<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I'm a rising Freshman and I'm considering self studying AP Computer Science either this year or next summer. I'm advanced in mathematics (I'm going into Honors Precalc) but I'm relatively ignorant in programing and computer science in general. I'm also trying to self study a few other science APs (Bio, APES, and possibly Stats), although I have a good amount of background knowledge in these topic areas.</p>
<p>My question is, is this possible? How much time would I have to put into Comp Sci to score a 5 on the exam, beginning as a complete novice? What are the best textbooks, review books, or online courses to study from?</p>
<p>Also, the computer that I use most is a MacBook Pro; would this work for studying the exam? What programs (or operating systems) would I have to install?</p>
<p>Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>A semester’s worth (or less…) of studying with Barron’s worked for me. I looked through [this</a> book](<a href=“http://www.bluepelicanjava.com/]this”>http://www.bluepelicanjava.com/) earlier and it looks pretty good for deeper coverage of the material, so if you want more hands-on exercises, you can use that.</p>
<p>Your laptop should be perfectly fine; according to [this</a> page](<a href=“http://developer.apple.com/java/faq/]this”>http://developer.apple.com/java/faq/), OS X comes with Java, so you probably won’t have to install anything else.</p>
<p>AP CS has a little bit of a learning curve in terms of getting into it – if you’ve never programmed before, you have to get yourself into a programming mindset. From that point on, the AP CS material is conceptually fairly straightforward. AP CS isn’t an exam that you can study in a weekend if you’ve never coded before, but a few months of a few hours a week should be sufficient. </p>
<p>AP CS is the type of exam where you can do well on the exam without truly learning and “grok”-ing the material. If you are interested in coding beyond getting the 5, you’ll have to put a lot more time in than what AP CS requires. </p>
<p>Barron’s is excellent, as energize suggested. I would also recommend “Be Prepared for the AP Computer Science Exam in Java,” by Gary and Maria Litvin. Lots of practice problems.</p>
<p>You’ll be fine with OS X. You need an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) – something to compile the code you write and run it. I’m partial to Eclipse, you can find its download page here: [Eclipse</a> Downloads](<a href=“http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/]Eclipse”>Eclipse Downloads | The Eclipse Foundation) .</p>
<p>Thank you, that’s very helpful. I downloaded Eclipse and it seems to work well.</p>
<p>Great! Let me know if you need any help throughout your studies, best of luck!</p>