The AP Exam.....

Through my computer science class i have been given the chance to take a crack at the AP exam, while its still C++. This would be at no cost to me, but i don't want to take it and fail. I don't have the knowledge to take the AP exam, but i don't want to pass up the chance to try it.

My question is to anyone here who has taken it: What was the hardest part? Can you reccomend a prep manual/book? What advice would you offer someone that is going to take it? etc.

I don't expect to pass it, but i plan to give it one hell of a shot. Any input would be welcome, i have been searching the web for information on it and trial tests and such, but it'd be nice to hear from some who have actualy taken the exam.

I'm taking it this year, too.

Read up on the marine biology case study is all I can say for sure right now...supposedly it's heavy on that. I can't tell you much more since I've only been in my AP class for a few weeks.

Almost forgot, look up the ap classes...apvector, apmatrix, apstring, etc...(use google! )

Thanks for the reply, i'll look into that.

I have taken the AP Computer Science exam. I got a score of 4. It was not hard as long as you know C++ and the AP curriculum.

There are some classes you will need to get familiar with (as ken already said):

apstring
apvector
apmatrix
apstack
apqueue

They are not hard classes to familiarize yourself with. They are all pretty simple classes. I do not know if you can find them on the AP Board's website or not, but if you cannot, I have copies of all of them and would be happy to send them to you.

You will also need to familiarize yourself with the case study for this year's AP test. When I took it 2 years ago it was the Marine Biology case study, I do not know if it still is or not, and if it still is, I do not know what has changed in it.

What I do know however, is when I took the exam, the Marine Biology Case Study was very heavy into classes and structs. So much so that it had classes and structs that were not really needed, they just had them to see if you knew your object oriented programming.

So make sure to know OOP.

You will also need to familiarize yourself with the following, very much so:

Linked Lists
Stacks
Queues
Linear Searches
Binary Searches
Binary Trees
Quick Sort
Merge Sort
Bubble Sort
and all the other sorts.

The AP test likes to ask questions about the Big-O of searches and sorts. If you dont know what Big-O is, it is the speed of a search or sort, essentially. Familiarize yourself with that.

That is all the info I can give you. I wish you luck.

P.S. I have two 3" binders each completely FULL of AP practice tests, case studies, study guides, etc. If you want any, I might be able to scan some for you.

Thnx david, thats very helpful. I would appreciate the copies of those classes, that would be very helpful in learning them. How is the scoring done? Is 4 passing?

Originally posted by DavidP
P.S. I have two 3" binders each completely FULL of AP practice tests, case studies, study guides, etc. If you want any, I might be able to scan some for you.

Anything is appreciated. If you scan anything please only scan what you think is most important, i wouldn't ask for too much of your time.

>> Is 4 passing?

5 is the highest you can get I think, so yeah - 4's really good (good job, DP )

>> they just had them to see if you knew your object oriented programming.

Ah, that makes sense - I was looking at the full code to the case study and wondering if half of the classes were anywhere near needed...

I just dloaded the case link -ken- gave, going to read it a bit.

I am taking it this year as well, and the case study does have quite a few classes that are not needed, at least with what I have worked with it. They also do things kindof weird, and bad design decisions some times.

The APCS classes are at this website from collegeboard:

http://www.collegeboard.com/ap/stude...i/classes.html

Thnx alpha. It would be cool to see all three of us pass!

I hope you saw the edit.

Yes it would be nice, but it shouldn't be too difficult. A 3 and above is passing, but as for college credit, it depends on the college and what score they accept, and how much credit they give for the score, if any credit is given. There are about 8 - 10 classes with the case study, and I believe the case study hasn't changed in the last 4 years. It is still the MBCS, I don't think they would have changed it anyways because AP is in Java next year. From the tests my teacher has given, (from previous APs), they ask a lot of questions on the AP classes, and as said, you would like to familiarize yourself with those. The MBCS plays quite a role in testing, some in multiple choice, some in free response. You definitely will want to familiarize yourself with it.

Thanks DavidP for the info.

I recommend that you take the AB exam, it isn't more difficult than the A test, it just covers more info. The A and AB tests are the same length, so A just covers less info more extensively.

I had to edit my previous post because only one attachment per post I guess, and there are about ten files, five classes.

Well, I hope this helps, and good luck!

A passing score is a score of 3. It is very possible, just make sure to study up on your algorithms and classes.

I will look through my binders and find anything that might be useful to all of you who are taking the test and scan some of the stuff into my computer.

Yeah, I was thinking that they did some stupid coding too, but then I realized that they were aiming to be readable to everyone. So while we're scoffing at their lack of optimization, others are thanking God that it's so easily readable.