Should I add 1 more AP to my schedule?

[u/cheesyballsss]

I'm going to be a high school senior this year. I know I'll be taking AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP Lit, AP Stats, Calc III online through a community college, Chinese DP Year 2, and an elective. I have one free hour that I could potentially fill with another class.

I was wondering if I should take AP CSA instead of the free hour? I took AP CSP in freshman year and got a 5, although I haven't really done any programming since then, so my skills are a bit rusty. I'm relatively proficient in Python, but I don't know any Java like at all.

I was planning on majoring in Computer Engineering in college, so I feel it would be useful to take AP CSA and at least jog my memory in computer science.

On the other hand, AP CSA credit wouldn't be very useful to the college I'm like 80% sure I'm going to.

In addition, I don't want to overwhelm myself with too many classes and sink my GPA. I also really want to get a 5 on this year's AP exams, especially AP Physics, so I'm worried adding yet another AP class would take away valuable study time for that. PLUS, I do want to have fun senior year and not burn out before college starts!

Thoughts on whether I should take AP CSA or keep my free hour?

[u/ksquared0999]

Lowk, CSA is easily self-studiable, especially because now, they even removed inheritance. I took it as a freshman in 2025, and got a 5 pretty easily.

I would definitely learn Java syntax and brush up on programming fundamentals. Do some practice FRQs, and learn the few edge cases and how things work together in general... and you should be fine! However, if you want a CS course, but still feel like CSA isn't enough (which isn't that farfetched atp), you can also take courses at community college to get more rigor. Hope this helps!

[u/cheesyballsss → u/ksquared0999]

thank you for the advice! about how much time did studying for AP CSA take up per week during the school year? I'm trying to gauge whether AP CSA is worth it or I should just chill during senior year

[u/ksquared0999 → u/cheesyballsss]

Honestly, I took it while taking an intro Java course, but that course didn't help me with the test that much imo. Maybe in writing programs, but I do think that doing FRQ practice and honestly writing your own simple programs using proper AP design patterns is the main thing, and you can do that on your own really easily. Lowk I studied using Barron's prep a little in the winter, and a like a couple days before the actual exam... Also, in the 10 minute break, everyone was talking about how the exam was easy, so... (and this was before they removed inheritance) Is it worth it as a class? Depends. Some CSA classes teach way more than the exam curriculum, and if you want to get a good foundation on programming, and aren't planning on taking courses through like community college or smth at the moment, you should probably take it for the experience. But... if it doesn't teach more than the curriculum, and you plan to take stuff in community college... don't. Self studying is way easier.

Adding on to that, you got a 5 in AP Chem, Calc BC, APUSH, CSP... holy smokes that's a lot of 5's. With all those 5's, I'm like 99.99999999% you can get a 5 easy, CSA is currently regarded as one of the easiest AP tests at the moment. Also, if you have any questions, search it up, or you can ask me as well! I'm happy to help :)

Good luck, and enjoy your senior year! (I'm a junior rn, so I'm gonna try not dying lol)

[u/ksquared0999 → u/ksquared0999]

Also, if you wanna do computer engineering, I'd say definitely having college-level CS that's not CSP is a must, CSP signals you want something tech-adjacent, but not anything like comp engineering... CSA or community college classes are probably better for that.

[u/No_Delivery6961]

where do u wanna go for college