<p>I'm a junior in high school who aspires to be an actuary in the future. I have a great aptitude for math and economics, but I am rather unfortunate to not be knowledgeable at all in computer science. It turns out that actuaries are required to have certain knowledge of computers and many are now required to know programming languages, according to my economics teacher. I realize that computer knowledge will not be the very most important of my qualifications, but it will without a doubt increase my job prospects.
As someone who is very inexperienced with computers, will I be able to teach myself the concepts needed for the AP exam. Will reading a prep book be enough, or will it be too esoteric for me without a formal course? I know this question is a little vague, and I apologize for that, but I don't want to invest months into studying computer science only to do poorly on the AP exam. Thanks in advance for any advice!</p>
<p>Why do you need to take the AP test? You can be an actuary with a math degree. Yes, many math students take CS while in college. You don’t need to take the AP test before that.</p>
<p>I don’t need to take the AP test, but I would like to take it, if it’s possible for me to do well on it. I know I’ll be exposed to CS should I take an actuarial academic trajectory in college, but I feel it might be to my benefit to have rudimentary knowledge of it prior to graduation from high school. If I want to become an actuary in the future, high school is not a bad time to begin preparing for such a career. My question is not whether I need to take the AP test, but whether or not I can get a 5 on the exam self-studying as someone who has virtually no prior experience with programming.</p>
<p>Yes, you can. But there are many things more productive to do with that time, like learning just enough programming and actually making something.</p>
<p>If studying for the AP exam is counterproductive, then what should I do learn basic programming? I’m not completely married to the idea of taking the AP exam, but I do want to learn basic computer science before I enter college.</p>
<p>Pick a project, a website, app, game, whatever. After that the rest can be accomplished via google</p>