10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
not enough, June 13, 2006
This review is from: Cracking the AP Computer Science A & AB Exams, 2006-2007 Edition (College Test Preparation) (Paperback)
maria litvin - i'd recommend it to anyone who never learned java b4. this book definitely stresses over concept, but the problems are not enough and much easier than the test i took in may. as a result, i'd recommend u to buy this book, but a harder book to go along with it like ds-marketing or barron's.
princeton - this book is pretty alright. it has good information, but i don't think it's enough. the way the author writes is understandable, but again, problems are not enough. sometimes there are only 4 problems per chapter. also, the practice test at the end of the chapter are not enough. there's only 1 set for A and 1 set for AB.
barron's - this book places emphasis on the problems. for example, in marine biology, there's at least 40 problems. don't buy this if u get bored easily because reading this book is like reading college textbooks. however, i can guarantee u that this book will raise ur score much quicker than any other book. however, this book is MUCH MUCH MUCH harder than the actual exam. i'd say that if u get a raw score of 50/80 on the practice test, u can probably get a 5.
5 steps - i borrowed this book from a friend about a week before the test. i feel like this book is almost exactly like the test. it has every type of problem, and gives excellent short summaries at the end of each chapter. it's quite understandable.
b4 taking compsci ap, i did 5 books: maria litvin, barron, princeton, 5 steps to a 5, and ds-marketing. i'd say that if u have a pretty decent teacher, u'll probably only need 5 steps or barron's. otherwise, i'd recommend at least 2 of the books above. however, remember that ds-marketing DOES NOT have marine biology (which makes up about 20% of the exam)
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty good for a brush up, May 15, 2008
This review is from: Cracking the AP Computer Science A & AB Exams, 2006-2007 Edition (College Test Preparation) (Paperback)
I'm a hobbyist computer programmer. I write 3D video games for the sheer fun of it all, and am intimately familiar with 99% of the content that would be tested on the exam. Problem is: I needed to learn to do it in Java (I'm a C++ programmer). So, a few nights before the exam, I found myself in deep trouble -- I had never written Java code.
So, I wandered to the nearest book-store and purchased myself a copy of this book, and it really helped me. It went over the fundamentals of java such as data-types, classes, objects, methods, etc., you know, the basics of any programming language. Then it also covered topics like recursion (a function calling itself either directly or indirectly), various sorting/searching methods, and the Marine Biology case study (it's not on the current exam, so I skipped this portion).
One thing I particularly liked about this book was the exercises. There was a heavy emphasis on tracing pieces of code, just like on the real AP exam, and there was a HEAVY (and I mean HEAVY) emphasis on recursion problems. Now, recursion isn't particularly tough, but you've really, really got to get used to managing your own stack (on paper or in your head, whatever), and doing a bunch of these problems eventually makes head-spinning problems pretty routine. Also, the questions, I found were of considerably greater difficulty than those on the actual AP exam, which is a very good thing. Also, the problems use a lot of polymorphism, so if you're shaky about how it works, then you'll get up to speed quickly.
Anyway, I wouldn't reccomend this book to someone who is self-studying without a suitable companion text (get a textbook from your school or used off of this website), since there are inevitably details you'll miss or just simply not comprehend without a more in-depth tutorial. Also, programming a lot helps, which you're really not going to get to do in a prep-book.
Since my only criticism is that this can't be used for pure self-study, I cannot deduct a star because this is a review book not a text book. So, 5 stars. If you're in AP computer science and you need a brush up for your exam, then I think this book would be suitable for your needs. Plus, it's pretty cheap -- you can't go wrong.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
