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AP CS Test Takers and Pass Rates Up, Half of Kids Don't Get Sparse Arrays At All
theodp writes: Each June, the College Board tweets out teasers of the fuller breakouts of its Advanced Placement (AP) test results, which aren't made available until the fall. So, here's a roundup of this year's AP Computer Science tweetstorm: 1. "Wow — massive gains in AP Computer Science participation (25% growth) AND scores this year; big increase in % of students earning 4s & 5s!" 2. "2015 AP Computer Science scores: 5: 24.4%; 4: 24.6%; 3: 15.3%; 2: 7.1%; 1: 28.6%." [3 or above is passing] 3."Count them: a whopping 66 AP Computer Science students out of 50,000 worldwide earned all 80 pts possible on this year's exam." 4. "Remember that AP exam standards are equated from year to year, so when scores go up, it's a direct indication of increased student mastery." 5. "Many AP Computer Science students did very well on Q1 (2D array processing–diverse array); >20% earned all 9/9 pts" [2015 AP CS A Free-Response Questions] 6. "The major gap in this year's AP Computer Sci classrooms seems to be array list processing; Q3 (sparse array): 47% of students got 0/9 pts."
I have seen this happen before - a couple of times before. Due to bi shakeups in the economy: 81-21, 90-91, 01-03, 08 - Now; people start running to what at the time is considered to be stable marketable careers and then there ends up being a glut in a few years. For example, after all those years of shortages, now there is one of the worst job markets for nurses.
the job market for electrical engineers sucks now too.
And then there is the trend of STEM work being offshored - one way or another. GE's CEO said that they are recruiting engineers from India on Charlie Rose a couple of weeks back. He just came out and said it.
Find out what you are good at - even if it's art - and find a way to make yourself marketable doing that (I have seen it done by an artist.) Because if you do something "marketable" for the sake of getting a job (and that's assuming it's still marketable after getting trained), you will be unemployed.
See, in this winner take all economy we are in now, being anywhere left of one standard deviation to the right of average (above average) doesn't cut it anymore - you have to be great/excellent. We live in a globalized economy and business is recruiting from just about everywhere on the planet and they will get the best of the best. It sucks because even though you can still do the job, they want the best so that it can be done faster and they can make their ROI numbers.
If you're average in everything- like most of us - it's shit retail jobs, I'm afraid.
Globalization has broken our job market.
You read it hear first. Hipster lingo for (generation after Z, whatever it is).