mckittre Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 My kid is looking for an advanced online computer science class. He's taken both AOPS python classes as well as a Data Structures and Algorithms course at a CTY camp. He hasn't done AP, but when he looked through the course content on the AP website, it sounds like it's all stuff he already knows in Python, but in Java instead. That sounds boring to him. He's willing to learn Java and doesn't think it'd be too hard, but only in the service of actually studying something more advanced, not just to take a class to learn the same concepts in another programming language. He does programming on his own as well, and will continue to, but he feels he learns a lot from the structure of a class, and the theoretical aspects he wouldn't necessarily discover messing around on his own. He also wants it to be challenging. I guess I maybe should look for an online college class, but I'm not sure where to look to find something that's not too introductory but will accept a young student. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal_Bear Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 (edited) I don't know if he has any interest in classes that are oriented toward USACO...but my son is taking some math courses from here. You can see their curriculum path for CS. One caveat is that they do expect math on level with AMC 10/12 and later AIME...https://alphastar.academy/computer-science/ Edited July 22, 2022 by calbear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mckittre Posted July 22, 2022 Author Share Posted July 22, 2022 What math level does that correspond to? He did AOPS Intermediate Algebra last year (online class) and is planning to continue on with AOPS precalc this year (on his own with the book). He's always been nervous/hesitant about the idea of competitions, but often likes the sorts of puzzling challenge problem that competitions include. So he might be interested if he wasn't required to compete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted July 23, 2022 Share Posted July 23, 2022 You could potentially just find a tutor through Wyzant or something similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malam Posted July 25, 2022 Share Posted July 25, 2022 If he's self-driven, he might want to check out usaco.guide. It's a free curriculum for the USA Computing Olympiad. The claases at awesomemath and alphastar don't require competing in any math competitions. Thye have placement tests, but IMO he'd be ready for an AMC-level class. I'm not sure what the downside of taking the AMC 10/12 is though. Maybe he bombs it and is no worse than if he hadn't taken it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mckittre Posted August 1, 2022 Author Share Posted August 1, 2022 He's self-driven, but not competitive. So I guess the downside of contests is that he's not interested. A tutor approach might be good, if the tutor was willing to help set the structure of what to learn next -- more a mentor than a tutor. You don't know what you don't know. His Data Structures and Algorithms teacher said that that class was roughly similar to a second year college CS class. So it seems very unlikely that any official sort of "next" class would let him in. There are tons of online courses aimed at adult professionals moving into CS as a field, but it's super hard to tell what level any of them are or if they're any good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malam Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 He could use MIT's OCW courses, or edx courses, or coursera courses. Andrew Ng has a pretty famous coursera course on deep learning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.