or AB, much the same way you can chose either mechanics or e&amp;m for the physics one (or both).
 

jai6638

Golden Member
Apr 9, 2004
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hmm awrite... i guess ill take the regular C++ next year and then take AP java in senior year..

IN terms of what is taught, whats the difference beetween A and AB in compsci???
 

amoeba

Diamond Member
Aug 7, 2003
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Originally posted by: jai6638
AP classes are interesting in that your grades doesn't really matter as much as how you score on the test. Grades matter still for high school ranking, etc, but not as much.

Please elaborate.. does that mean that scoring on the test doesnt matter??


No Scoring on the tests do matter. My point is, your grade in the class in HS does not relate to the grade you get in college for the credit. Only the test score affects your grade in college.

Your HS class grade does effect your overall HS GPA and your HS ranking though.
 

timosyy

Golden Member
Dec 19, 2003
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Erm .. they don't have regular Java at your school but they have AP Java?

Despite some similarities, C++ and Java are still pretty different .. I was just saying if you'd already learned C++ it wouldn't be too hard of a transition into Java. Makes a whole lot more sense to take Java and then progress into AP Java, no ?

AB is just harder than A, in the same way that Calc BC is harder than Calc AB.
 

amoeba

Diamond Member
Aug 7, 2003
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Originally posted by: jai6638
hmm awrite... i guess ill take the regular C++ next year and then take AP java in senior year..

IN terms of what is taught, whats the difference beetween A and AB in compsci???



AB teaches more. When I took it, I believe the difference was that AB goes more in to object oriented programming, hashes, binary trees, and recursion. I don't believe there is recursion on the AB test though. Its been a while.

It really depends on the instructor. A good instructor will introduce you to some of the classical difficult beginner problems such as tower of hanoi, Knights move, etc.....
 

jai6638

Golden Member
Apr 9, 2004
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ye its stupid.... they have an "introduction to programming" course but i doubt it covers java .... ill ask the dept head anyways .. :p i really dont want them teaching me html or something coz i already know html ...

thanks
 

eigen

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2003
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Originally posted by: Drakkon
do neither...have fun senior year of HS...who cares what aP classes you take cause most universities will jsut laugh them off anyways seems like (i took AP calcA and Comp SciB got 3's on both tests and got NO credits)
unless u need the GPA boost (and your AP classes do that) I'd say just be with the normal kids and hook up with the cute dumb hotties senior year :D

:beer::thumbsup:
 

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
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Originally posted by: TuxDave
Unless you're good at physics, AP Physics C is gonna pwn you. What it WILL do if you do well is get you out of a couple semesters of physics in college as a Comp Eng. Some people would rather retake physics in college to boost their gpa. Some people would rather get it over with to lighten their workloads or to take more interesting classes.

C'mon now. What could be more interesting than an advanced physics class (well, with the exception perhaps of an advanced math class)