<p>Should I take the AP exam for AP Computer Science A or just take the AP Exam for AP Computer Science AB after I take the class next year?</p>
<p>Are you taking AP Comp Sci A right now? If yes, then why not? It's like how all the kids in AP Calc AB take the AP test anyway even though they'll take it again in BC.</p>
<p>yeah take it. if you're not satisfied with the score, you can cancel it.</p>
<p>This raises another good question. My son is a savant at computer languages. He's self-study computer science and will take one of the CS AP classes this year. Is there any tribal wisdom on someone taking an AP test without the course and not scoring 4 or 5 a good thing or a bad thing? All his other AP tests have been 5s. To state it more simply, is a 3 on computer science A or AB going to look bad if he didn't take the course (in our accumulated ignorance, anyway)?</p>
<p>I have the same question as you, Rick. I'm worried I won't do well on the AP exam either due to the incompetence of my teacher (seriously).</p>
<p>My son is a savant at computer languages...not scoring 4 or 5.</p>
<p>You might want to reconsider your understanding of the word savant here. At any rate it wouldn't look good or bad, but why don't you just tell him to pick up a review book and makes sure he gets a 5. In my experience the Princeton Review books are the best for playing the AP games without taking the classes.</p>
<p>i started studying from the princeton review book two days before taking comp. science AB and scored a 5. the material is not that difficult even if you have minimal experience.</p>
<p>As an aside, of course one wants to do one's best on one's AP exams, but at MIT at least, a good AP CS score will not translate into credit or placement for any classes. (And only scores on AP exams taken through junior year are self-reported in the application, and no, they won't rescind an acceptance if they see a 3 as a senior year AP score when the report arrives in the summer.) That said, review away!</p>
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no, they won't rescind an acceptance if they see a 3 as a senior year AP score
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<p>Doh! Just move along...nothing to see here...</p>
<p>Rick, </p>
<p>Does he know Java? That plus a look at the marine bio simulation in a study guide, and your son should be good. My son did it last year as a sophomore. He recommended to someone else on CC that he download Java, run on Eclipse and study the review book.</p>
<p>My perspective is a probably a little skewed, as DS1 does USACO and eats, sleeps and dreams comp sci/math. His school offers a one-semester AP Comp Sci AB class, and he knew everything for the exam when he walked in the door. (It was a prerequisite to the other good CS stuff, and they wouldn't let him skip it.)</p>
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As an aside, of course one wants to do one's best on one's AP exams, but at MIT at least, a good AP CS score will not translate into credit or placement for any classes.
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<p>Yes, trust the wisdom of mootmom. Make sure to check the MIT website (and websites of other colleges you're applying to, of course) about what credits you will get for the AP Comp Sci A or AB exam. Don't take it if you don't get adequate credits (unless you think you can get a 4/5 without much effort studying).</p>
<p>If you/your son/your daughter is really a teenage computer science genius, (s)he doesn't need to prove it by getting a 5 on the Comp Sci AB test ... (s)he can prove it by working on independent projects, contributing code to open-source software projects, and doing something else besides studying for an exam ... the great thing about programming is that anybody can teach themselves and start making contributions, however small, to open-source projects that people actually download and use in their everyday lives.</p>
<p>I took the Comp Sci AB test back in the stone age (2000) and got a 5, and it didn't do a single thing for me ... i didn't pass out of any classes, and i got 6 unrestricted elective credits or something silly, which really doesn't matter at all since pretty much everyone who graduates doesn't need those 6 units.</p>
<p>If you can spend those few months of studying instead working on some really cool independent programming project, making a webpage and posting your open-source software, or doing something neat related to computer science, that would be much cooler for a college application (and, more importantly, more enriching in general for your own education).</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>