Rating: 
Summary: Easy to understand.
Review: Although his book is very thorough, it does miss out on giving examples for some of the algorithms that you have to know for the exam.
Otherwise I have yet to find something about this book that I didn't like.. however if it came with its own C++ professor that would be a plus..
Rating: 
Summary: Great book with basically everything you need to know.
Review: As long as you've stayed half awake in your class (or not) this book will be extremely helpful. It covers the basics very well, and gives excellent practice questions and tests. In the tradition of Barron's they were of similar or slightly harder difficulty questions on the real AP test, which I see as a good thing. I bought it and only started reviewing it about 2 weeks before the test, and found that I didn't even know a lot of the material in the book, but with the book's help I received a 5 in the exam. I have only taken the A exam, but I've found this book well worth the time and money invested into it.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay
Review: At my school we have a year round course of AP computer science, this class has a lot of resources for C++ and the AP exam. None of these, which include, Gary and Maria Litvin's books, to Dr. Owen Astrachan books. This books includes teaching, review, and multiple choice questions. It will be all you need for the exam whether your taking the A or AB.
Rating:
Summary: From a students perspective
Review: At my school we have a year round course of AP computer science, this class has a lot of resources for C++ and the AP exam. None of these, which include, Gary and Maria Litvin's books, to Dr. Owen Astrachan books. This books includes teaching, review, and multiple choice questions. It will be all you need for the exam whether your taking the A or AB.
Rating: 
Summary: Barrons AP Computer Science Review....not that great
Review: good review of ap computer science course, but only has 2 practice tests for A and AB test each, so its 4 really, but only two for each course...also one thing it is missing that other books have and something that i can not believe they omitted is how the test is scored. they never mention a grading scale and tell you nothing on how its really graded...so when you take the practice test, you have no idea how well you did, it just has answers and thats it. i say that is very poor for a prep book to not tell you how well you might do on the real test. i would say the book is ok, but its completely unbelievable that they would forget adding this in
Rating:
Summary: Best AP Computer Science Book There Is
Review: I bought this book and some others to study for the AP Computer Science Exam, and the others don't even come close. For example, the book covers in-depth different topics that are given on the exam.However, the book has some shortcomings. The first one being that the book doesn't explain anything in-depth. The chapter on Big-O notation explains what Big-O is, and devotes one or two sentences on how to find the run-time of an algorithm. In some places, the author will just say that a certain algorithm (for example, selecting the first element in an array) has a run-time of O(1). Then, in the chapter about binary search trees, the author will just say that in the worst case, searching for an element is O(n log n), without telling you how she got to that conclusion. The multiple-choice quiz that follows each chapter tests you on the knowledge of the information presented. Each choice has small syntatic differences, and the questions reflect what will be on the test. I must also say that no other book covers more closely the Marine-Biology case study.
Rating:
Summary: Good book, reusable, but not worth to buy
Review: I have read this book, and this seem like a very good book for Advanced Placement computer Science. It probably reviews everything, and has good practice tests. I would advise you to buy this book, but there is one big problem with this book.
This book uses C++ instead of Java, the new language. If you have bought this book, and are waiting for this book to come to prepare, you are one of the most stupidest people in the world. But, if you have, not to worry. I read this book, and this book talks about "stuff" that you can use for learning Java.
There is a chapter on sorting, which is very helpful because it does not use C++ to fully explain it. It shows diagrams that make sense. You can also learn about programming analysis, and how to write programs, and stuff like that. Other than that, there is no reason to buy this book, unless you want to study for some college test in C++, but they will not use AP classes, unless they are stupid.
There are only three reasons to buy this book. If you are rich and want to waste money
If you are stupid, and have bought this book already
Or if your C++ class uses AP like tests, for which they must be stupid
If you have not been listed above, then buy the new version of this book.
HEAPS RULE
Rating:
Summary: The best, most comprehensive book out there....
Review: I took the APCS AB Exam and got a 5. My teacher did NOT know any of AB material. I learned most of the A material and all of the AB material from this book. If you need to LEARN (and not just review), this is the best you can get. Remember, for many algorithms, you don't need to know the code, but you DO need to understand the concepts behind them. This book does just that. My only complaint is with the Microbiology Case Study (FISH), which you didn't get code for. A definite highlight was the .h files of a linked-list implementation of the apqueue and apstack classes. I also used the Maria Litvin review book.
I recommend using this book to learn the material (if you don't already know it) first, then using the Litvin book to review the material, using this book's practice exams, and then doing the Litvin book's practice exams. The practice tests in this book were about as hard as the AP exam for me. I give my highest recommendation for this outstanding review book.
Rating:
Summary: The best, most comprehensive book out there....
Review: I took the APCS AB Exam and got a 5. My teacher did NOT know any of AB material. I learned most of the A material and all of the AB material from this book. If you need to LEARN (and not just review), this is the best you can get. Remember, for many algorithms, you don't need to know the code, but you DO need to understand the concepts behind them. This book does just that. My only complaint is with the Microbiology Case Study (FISH), which you didn't get code for. A definite highlight was the .h files of a linked-list implementation of the apqueue and apstack classes. I also used the Maria Litvin review book. I recommend using this book to learn the material (if you don't already know it) first, then using the Litvin book to review the material, using this book's practice exams, and then doing the Litvin book's practice exams. The practice tests in this book were about as hard as the AP exam for me. I give my highest recommendation for this outstanding review book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book...
Review: I, myself, was an AP Computer Science student of Mrs. Teukolsky's when this book was first released, and as a result I have undoubtedly had the pleasure of using it to review for my end-of-the-year exam. Let me begin by saying that Roselyn Teukolsky is a great teacher. All year long we worked real hard to understand the materials necessary to pass the course. In the end it all paid off, and I personally received a 5 on the exam. The book is organized in such a way as to provide even the most amateur programmer with a healthy overview of all the course materials, both for the A and AB exams. It stays straight to the point, and sometimes diverges into explaining interesting Computer Science facts for the enlightenment of the reader. Also, in the end are 4 well constructed practice exams, 2 for A and 2 for AB. The net result is that you will feel more confident about yourself, and will undoubtedly improve your chances of getting a 5 on the exam. There is no doubt in my mind that if it hadn't been for Mrs. Teukolsky's excellent teaching skills, and this insightful book, I would not have learned programming as well I did. The truth is, the year I started AP CS was my first year programming, so in some ways I've advanced quite far in a short period of time. So take it from me and buy this book, you won't regret it.
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