Do I actually need to know binary for the AP CS test?
From the course description: “Students should understand the
representation of non-negative integers in different bases, particularly decimal, binary,
hexadecimal, and octal. They should also understand the consequences of the finite
bounds of integer representation.”
Other than getting used to converting from one base to another, there isn’t much you need to “know.”
Binary (as well as other number bases) work exactly the same as base-10, except we use 2 (or a different number b) instead of 10 for placeholders, and that the digits can only range from 0,…,b-1.
If you plan on majoring in CS you will need to know base 2, base 8, and base 16 in your sleep.
You should know binary for your future career (if you’re going into CS) but you don’t need to know much of it for the AP exam. I think there might not be a question about binary (since most of it is problem solving and knowing class relationships). There might be 1 or 2 questions, but if you can think logically and you are good at problem solving in the CS sense, you don’t even have to worry about binary (as it won’t affect your final grade)