Customer Reviews

How to Prepare for the AP Computer Science Exam (Barron's AP Computer Science)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This AP Comp. Sci. Study guide is great for teachers and students alike because EVERY question has a clear description of the right answer AND why other answers might be likely, but are wrong.

All of my students who got 4's or 5's on the AP exam LOVED this guide!!! (& you can't beat the price).

This book is great. The students say that the questions in the book are generally harder than the actual test, but they cover the appropriate topics. It is very well organized. This is the only book that is needed for the AP A test.
Thanks Roselyn.

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)

I am giving this book 4 stars only becuase I thin the "review" is just reteaching you, and has no good tips for actually taking the test. The practice tests are really good, I think they are as hard as the real thing (based on the sample questions given by collegeboard), and also there is a grading scale, unlike it's preceder. It made me feel a lot better that I only has to get 70% right to get a 5 on the AB exam. All in all this is a great book, but I would advice you to get Litvin's instead. Get this book from the library.

What I look for in a review book is LOTS of questions. This one has just that, and all with detailed answers. The style of questions is pretty close to the AP exam and it contains plenty of material for the AB exam. The Marine Biology section is very helpful.
The only draw back might be that the book is a little large for a review book, and some of the questions are very hard.

To use this book for review purpose, the contents are too detailed. But it also lacks of examples and exercises to serve as a textbook. The practice questions are very different from the actual exams. While it is a good idea to target the practice questions slightly harder than the actual exams, it loses the purpose if problems are simply tricky, trivia or unclear.