LovinHS Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 I was just wondering if anyone had experience with this online course, and how they did on the AP Computer Science test after finishing the course. My son wants to start it this fall, but it is $85 plus the cost of taking the AP - I guess only the trial year was free. So I would love to hear any comments if you and/or you children participated. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 FWIW, it looks like the course will still be free to individual students. The $85 is if you want the extra info available to coaches and schools. To me, $85 sounds pretty inexpensive, especially for a course that doesn't require a book. But I know that price points are very individual. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LovinHS Posted May 14, 2014 Author Share Posted May 14, 2014 From what the Amplify rep said, it is free to watch the videos & do everything, but unless you register as a coach you don't have the tracking ability. A coach will also have access to additional materials. If ds does go ahead with the course, I will probably pay the $85. It does seem fairly inexpensive for a strong AP prep & from the videos it looks to be worth it (though free would be better :laugh:!) I just was hoping that all of the students who took the test this year didn't bomb it because they were unprepared. :scared: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 There were people on another homeschool list praising the course. But it's hard to know how much previous background plays a part. Some of what is available to coaches is free on the CB site like the previous Free Reaponse Questions and grading info. Those are available for all AP exams. I do agree that the price seems good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LovinHS Posted May 14, 2014 Author Share Posted May 14, 2014 There were people on another homeschool list praising the course. But it's hard to know how much previous background plays a part. Do you recall what list you saw it on? Everything I see "looks" really great, but would love some first hand report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Do you recall what list you saw it on? Everything I see "looks" really great, but would love some first hand report. I'm pretty sure she's referencing the hs2coll yahoo group because that's where I saw discussion recently! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 I'm pretty sure she's referencing the hs2coll yahoo group because that's where I saw discussion recently! That is where I saw it mentioned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LovinHS Posted May 15, 2014 Author Share Posted May 15, 2014 Heading over to join that group - I had not heard of that one. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dereksurfs Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Hi all, I'm just checking back to see if anyone did this course? It looks like an interesting option for Computer Science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 dd13 had pretty decent python experience, and she started by using the TeenCoder book for the first half of the school year. By January she didn't feel very solid on Java, so she joined the Amplify class midstream. She was able to catch up doing about a unit per week and has been with the class for the last month or so. Now she feels very confident. The exam is next week and we'll get the results in July. Despite the glowing reviews for TC on this list, it just didn't seem to be enough for us. I was glad to have Amplify as a back up. We used the free service and didn't bother with the coaching that you pay extra for. Ms. Dovi has a way of inspiring confidence and seems to have a lot of AP experience. FYI, it looks like the author of TC is going to be updating his book, so I might look into that for my younger dd in another year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dereksurfs Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Thanks, Daijobu. It sounds like your dd13 has really liked Amplify which is great to hear! I'm not sure we would would take the AP test or just take the course for educational purposes. I know ds13 will be taking programming in college as well. In fact, we just enrolled him in our local CC where they have a number of programming courses available. So my primary goal is really just to get him up to speed before taking his first college CS courses for credit. I guess I was not very impressed with TeenCoder after reviewing their website and seeing so many other available options. So I hadn't really considered it much. A few other resources we are considering for Summer and possibly beyond are: https://www.udacity.com/course/intro-to-java-programming--cs046 https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial/?dtcode=sC1a6xg2Q6n5 https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-computer-science-harvardx-cs50x#! Harvard's looks very interesting with more web based technologies. Though I think this would extend beyond Summer for us. Still, it looks enjoyable. ETA: I forgot to mention that Berkeley also has a MOOC AP Computer Science course which looks very good as well. I wonder how it compares with Amplify? Overall there really is a lot to choose from including many which are very affordable to free: https://www.edx.org/course/preparing-ap-computer-science-exam-level-uc-berkeleyx-lucs-1x#! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gratia271 Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 dd13 had pretty decent python experience, and she started by using the TeenCoder book for the first half of the school year. By January she didn't feel very solid on Java, so she joined the Amplify class midstream. She was able to catch up doing about a unit per week and has been with the class for the last month or so. Now she feels very confident. The exam is next week and we'll get the results in July. Despite the glowing reviews for TC on this list, it just didn't seem to be enough for us. I was glad to have Amplify as a back up. We used the free service and didn't bother with the coaching that you pay extra for. Ms. Dovi has a way of inspiring confidence and seems to have a lot of AP experience. FYI, it looks like the author of TC is going to be updating his book, so I might look into that for my younger dd in another year. Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I am debating which direction to take for APCS studies this fall for my kids. They are doing MIT's Python class now, and will begin APCS this fall. It sounds like Amplify might work. DD also noticed EdX is going to offer something, so we'll see. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dereksurfs Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I am debating which direction to take for APCS studies this fall for my kids. They are doing MIT's Python class now, and will begin APCS this fall. It sounds like Amplify might work. DD also noticed EdX is going to offer something, so we'll see. I wish we knew someone who had taken Berkeley's AP Computer Science course on EdX to compare with the Amplify AP CS course. They both look like really good options. Both appear to be well thought out. Berkeley's speaks about doing a lot of hands on learning through creating games which sounds like fun. It also says they will be interacting with others students. I wonder how that works? While on the other hand we have parents here who have used Amplify and have had good experiences with it. So good choices but tough decision all around. :) :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gratia271 Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 I wish we knew someone who had taken Berkeley's AP Computer Science course on EdX to compare with the Amplify AP CS course. They both look like really good options. Both appear to be well thought out. Berkeley's speaks about doing a lot of hands on learning through creating games which sounds like fun. It also says they will be interacting with others students. I wonder how that works? While on the other hand we have parents here who have used Amplify and have had good experiences with it. So good choices but tough decision all around. :) :o I was looking at the Berkeley course yesterday, and it looks good too! I think my son might really like that option based on the description. Decisions decisions...:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 My son took the Amplify course and learned a ton. However he fell behind the pacing of the course so I'm not sure how well prepared he will be for the exam. He's good at tests but I can't predict how he'll do. I think there is a lot of support from the class forum. The coaches side of the forum is probably worth the cost (it was $85 for us but they were about to raise it when we signed up). There is a coaches packet and a good amount of support from the coaches forum. I will say that Jeff, the support guy at Amplify was really good about getting back to me on questions like what course content would be and documentation for the AP status of the course. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 Oh and fwiw ds did not have prior coding experience other than a bit of playing around with Khan Academy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gratia271 Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 That's good to know. Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dereksurfs Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 My son took the Amplify course and learned a ton. However he fell behind the pacing of the course so I'm not sure how well prepared he will be for the exam. He's good at tests but I can't predict how he'll do. I think there is a lot of support from the class forum. The coaches side of the forum is probably worth the cost (it was $85 for us but they were about to raise it when we signed up). There is a coaches packet and a good amount of support from the coaches forum. I will say that Jeff, the support guy at Amplify was really good about getting back to me on questions like what course content would be and documentation for the AP status of the course. Wow, another good review of Amplify. Thank you! Can you please share a bit more about the format of the course, the presentation style, tests, etc...? For example, is this a pre-recorder lecture or is it more interactive software with some written instructions or some other format? It's really hard to tell what the course is like from the website. Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Wow, another good review of Amplify. Thank you! Can you please share a bit more about the format of the course, the presentation style, tests, etc...? For example, is this a pre-recorder lecture or is it more interactive software with some written instructions or some other format? It's really hard to tell what the course is like from the website. Thanks, There are several units per semester. Each unit is on a concept and has multiple lessons. A lesson would have a pre-recorded video lesson on the topic with Ms. Dovi. Then there would be activities in which the student practiced the new concept. Assignments (scheduled every couple weeks) would require the student to write a program that met certain requirements. Quizzes are multiple choice and resemble the AP MC section. My son wrote his programs in Dr. Java, then copied them into the program that Amplify uses to check the code and enter success into the grade tracker. However, he ran into some computer problems where one computer would let him code but not enter programs into Amplify. So I know that he wrote successful programs, but his grade tracker is way out of date. Amplify does not assign a grade, but only provides the content. They expressly leave the grading up to the schools using their service. The coaches packet also has small written quizzes called 60-80-100 quizzes. These are designed to prep the student for the free response section of the exam. The 60-80-100 title refers to the suggested scoring guidelines. The coaches packet also contains sample solutions for the assignment programs and some planning helps. There are offline quizzes and solution sets for each of the quizzes on the website. So you actually have twice the number of test questions on each unit. They recommend having students do one set of quiz questions as a study aid to the one that will actually be graded. The class can be very self driven, but tends to open one week's worth of content each week. There was some discussion on the coaches board about releasing more for schools that use a block schedule or who have students who are ready to move faster (particularly in the earliest weeks). I'm not sure what the conclusion of that discussion was. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dereksurfs Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 Thanks, Sebastian. Your further explanation really helps me to get a better sense of what the actual course content and focus is like. My son is doing a couple Summer Java short courses to warm up before Fall. I'm still uncertain which class we will go with. But I'm leaning toward this Amplify MOOC course. Although my goal at this stage is more to learn to good programming rather than to practice for the AP test. We may not even take that test. So I'm not sure I want to dedicate that much time on test prep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Yikes! It looks like I do need to get the college board to retain my dd's AP CS scores that she took as an 8th grader. I hope I'm not too late. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RegGuheert Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Yikes! It looks like I do need to get the college board to retain my dd's AP CS scores that she took as an 8th grader. I hope I'm not too late.The link you provided is refering to SAT test scores, not AP scores.Hopefully AP scores are not handled in the same way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 The link you provided is refering to SAT test scores, not AP scores. Hopefully AP scores are not handled in the same way. Thank you, Reg. I did indeed have a little freak out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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