Senior year I’m deciding to take AP computer science. I will be in Pre-Calculus at that time, and right now i have a B+/A- in algebra 2. How difficult would it be?
How much memorization? Logic?
Thank you!
It depends on the school, but in general, AP CS teaches much more the basics of programming than anything else.
No matter what, CS is not a memorization subject - it’s a skill. Logic will be useful, but shouldn’t be too in depth.
Overall, I don’t think it is hard - I personally found it very easy, but that isn’t the case with everyone. It’s nothing like an intro CS course in most good CS colleges though.
PengaPhils, if students have no background in coding should they pick up a Java book to look at over the summer to prepare for AP Computer Science? My son may take the course online this year. He had an A in Honors Precalc last year. He has looked at the summer assignments for the students who are taking it on campus next year. He cant take it on campus as all AP courses have to be requested in January for the next fall.
Personally, I really don’t find that learning CS from a book works well at all - CS books are much more useful when you already know a lot and are looking for a refresher, reference, or discussion of code style / organization.
The complicated thing here is taking it online - I really think that could detract from the experience significantly, and there’s a decent chance he will be learning from a book anyways. Still, I don’t see the need to study before the class. Looking at the summer assignments just to get a feel is a much better idea, so he’s already doing that right. Can he actually do those assignments / does he want to?
AP CS has very little math - you need some basic algebra and probability at best, so I wouldn’t be concerned there.