<p>I am currently unsure of what i want to take next year and would really use some advice.advice. Im currently a sophomore and i am choosing my classes next year I was planning to take ap computer science next year, however my school offers cisco networking academy and i could obtain my ccnet certification within 2 year. should i just take the networks classes or stick with ap com sci ? i really am interested in working with computers and wanting to major in computer science in college. which route will prepare me the best and benefit me the most ? </p>
<p>I don’t know what cisco networking academy is. I don’t think colleges do either. </p>
<p>On the other hand, colleges do know what AP CS is. I’d suggest taking AP CS if you apply to colleges for computer science. </p>
<p>If you can do both, great. But the AP class probably takes priority. And maybe, if you’re really serious, you can supplement that class with research with a local computer science professor or perhaps a summer program that focuses on computer science. </p>
<p>If the ccnet certification is prestigious, I’d definitely go for both the AP class and that. It isn’t hard to self study Java and ace the AP exam, which will give you credit for the class in the eyes of colleges. </p>
<p>If you have any questions about the AP class just ask-- I’m taking it this year. </p>
<p>You’re interested in computers - take it.</p>
<p>I’ve already signed up for the class next year 
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<p>I have small background in coding (call of duty patches, little bit of HTML and flash) but besides that i have not taken any programming classes beforehand (i overrode the prerequisite) </p>
<p>am i screwed? I have a deep interest in computers and am very good with them… I literally have no idea what to expect </p>
<p>But if i were you Id take AP CS because it’s widely recognized by colleges</p>
<p>Yeah, I have no idea what cisco networking is either. Certification does sound interesting though.</p>
<p>But, AP CS is a great class; it helped me learn how to code and it was super practical (as in we coded a lot after learning a new concept). There wasn’t much on computer theory unlike the IB CS class. Albeit, I took programming classes before so I already was familiar with most of the concepts in AP CS. Just some notes about the class, it goes over recursion, polymorphism, taught me about arrays and arraylists (wonderful data structures), different types of data structures (strings integers), etc. I learned so much in that class when I look back now.</p>
<p>At my school, AP CS is the class where you find out if coding is for you. If you are interested in computers but haven’t had a lot of hands-on experience programming, I think AP CS would be a good class to either drive you away from that field, or re-enforce your interest. If you don’t have a lot of programming fundamentals then I think the class might be difficult for you. Everyone must take introduction to programming as a pre-requisite to AP CS at my school, so it’s not as difficult for them. But, from what I have heard from my friend who went into AP CS with no prior programming experience, it was a struggle. There are a lot of concepts in programming and if you don’t grasp the concepts, then you will struggle immensely, but the concepts aren’t too difficult IMO (since most of it is straight up logic and I’m a logical person), maybe just overwhelming.</p>
<p>The takeaway from AP CS includes the concepts, ability to code in JAVA (which is huge for a lot of internship positions), and other things which I can’t remember off the top of my head.</p>