AP Computer Science

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AP CS does not fulfill the tech credit? What kind of nonsense is that

Only the AP CS Principles does. I think it covers more foundational CS topics, so it’s more appropriate for the general technology requirement than the AP courses that focus more specifically on programming languages.

[Anonymous]

My 9th grader really struggled. It moves fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your student didn't fulfill their tech credits for graduation in middle school, they should check the current requirements. When my current junior was registering a couple of years ago, AP CS Principles was the only AP that fulfilled that tech credit for graduation. Otherwise, they'd have had to take one of the basic tech classes in order to graduate.

AP CSP at least had some challenging elements (but definitely wasn't all that difficult or stressful), and showed some rigor for college applications.

Did your student take the AP Exam?

[Anonymous]

There's a course called AP Computer Science PRINCIPLES that is full of freshman. It counts for the tech credit.

[Anonymous]

My 9th grader who is smart but has no previous coding experience whatsoever is getting an A in the AP principles class and not finding it too difficult. Class is mostly full of juniors and seniors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AP CS does not fulfill the tech credit? What kind of nonsense is that

Only the AP CS Principles does. I think it covers more foundational CS topics, so it’s more appropriate for the general technology requirement than the AP courses that focus more specifically on programming languages.

Really annoying. If they had told us they could fulfill a tech credit in MS we would have signed up DD for something in MS. The communication from counseling is so terrible.

[Anonymous]

A lot of 9th graders take AP CS at our school.

Our kid did and said it wasn't very hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your student didn't fulfill their tech credits for graduation in middle school, they should check the current requirements. When my current junior was registering a couple of years ago, AP CS Principles was the only AP that fulfilled that tech credit for graduation. Otherwise, they'd have had to take one of the basic tech classes in order to graduate.

AP CSP at least had some challenging elements (but definitely wasn't all that difficult or stressful), and showed some rigor for college applications.

Did your student take the AP Exam?

Yep, A in the class, 4 on the exam, with zero studying outside of class. I gather it’s one of the easiest AP exams and many kids get 5s, in part because one section, the app development, is actually done in class over a few weeks. My kid was taking APUSH the same year, and chose to focus study efforts on that exam.

The class actually kind of worked well with their ADHD, though, because the coding part seems to be conducive to hyperfocus. I don’t know how well they’d have done in the basic tech classes.

[Anonymous]

My son liked AP CS Principles too. I would highly recommend that class for a freshman.

CS A is a very tough class (at least it was for my son).

He got A's in both classes but wasn't ready for the AP test for CS A. He scored a 3 in CS Principles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's a course called AP Computer Science PRINCIPLES that is full of freshman. It counts for the tech credit.

True, but you won't learn anything useful, nor will any credible college award AP credit for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's a course called AP Computer Science PRINCIPLES that is full of freshman. It counts for the tech credit.

True, but you won't learn anything useful, nor will any credible college award AP credit for it.

It's no less useful than FOCS or FOT.

[Anonymous]

At TJ, I made my kid do the intensified Foundations of CS (python) instead of testing into AP CS in 9th grade.

He was self taught in Java, but I was concerned that there was no elegance to his coding, and that some formal instruction would help. He did AP CS and data structures in 10th grade, then lots of post AP CS courses and a CS degree.

[Anonymous]

AP CS Principles is the only honors level tech class in MCPS. If the plan is to take it during the school day, it is the way to go. Many take the non-honors tech over the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AP CS Principles is the only honors level tech class in MCPS. If the plan is to take it during the school day, it is the way to go. Many take the non-honors tech over the summer.

If you're at an IB school, there is also IB Computer Science which counts for the tech credit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AP CS Principles is the only honors level tech class in MCPS. If the plan is to take it during the school day, it is the way to go. Many take the non-honors tech over the summer.

Foundations of Engineering and Technology is considered Advanced and gets the 1 point gpa bump. That’s what my kid did for tech req.