<p>Hey guys! I am a sophomore and considering enrolling in AP CS. I would be technically doing it self-study, but there is a teacher who is going to help me through it. I have no prior programming experience but would like to pursue computer science as a career. However, I'm afraid with my lack of programming and that I'm doing it self-study I will do poorly on the AP exam and it will look bad. Is getting a 3 on the exam still worth doing? Or should I wait till next year? </p>
<p>Look at universities you are planning to apply to in order to see what score on AP CompSci exam is required for credit. often found by googling “AP score <em>university name</em>”</p>
<p>At my school it is not uncommon for kids to go into AP Comp Sci without having taken the “intro to comp sci” class. To be honest, it is a subject that you should study a lot of out of school. You learn mostly through trial and error in computer science at least in my opinion. However, of course, it is an actual class and not self-study.</p>
<p>You can pick up programming pretty quickly once you learn the basics. If you can try to have your teacher give you a good foundation then you can start diving into more advanced topics on your own.</p>
<p>AP Comp Sci is kind of specific on what it tests (certain aspects of Java as opposed to others)</p>
<p>I’m also taking that course, and my teacher sort of assumes you have some knowledge, which I don’t, but the pacing is pretty simple and it shouldn’t be too hard for you. Get a good text, either online or a book for beginners, and just practice the concepts. Lack of programming experience shouldn’t stop you.</p>
<p>It’d look better to take the course, rather than self-study it. However if the class is not offered at your school then keep on at it. </p>
I never had any programming experience when I first went into the class, and going into the class I felt very intimidated since almost everyone else in my class had previous coding knowledge. However, I found that computer science wasn’t an incredibly difficult class once you got the hang of it. It really is about practice and getting the hang of it. Somethings I used were codingbat, the oracle java tutorials, stack overflow, and the AP Barron’s book to get more practice and information. You can definitely learn the basics and most of APCS on your own, however it is important that you have a teacher since somethings may seem a bit ambiguous. Overall, there are many resources out there and with enough practice, this class should not be very difficult.