How is Computer Science AP in High School?

[AgaBoogaBoo]

First, as far as I understand, all AP classes cover the same stuff for the most part. If this is true, how hard is Computer Science AP and how much work does it require? I'm guessing its all in class stuff since some people don't have a computer at home.

I've spent years using html, javascript, perl, php, mysql, dhtml, etc. All the website related stuff. I'm able to edit things to my liking but I'm not very advanced in the fact that as a webmaster, I've only had to create and edit. But for scripts, I have people in Germany who do the programming for my site gladly and/or I can use premade scripts.

I asked one person and he said its a blowoff class in his terms. He said just do the day's work in class and you're done. He said that its an easy class overall. Anyone else taken the course want to comment?

 

[Lager]

Very easy, probably taught by the gym teacher/lunch lady.

 

[littleman]

yup, if you've had all that programming experience, you'll be fine. plus you can find all the assigned programs online

 

[Lager]

I believe your first assignment is try to uninstall AOL software.

 

[Drakkon]

It depends on the high school....mine was super easy....teacher just gave us one major project to work on and try to understand how it might work using a variety of techniques for sorting and structuring...
The actual test though is a combination of a lot of techniques and ideas....if u dont have a good teacher for the AP class your not going to pass it with a good score though....unless your pretty experienced already

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: coldcut
I believe your first assignment is try to uninstall AOL software.

:Q

Dayyumn, I better start studying

 

[Angrymarshmello]

I didn't know squat about programming but it was easy. And fun

 

[Queasy]

It depends on the instructor. If you are at a government school instead of a private school then you'll probably end up with someone who barely understands computers themselves. You may luck out and get someone who is knowledgeable and cares but hey, the real world isn't Boston Public.

 

[brtspears2]

Piece of cake. Pay attention, do some extra work on the side.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: Queasy
It depends on the instructor. If you are at a government school instead of a private school then you'll probably end up with someone who barely understands computers themselves. You may luck out and get someone who is knowledgeable and cares but hey, the real world isn't Boston Public.

There's only one guy who teachers it at our school. I think its the only class he teachers, I hope he's easy. If not, I'll have to work

 

[eLiu]

Get one of those AP review books from Baron's or Princeton Review or whoever has one for AP CS. Note that this year, AP CS will be in Java...so a new book may not be out yet. Could study with the old one (C++) if you like...it has all the concepts in there, just the wrong language (algorithms and language are unrelated...) Anyway, I read the AP book over the summer...I started with about 0 programming experience, and when I finished the thing, I could write all the sorts, trees, searches, linked lists, hash tables, blah blah blah blah. It's really not hard if you have half a brain for logical thinking. Loop invariants & Big-O notation is kind of annoying & non-intuitive though...and the case studies are retarded...but it's wise to read over those (can be found on the collegeboard website). Also be familiar with the 5 ap classes (apvector, apmatrix, apstring, etc)

 

[gwlam12]

it was hard for me. but my teacher sucked. i got a 4 on AP exam, though. however, i got a C on my final exam but teacher gave me an A. thus, teacher sucked and i didnt do well in the class. but after going over some of the same stuff in college, the material really isn't hard at all. so yea. material is fine. just depends on your teacher, or whether or not you can pick it up easily.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: gwlam12
it was hard for me. but my teacher sucked. i got a 4 on AP exam, though. however, i got a C on my final exam but teacher gave me an A. thus, teacher sucked and i didnt do well in the class. but after going over some of the same stuff in college, the material really isn't hard at all. so yea. material is fine. just depends on your teacher, or whether or not you can pick it up easily.

Hmmm... some people say its easy, others say it requires some work. Is this all in class stuff though?

 

[anxman69]

CS entirely depends on how it clicks with you. I do recall *ONLY* working during classtime and pulling straight-A's + a 4 on the AP. I am really really glad I took the class because it made my college programming courses much easier (ie: understanding OOP).

Generally, knowing how to program is really important if you enter fields such as engineering, mathematics, finance, economics, etc.

-Ankur