Beginning of Second Semester Blog Post

As the new year comes we exit the first semester and enter the second semester of AP Computer Science. I was very happy with the first semester and during it I learned the basics of computer science from the simple data types like integers, doubles, and booleans, to more complex concepts like strings, objects, arrays, loops, and parameters. Each new topic has challenged me in its own way, but overall I have not found the course to be overwhelmingly difficult, something I hope remains true. As for what more Mr. Stephens can do for me as a student to make the next semester better there is very little to say, as I was satisfied with almost all of the first. I sometimes felt like I had too many worksheets over the more enjoyable programming aspects of the class, but I understand that these worksheets are very important. Even the not so fun aspects of computer science must be learned and the worksheets are an invaluable tool to try out the new concepts we learn on problems and get feedback. The personal feedback we get on worksheets is one of my favorite aspects of the class because what we're doing never really feels like busy work, it is all valued enough to be corrected and returned to us. The labs always successfully teach us new ideas through directly experiencing them and their uses, and the quizzes remain short and a helpful insight into what AP questions will look like. There is much more that I as a student can do to make my semester better. I would like to work on doing the worksheets faster so I get them back by the quiz date, improving the algorithms I use in labs to try to emphasize efficiency over simple brute force approaches I tend to use a lot, and stay a little bit more focused in class so I don't find myself having to study more than I would like outside of class. Overall it was a good first semester and I look forward to the second.