High School Computer Science pathways

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine is in a. IB program so did comp sci principles AP, AP Java, and is now doing IB Comp Sci. I don’t think her school offers all the courses OP listed.

+1. The only reason anyone takes principles is to satisfy the dumb McPS tech requirement (if you didn’t knock it out in MS, which most people don’t know you can). It’s a dumb class and the kids all say they don’t learn anything useful. I have another kid at a different HS and I don’t think they offer most of the classes PP listed.

There’s also a chronic problem in MCPS where the CS teachers don’t really know what they are teaching. They can’t really hire good CS people for teacher’s wages. So whatever your kid takes, they may have to just self study and use online resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this thread as we we enter high school course selection season for 2025-2026 school year.

For kids who have done basic computer programming at summer camp / after school,
and strong advanced math,
and took Foundations of Computer Science in 8th,
what's good for CS/tech in 9th?

AP CS Principles and Computer Programming 1 both seems mostly redundant, like they overlap both Foundations / extracurricular studies, and also AP CS A.

So jump into AP CS A in 9th?

Or do an "Engineering/Technology" (hardware/robots) in 9th, and come back to AP CS A in 10th ?

For Engineering/Technology, there are also many similar but maybe alternative courses.

No prerequisites besides math level:
Foundations of Tech
(Advanced) Foundations of Engineering and Tech
(Advanced) Intro to Engineering Design
...and 3 more Advanced courses, strangely with no prerequisites.


Foundations of Tech

My kids didn’t take the engineering tech class so I can’t say if that’s useful. Java wouldn’t be too hard for a 9th grader BUT it can be a frustrating class particularly if the teacher isn’t particularly good at your HS. 9th grade is a big transition so really think about whether it’s worth adding a headache like that for a 9th grader especially if they are taking other advanced classes. Mine took Java in 10th grade and 11th grades and even thought they are good programmers it was still a frustrating class as it’s not always clear what is being asked. They said the programming was easy but the other stuff (multiple choice questions etc) were really confusing and didn’t always make sense.