Hi. I am a sophomore in high school and am interested in taking the new course AP Computer Science Principles launching this fall 2016. I am a honors student having taken AP Human last year as a freshman, and taking AP World this year. I was wondering whether it would be better to take the course beginning fall 2016 (my junior year), or fall 2017 (my senior year), because it is so new. Would there be an advantage to taking the course the first year its available, or should I wait until my senior year after there has already been a round of testing for the course? I was also thinking about test-prep review books (like Princeton Review), and how long it would take for them to be released. Please advise. Thank you in advance for your help.
What is your plan for other main subjects? English, math, physics, chemistry, biology? AP CS is not the required class for most colleges. You can take it in any year. It depends on your teacher too. An inexperienced teacher may not teach the class well the first time. Review books could be late too. But if your are a strong student in programming and CS then you can take it in junior year.
From what my APCS teacher told us, APCSP is not programming but something else, so if you are looking for a programming experience, i would do APCS.
It uses computer language for illustration besides teaching abstract theories.
In APCS Java programming is required.
In APCSP the teacher chooses one or more programming languages to illustrate the concepts.
https://advancesinap.collegeboard.org/stem/computer-science-principles/course-details
Thank you for your responses. I understand what ACSP (not AP CS) is and and I definitely will be taking it sometime in my high school career. My question is NOT whether I should take it, but is whether I should take it the first year it is available (my sophomore year), or the second year (my senior year). I am asking this because I was wondering if there would be an advantage to taking an AP course the first year it comes out (AP CSP launches Fall 2016 for all schools). (My question essentially would apply to any new AP course.)
I would say there would be a slight advantage taking it senior year because you would have an ap test score breakdown and really see whether people struggle with the test.
Okay, I may end up doing that. Thanks for your help!
If AP Computer Science A is available i would take that instead. If not I would wait until senior year just for the reason that there won’t be much test prep material out. I too am a sophomore and I am currently taking AP ComputerScience A, I also feel that the sequence in which you take these does not matter(AP CS A , APCSP ).
There will be a webinar on Tuesday, March 29 from 7:30-8:30pm (ET) that will have some info about AP CS Principles. Lien Diaz from the College Board will share updates on the AP Computer Science Principles course and answer questions. To participate –
Join the webinar at: http://air.adobeconnect.com/cspcollegeboard/
Call: (866) 767-8829
Use conference code: 239 039 2569