is ap computer science principles even worth it? contemplating between ap csp and ap csa
for context, i have absolutely no coding background at all. zero. none. though i am currently doing quite good in math as i am taking an honors math course equivalent to algebra II as a freshman, and i can grasp mathematical concepts fairly easily. i'm otw to be able to take ap calc bc as a junior
i am in a position where i have no idea whether i want to pursue stem or liberal arts studies, and the reason why i am bringing this up is because taking a computer science course (which is a stem that i feel more gravitated towards out of any bio, chem, physics etc class) early in my hs career would significantly help me w/ that decision. the problem is is that now i have to decide between either enduring soph year with a straight jump into programming through ap csa, or taking ap csp which idk if it actually provides useful info or not.
i heard that the csp course teaches general information about computer science and even covers other careers related to technology such as cybersecurity, which would be helpful if this were the case considering i'm not fully confident about pursuing computer science specifically. however i've also seen many complaints stating that the class is inherently useless (usually this opinion comes from people who have already programmed before taking the class so lol) and that you're better off with just taking csa
thus i've ended up contemplating on a few different options:
- self study ap computer science principles through the khan academy course online before taking csa in soph year
- completely neglect the csp curriculum and just take an introductory course on java throughout the summer in order to determine whether i want to take csa or not
- do both the self studying and the introductory course???
- just take both courses in school lol
insight would be appreciated, lmk which option u think is the best or if u have any other recommendations ty