AP Comp Sci

Is the exam still in C++? I thought they changed it to Java.

If you know the language syntax well and can do OOP stuff without thinking, the exam will be a breeze. I took it without taking any AP Computer Science classes. You might want to learn some minor things about trees; I didn''t know anything about them and there were a couple questions about them on my test.

APCS wont change to Java until next year.

If you already know C++, go ahead and take the exam. I took the test even though the course wasn''t offered that year. But be sure to pick up a book on it(I like the Barron''s book). They''ve got their own custom versions of some typical STL classes, which you have to be careful about. In addition, they have that damned case study which is important to know.

The most annoying topics are searching, sorting, trees, and the case study. THe first 3 because there''s a lot of jargon and algos that goes along with them, and the case study because it is stupid. Also, be sure that you are able to work your way through pointless recursive functions and figure out what the return will be. There are sample problems and such in the book, so you''re not totally out on a limb here.

Whoa... when I took APCS in ''85-''86, we were doing Pascal on a DEC PDP-1144. *sigh*

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Intrinsic Algorithm - "Reducing the world to mathematical equations!"

Sorting is kind of fun for me, but entirely pointless. I hope that I can pick up java pretty quick, I''m in year 2 of 3...

It''s a fun little course, though. It''s sad that we have to use Windows.. maybe they''ll switch over to a real OS once java takes over.

Resist everyone
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Take a shot at it if you think you can handle the problems.

This site will be extremely useful in determining if you are ready (it is the College Board''s AP Comp Sci section). Which test are you planning to take, A or AB?

The A Course: "Computer Science A emphasizes programming methodology with an emphasis on problem solving and algorithm development and is meant to be the equivalent of a first-semester course in computer science. It also includes the study of data structures and abstraction, but these topics are not covered to the extent that they are covered in Computer Science AB."

The AB Course: "
Computer Science AB includes all the topics of Computer Science A, as well as a more formal and a more in-depth study of algorithms, data structures, and data abstraction. For example, binary trees are studied in Computer Science AB but not in Computer Science A. The use of recursive data structures and dynamically allocated structures is fundamental to Computer Science AB."

This section goes into detail about what exactly is tested in the AP Comp Sci exams. It also details some commonly used function/methods that are not tested (such as assert, and iomanip). You''ll also find the AP classes there, which provide easy use of strings, vectors, matrices, etc (which use C primitive as their implementation). Study these classes, since any question on the test dealing with a string, vector, matrix, stack, or queue will be using the appropriate AP class (and functions specific to that class). With the test, you will be given the declarations of these classes, but it is helpful to know them and have used them beforehand.

Also on the site, you can download questions from previous years, as well as the Case Study (at least one free response question will be devoted to the Case Study). And a good book (like Barron''s) is always a good idea.

|.dev-c++.|.the gimp.|.seti@home.|.dbpoweramp.|.torn.|.=w=.|

Hey guys,

Thanks for all your help. I checked out a few of the links and so far it looks pretty good. I got a copy of the released exams for 1998-99 but so far I''ve only flipped through it. I think I could tackle the A test without any prep but I need to study for the AB-only stuff. I''ll take the full released exam and see what score I get and figure out to go from there-I''ll try to grade my free-response fairly. Thanks again to everyone.

My old thread on this topic may have some helpful information.

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Qui fut tout, et qui ne fut rien
Invader''s Realm

Why''d they have to change it to java? I wanted to take it next year, but now I have to learn more java or take an ap course. oh well, i guess another language doesn''t hurt.

''There''s something out there....something stupid...''
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quote:

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Original post by masonium
Why''d they have to change it to java?

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Because they''re all mindless. Java forces OOP concepts on Java users, which is fine for many applications, but using a multiparadigm language like C++ would be much more educational in my opinion. The thing is, the College Board (who runs the Advanced Placement program) mimmicks actual colleges, and the colleges mimmick the industry without question or thought, and Java has all the right buzzwords at the moment (cross platform, bytecode, object oriented, etc). This is leading some AP Computer Science teachers to take the position that C++ is becoming obsolete, which is completely untrue (as a matter of fact, if your APCS teacher suggests this then I''d advise you not to listen to anything they have to say ever because they are idiots). So basically, they''re not switching to Java because they think it''ll be more educational, or because it''s a better language than C++, they''re doing it because it''s trendy.