bovine5

vader1990's thread was very well laid out so I thought I'd do the same for Computer Science, even though I know there are a lot less people that take them. Hope he/she doesn't mind.

Like vader1990 said, I think the experience is the most important part for future test-takers.

Please copy and paste the score tallying!

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5: 1

I actually had to take the retake test. I thought it was relatively easy and I had about 15 minutes to spare in MC and 30 for FR. I took the class through my school. The teacher wasn't that great, but he got through the topics all right. I'm guessing 3-4 people in my class got a 4 or a 5. I bought Barron's for reviewing but only got through like 3 chapters because it was super boring. I didn't study much even though I had time because of the make-up date.

I feel like I got all the questions right, but I'm sure I got a few wrong. I've heard from others the main one was easy too.

Sejine

Can't wait to take it next year. Advice? I've never programmed before in my life....

defianced

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5: 2

Not surprised, but I feel like I dont know much programming. I just know how to pass the AP test.. My teacher did so much prep, and it really turned me off to computer science. So much so that I changed my major to electrical engineering.. Anyway, I had like 2 minutes left on the MC, because of the ridiculous traces, but I thought I did really well even though I didnt have much time. FR were really easy, and I lucked out because I didnt know critter from gridworld, and this is the first year they didnt put a critter question on the FRQ. Hopefully I like programming in college again!

quizard

I got a 4 ):

Although I did self-study, my dad is bummed because he happens to have a doctorate in the subject.

MC was a nightmare, but I had an hour left on FRQ.

garfieldliker

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5: 3

I got a 5 by being part of a CS club and studying Barron's before the exam. I feel like I don't really know much programming outside the AP exam.

bovine5

@Sejine

I think GridWorld and maybe chapters 1-3 (maybe 4) from Barron's are the most important. It depends I think more on you than on the teacher. If you're naturally good at logic and problem-solving it is probably going to be really easy for you. Then just getting used to the FR and MC questions is your only obstacle.

latitude123

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5: 3

FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU
Can't believe I got a 4... spent too much time doing other programming stuff especially in other languages, so I didn't prep and thought it would be a breeze... damn you with all your loops and recursion and traces!

hscompsci

Ok as a teacher, I just got my detailed report. Here are the overall breakdowns for APCS this year:

5: 23%
4: 24%
3: 16%
2: 8%
1: 29%

Last year it was

5: 25%
4: 25%
3: 14%
2: 8%
1: 28%

So you can see that it was harder to get a 4 or 5, but the difficulty of passing the exam (3 or higher) was about the same. It still amazes me just how many students get the lowest score on this. I'm not sure why that happens.

I know that everyone wants a 5, but know that almost all colleges accept a 4 as a minimum score for APCS.

You can look at my course specific data here: http://www.hscompsci.com/#twoj_fragment1-3 My students did well on the case study, but I need to focus more on logic.

bovine5

@hscompsci
Wow, it seems like you're a really great teacher! I definitely think the test is a hit or miss, either you understand the programming and logic or you don't. A kid I asked last year who took the class said he got a 1.

Luckily the college I'm going to only accepts a 5.

mjsdabeast

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5: 4

Hey just got my scores yesterday and i got my 5 i'm a sophomore going to be a junior what about the rest of you guys because most of the kids in my class were seniors. I thought the test was pretty easy and finished with 15 minutes to spare on each section but i've had prior programming experience before i took this class. Hopefully my teacher got every one of her students to get 5's haha she said she would retire if she did but i don't think it happened. I doubt it mostly cause she had about 55 students.

zhulagirlz

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5: 5

In the past two year(2010 and 2011) my teacher had gotten straight ones, for 2010 probably 15 kids took it and 2011 only 2 took it, this year 5 of us took it. My teacher was extremely proud of me for getting a five and extremely grateful because if someone didn't pass this year he wasn't going to get to teach it anymore I'm guessing 3/5 of the rest got 1s and the last one got a 2 or 3, but I'm not sure. So sad theres not another programming class at my school that is ap or dual-enrollment credit.

jkhuggins

@hscompsci: regarding the huge number of "1" scores: on the FRQs every year, there's a significant number of exams that are either completely blank, or filled with other off-task materials (poems, pictures, essays, etc.).

As for why that happens ... there are a variety of reasons:

1) Students who take the test without having taken an APCS course. There's no requirement to having taken an APCS course before taking the APCS test ... and so some students go ahead and give it a shot --- ignoring any information provided ahead of time like the official course description, the case study, public exams ...

2) Students whose high school course doesn't cover the proper material. This happens less often now, I think, with the AP Audit. But the AP Audit presumes that instructors actually teach to the material provided in the audit process. And, related to point (1), there's no requirement that one take an AP-audited course before taking the APCS exam, so there may be some schools that mistakenly send students into the exam with the wrong preparation. (And that doesn't even cover the weird stuff that can happen in any course ... replacing an instructor mid-course with someone well-meaning but without the proper background, for example.)

3) Poor students. It happens.

hscompsci

2) Students whose high school course doesn't cover the proper material. This happens less often now, I think, with the AP Audit.

I went to a large (400+) AP workshop a few years ago, and I'll tell you that the quality of your average APCS teacher is much less than say the average AP LIT, or AP CALC teacher.

When I was in that room, it was scary the kinds of questions I was hearing. i.e. "How do I write a loop from 10 to 1?", "How do you make a method that adds two numbers?" In another workshop I went to, the AP CS presenter angrily said at the start "THIS IS NOT A COURSE ON JAVA, GO TO A COMMUNITY COLLEGE!"

When I attended the AP CALC once, there were no questions like "How do I find the derivative of f(x) = x?"

And i don't think the AP Audit gives parents and students any comfort. It's not like the College board comes in person and observes the teacher every day. I know many of the teachers in the AP workshop simply copy a syllabus and distributes to each other to submit.

Sejine

Aaaaaannnnnd that scares me.

Matteox

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My school did not offer AP Computer Science. I decided to just buy the Barron's Review Book (absolutely amazing book, a must buy and read for everybody) and practice writing random programs to get the hang of syntax. Ended up getting the 5, I would just like to tell everybody to get that book haha.