I’m a senior in high school and taking APCS, I’m brand new to coding and it is the first year that my school has offered the class. When I signed up for the class I was super excited for it as I was planning on majoring in CS. Now i’m in the class and it is nothing like I expected. I was picturing something taught along the lines of a math class, with a teacher telling us a new concept, showing examples, and then having us practice. Instead we spent the first few weeks of class doing nothing, then the teacher told us that we would be doing a reversed classroom. We’re using a program called Edhesive. For me, it is not nearly as in-depth as I need. It’s a video lecture usually around 10 minutes long with maybe one or two examples before you go and do the assignments. To top it all off, if I do have any questions, my real teacher in the classroom has no coding experience so I have no one to help me. I don’t want to go on forever, but pretty much this course is just not what I expected at all and because of it I feel like I am being left behind and totally clueless. I could find a tutor possibly, but in order to fully grasp the content I think I would have to start the class from the beginning. I could also look into dropping the class, but I am concerned as to how colleges would view that. I have already been accepted to University of North Florida and have applied to FSU. I’m not completely sure what i’m looking for here, but any advice would be appreciated. Thank you so much.
So I don’t really know what to advise you. But I’m taking this class next year and this was a major turn off. Oh god.
@ellm98 ask your teacher what “volatile” means (or even “static”). If he can’t answer that, he’s probably not qualified to teach APCS.
There are lots of Java tutorials on the web, for example the [Java Wikibooks](Java Programming - Wikibooks, open books for an open world) as well as the Oracle documentation.
One additional tip that might also save you headaches is to simply use good coding practices. This includes consistent indentations, variable/method naming, comments, method specifications, clear and well-partitioned test cases, etc. I don’t know how much APCS covers these things, but following correct coding practices should make the process of learning the rest of the material a bit easier.
I’m in the same boat as you. My teacher cannot teach and we are left to fend for ourselves…our assignments are so abstract and have nothing to do with what we are taught. It’s so ridiculous. I thinking coding is awesome but apcs has ruined it for me. Dropping next semester without a second thought. My dad is a software developer and was really upset when I told him I hated the class…now he definitely won’t force me to major in CS. Good luck!
That’s a shame. A neighbor took the class, and was unimpressed as well. I’ve heard about other APCS teachers who also didn’t seem to have the appropriate background. It’s probably hard to find people who are willing to leave the software industry for the starting pay of a HS teacher.
I wouldn’t give up though. Try to find a local college kid to tutor you. Someone who is studying CS. Even if you do have to go back to the topics from the beginning of the year, you can do it. Use the Holiday break to do some of the catch up. Don’t let a bad teacher ruin it for you. Just make up your mind that you’re going to learn the material with or without him.
@Giovuhnni
You can’t decide whether or not to take APCS based one person’s experience. You don’t know how good the CS teacher is at our school so you can’t judge the class’s worth. You’re better off asking @chrisWithaT.