AP Computer Science Reviews of Class Taught by Derek Otieno

General Thoughts posted by Joseph Hughes on May 16 2008 at 16:09:46

I definitely feel the course prepared me for the AP exam. I spent about 7 to 8 hours most weeks, though one week I spent 14 hours (compiler troubles) and another week I spent only 1 and a half. I found that I got to know my classmates best through online 'class' sessions and the 'just for fun' forum on Mr. Otieno put on the website. Anyone who is willing to work hard and ask for help if they need it will do well in this course, and I would definitely recommend this course to other students on those conditions.

Great AP prep course posted by Jared Hinkle on May 16 2008 at 13:09:28

I found that this course helped me a lot to get ready for the AP exam in this area. CS is one of those areas, I think, where a teacher really comes in handy, and its rather hard to teach yourself. Professor Otieno was always available for questions by phone and always responded to my email questions quickly. I was generally able to keep up putting approximately 60-90 minutes a day into the course. If you have little or no Java experience, like me before this course, definitely be prepared to put in about that much time, trying not to fall behind. Which isn't really that bad at all. I found the course straightforward, the assignments were easy to hand in by email. The assignments were mostly either programs we were required to write, or multiple choice questions. Skipping homework in this class probably won't fly, as the assignments add up to a nice percentage of your grade. This course definitely captured my interest, and I found most of the work fun. It was also a classroom experience, as every week sessions were held on webex or a similar site. During these sessions, everyone was connected on the same phone line, so we could all talk, and we could see our teacher's computer screen, if he was demonstrating a concept or something. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who is interested in Computer Science and learning Java, and if they are willing to put the time into it and do their best job, there is no reason they won't be prepared to do well on the AP CS exam.

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