AP Computer Science A VS. Chemistry Honors

eclecticist
Mon, 28 May 2007 04:20:08 +0000

Even though AP Comp Sci A has the AP label, technically, most of the top colleges don’t recognize the A exam. The course itself is quite easy, since it does not go into advanced data structures and algorithms like AB does, but to beginners, who have never seen any Java in their lives, it will be quite hard. Other than that, if you study the concepts well and have a holistic understanding of the course material, you can breeze through it. I know for a fact because my teacher showed about 10 minutes of video clips (all humor, irrelevant to CS) each class and some people still scored well.

As for honors chemistry, you really should take it to get a good background in chemistry since if you’re going to be an engineering major in college you’ll touch on chemistry in some of your courses for sure. The ratio of how many A’s there are to the rest of the class is irrelevant since its up to you to study, and you shouldn’t let that figure deter you.

Overall, from what you said, that you want to be an engineering/science major, you should just take honors chem instead of AP CS A. Chemistry is essential to learn because it has a lot of concepts that intertwine with other areas of study and you might fall behind in college if you don’t take it now. If you ever find that you need to study CS, you could probably catch up just as easily if you took an intro course in college.