<p>I'm studying for the AP Computer Science AB test from Barron's. I'm finding the tests and practice questions ridiculously hard--I usually get a little over half of them correct. Is the AP exam this hard? And if the Barron's is is harder, how much harder?</p>
<p>the questions are ridiculously hard and nitpicky. i don't think the ap exam is actually going to be that bad, because our teacher had us take a practice test, and it definitely wasn't.</p>
<p>but, my teacher xeroxes the barrons chapter reviews and uses them for our test questions. word for word. so i have to learn the answers. lol. at least i do well on all the tests =)</p>
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<p>Thank god I'm not the only one. </p>
<p>I've worked through some of the past AP comp sci exams and they were extremely easy compared to Barron's.</p>
<p>so I decided to take the practice test for A (not AB) and I got a score range from about 39-45. This equates to a 3-4 scale on the AP score. Since this is the Barron's test, what would this score equate to in real life (any estimations)?</p>
<p>On a side note, I'm taking AB, not A test.</p>
<p>Our teacher made us took a past test (AB)for our final today. It was definitely easier than Barron's test, but doing all of those hard problems really helped me out. I breezed through it easier.</p>
<p>Use Barron's....it can help you out</p>
<p>Feez, is there anyway you could scan the past test and post it online for the rest of us? We would really appreciate it.</p>
<p>Yes, please post the test if you can.</p>
<p>Yes, Feez, please post it--Thanks!</p>
<p>Is there anyone else here self-studying for AP Comp Sci AB here? I'm in AP Computer Science A, using Barron's and this lengthy textbook called Exposure Java. I also have 5 Steps to a 5. Does 5 Steps/Barron's cover everything?</p>
<p>Ditto on the Barron's questions--they're ridiculous. 5 Steps is EASY, though I've heard it's actually like the test. Anyone else know from experience?</p>
<p>Btw, we need to start a review thread.</p>
<p>I'm self studying AB and I think Barrons should cover close to everything. I also have Litvin which I plan to use for quick review and cramming.</p>
<p>One question: The case study is still the Marine Biology one, right? I have seen some mixed responses.</p>
<p>Another question: What's the curve like?</p>
<p>It's still Marine Bio. Gridworld is next year. </p>
<p>How many of the Barron's MCs do/should you do per chapter? I just do 10-15 cuz I either get bored or discouraged after a while...</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know if we have to memorize the specific codes for sorting algorithms? That's the only thing I just don't get.</p>
<p>I hope we don't need to memorize it... The Big-O notation is somewhat confusing. I'm using Barron's and 5 Steps to a 5 right now... are there any websites with practice tests anyone knows of?</p>
<p>Do they give us a Quick Reference on the MCs?</p>
<p>Guys, if i HAD the test I'd definitely scan it up but my teacher took it away. :[ It was from 2004 I believe, so it only covered Java 4 topics (though there isn't THAT much difference).</p>
<p>Yes, they give you a quick reference on the MC part because you'll need it (or maybe not ;]) for the fish problems.</p>
<p>Yes, the case study this year is still the Marine Bio one, next year they're changing it.</p>
<p>Barron's pretty much covers everything you need to know and supplies challenging problems. What you want to do is do really well on the MC part of the test and Barron's is good for preparing you for that. Study using Barron's mostly and a few days before the test bust out Litvin's to review everything since it's really short.</p>
<p>cooljoe, I don't think you have to memorize all the sorting algorithms but you definitely need to know which one's which if they give you code for a sort on the test.</p>
<p>And yes, Big-OH is evil. :[ But a lot of Big-Oh questions can be freebies. Hope that cleared everything all up lol</p>
<p>Thanks Feez, that helps. About what percent of the MCs were APCS A topics?</p>
<p>It's such a relief if we don't have to memorize the algorithms our teacher said once that we need to though). The processes themselves are easy to understand, but I get WAY confused looking at the code, especially with recursion. Big-O is a lot easier to remember though. Was there a lot of it on the test?</p>
<p>Is it just me, or is superficial knowledge enough for this exam?</p>
<p>Cooljoe, if you are in AB, I don't think superficial knowledge is enough. If you don't have some deeper knowledge the FRQs may hurt you. I'm going to prep at the Barrons level just to be safe.</p>
<p>How far are you in your self-studying, tapedDuck?</p>
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<p>It's such a relief if we don't have to memorize the algorithms our teacher said once that we need to though). The processes themselves are easy to understand, but I get WAY confused looking at the code, especially with recursion. Big-O is a lot easier to remember though. Was there a lot of it on the test?</p>
<p>Is it just me, or is superficial knowledge enough for this exam?
Superficial knowledge can get you far enough in the MC section but you might get pretty unlucky on the FRQs. :[</p>
<p>For the test I took, I'd say around 30-40% of the questions were A material. There was around 3-4 specific big-Oh questions.</p>
<p>And yeah, recursion can get pretty tricky sometimes. It's easier to write it all out, going through each step one by one. Usually they don't give you something that'd take a while so I think it's worth doing each step. Unless of course, you're magical enough to see what the answer would be off teh bat (there are people like that >_>).</p>
<p>Sometimes recursive calls can be predicted -- the simple ones, of course. If there is a println() call and there is another base case, you automatically know that the println() calls will be stacked and whatever you input into the recursive method you get back, except reversed. You can use patterns, I suppose, but they may prove futile for the long and arduous ones. ;)</p>
<p>I'm self studying Barron's and I just finished the Collections chapter. Anyone know if you need to know all the Map and Set methods (as in memorized)? There seem to be a lot of them, or it could just be me. :D</p>
<p>Not far at all, I plan to start cramming soon</p>
<p>We used Barrons in my APCSA class and we got 3's-5's for those that took the class seriously. Honestly, I'd say Barrons is rather close to the test. I wouldn't say they are really harder. Though I didn't have as much trouble with Barrons as you guys seem to be having.</p>
<p>Here are some past years Free Response Questions.
<a href="http://cs.colgate.edu/APCS/AP%20Course%20Information/APCSFRArchive/APCSFreeResp.html%5B/url%5D">http://cs.colgate.edu/APCS/AP%20Course%20Information/APCSFRArchive/APCSFreeResp.html</a></p>
<p>The biggest piece of advice I can give you is that you make sure you don't spend too much time on a question. Also, learn with those free response questions how to maximize your points. If you have a free response left, you can figure out what they are most likely looking for and BS enough for an extra point or two. Normally just throwing in a return, writing the start of the method with the return type, and some variables will give you at least an extra point or two on that question.</p>