<p>I only have 3 AP's, Bio, AB Calc, and English Lit.
I want another manageable AP course to self study. I'm interested in Computer Science, but how hard is it to self study and what materials do I need to get a 4 or 5? I have no prior experience in the class, nevertheless the subject itself.
If you can answer these questions, I would appreciate it! :D</p>
<p>AP Comp Sci can be self-studied. If you’ve never programmed before, it will take some work, but it’s not a killer AP. I self-studied it with a programming background and got away with just using Barron’s and a book called “Be Prepared for the AP Computer Science Exam in Java,” by Gary and Maria Litvin. The latter was very, very useful - I can’t recommend it enough. </p>
<p>The prevailing wisdom seems to be that prep books are enough. That being said, I don’t know how clear the material presented would be to a non-programmer. If you’re in it for the AP score, I suspect you can get away with just the prep books and some googling to fill in any conceptual gaps. Studying for the exam will not necessarily teach you how to program – it is very possible to do well on the exam and still not have built a solid foundation in the subject.</p>
<p>If you want to learn how to code (not just for the exam), I would strongly recommend looking at other resources – MIT OpenCourseWare has a terrific introduction to Computer Science with a full set of lecture videos: [MIT</a> OpenCourseWare | Electrical Engineering and Computer Science | 6.00 Introduction to Computer Science and Programming, Fall 2008 | Home](<a href=“http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-00-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-fall-2008/]MIT”>Introduction to Computer Science and Programming | Electrical Engineering and Computer Science | MIT OpenCourseWare) . This course is taught in the Python programming language, however, while AP CS requires Java. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>