College Board Kills AP Computer Science AB

jhealy1024 writes "The College Board recently announced it will be getting rid of the Advanced Placement Computer Science AB examination after May 2009. The 'A'-level exam will continue to be offered, though there is no word yet on what will become of the AB-level material (e.g., if it will be merged into A or just dropped). Many teachers of AP CS are upset about the move, as it seems the decision was made without consulting members of the CS teaching community. As one teacher put it: 'this is like telling the football coach next year is the last year you have a varsity team.'"

Comments

Re:GOD CREATED ADAM AND EVE

[mikek2]

GOD created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!
Gays cannot reproduce!! They must recruit!! Say NO to the gay agenda!!!! i really really really hate people.

Waving the white flag

[alfredo]

You don't need advanced skills to flip burgers.

Without AB?

[nebaz]

How am I supposed to get 30 lives in Contra?

Re:Without AB?

[alfredo]

Cheat like everyone else.

Re:Without AB?

[nebaz]

Also, without AB, I'd just be normal.

Good! CS is a pseudo-subject anyway

[Anonymous Coward]

Time to bring it back under the umbrella of mathematics where it belongs.

Teams Without Trophies - or Competent Coaches

[Doc Ruby]

As one teacher put it: 'this is like telling the football coach next year is the last year you have a varsity team.'

No, it's like telling the football coach that next year is the last year there will be trophies awarded at the championship game. They can still have a team, there just won't be an official ranking.

Of course the AP test credit is a lot of the value of the programme, so cancelling the test is a travesty, and might be a reason to cancel the course, especially if students spend their time taking other courses that award the credit they can use.

But if the teachers are making that kind of analogy, they shouldn't be teaching. Not even CS classes, because thinking with analogies is more important to programming than is instruction in language syntax. It's like a football team with a coach who's really just the second-string halfback.

Re:Teams Without Trophies - or Competent Coaches

[Hatta]

Geeze, this is /. Is there anywhere a sports related metaphor is going to be less understood?

Re:WTF?

[Creepy Crawler]

---(Totally off-topic, but is anybody else not totally thrilled with this redesign?)

I do know that the buttons were changed when I responded to an admin. He, for some reason, didnt like my signature ;)

Re:GOD CREATED ADAM AND EVE

[CSMatt]

Sterile humans cannot reproduce!! Say NO to the vasectomy agenda!!!!

Re:GOD CREATED ADAM AND EVE

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, it WAS Adam and Steve. that's what happens when you read a poor translation.

Re:This is a shame

[jfp51]

I will see your Verilog and raise you an Intercal!

Re:This is a shame

[GaryOlson]

Our Agricultural Placement class back in the '80s had two Border Collie pets running around some flavor of sheep (thank God!). Our wagon was tied to 12 draft horses; and we were living with the hogs. We spent the first six months learning how to assemble our ropes..... Now git out of my corn field, you young whippersnapper!

Re:I took AP CS A

[glitch23]

Part of it is that the teacher of my AP class, a female cheerleading coach (no kidding), was a decent teacher and could get you to learn a concept like new data structures or pointers in 20 minutes.

I'd really like to know what her teaching method was given the combination of cheerleading and CS usually don't go together despite our daily wishes.

Re:I took AP CS A

[Doctor Faustus]

I'd really like to know what her teaching method was given the combination of cheerleading and CS usually don't go together despite our daily wishes.
Push to the left!
Push to the right!
Pop up, push down
Byte, byte byte!

Re:GOD CREATED ADAM AND EVE

[BungaDunga]

Celibate humans cannot reproduce! Say NO to the ANTI SEX agenda!!!