So I'm wondering whether I should take this class when it's available to me in 10th grade... If you don't know what AP Computer Science is, it's a college course you take in high school that teaches you Java. I've been told by people that have taken it it's total hell, mostly due to teachers not teaching the content on the tests (I'm pretty sure that the tests are pre-written based off the curriculum). If anyone has taken it before, can you give me a bit of advice here? I live in Georgia (United States) if it helps out.

I've been told by people that have taken it it's total hell, mostly due to teachers not teaching the content on the tests

That would almost certainly depend on your school rather than being something you can generalise to the course everywhere. Have you heard from people who have taken the course at your school, or from elsewhere?

Does it cost you extra to take the course?

What other opportunities will you have to give up to take the course?

I've been told by people that have taken it it's total hell, mostly due to teachers not teaching the content on the tests

That would almost certainly depend on your school rather than being something you can generalise to the course everywhere. Have you heard from people who have taken the course at your school, or from elsewhere?

Does it cost you extra to take the course?

What other opportunities will you have to give up to take the course?

There's a fee I think. But the person that told me it was hell goes to an extremely prestigious high school that's based more around computers and STEM in general rather than sports or art. I'll lose 1 slot for an elective.

I'll lose 1 slot for an elective.

Is there an elective that you would be likely to take in that slot if you don't take the AP class?

Consider your costs. Obviously that includes an up-front fee if there is one. It may also include course materials (books, software, etc.), travel costs (if applicable), etc. Do you think these costs are worthwhile?

You also need to consider opportunity cost; by taking this class you may miss out on the opportunity to do something else -- in this case probably another elective class, or maybe (depending on how your school works) a free slot in which you could potentially spend more time studying for other classes. Do you think the AP class would be more worthwhile than whatever you would likely do with the time instead? Don't forget that opportunity cost will also include time spent studying at home if the workload for the AP class will be more time consuming that your alternative, as well as additional travel time if you would need to go elsewhere at any point.

I did take a similar class in high-school (it was called an "enhancement module", and involved taking a couple of classes at uni whilst I was going years 11 and 12) and found mine to be valuable, as it gave me a head start when I actually went to university and also gave me a bonus to the score used to get into uni in Australia. Obviously your situation may be different, so you should consider what advantages may be available from taking the class.

The long and short of it is that as far as high school courses go, it's one of the most useful and pretty universally accepted at colleges.

I'll lose 1 slot for an elective.

Is there an elective that you would be likely to take in that slot if you don't take the AP class?

Consider your costs. Obviously that includes an up-front fee if there is one. It may also include course materials (books, software, etc.), travel costs (if applicable), etc. Do you think these costs are worthwhile?

You also need to consider opportunity cost; by taking this class you may miss out on the opportunity to do something else -- in this case probably another elective class, or maybe (depending on how your school works) a free slot in which you could potentially spend more time studying for other classes. Do you think the AP class would be more worthwhile than whatever you would likely do with the time instead? Don't forget that opportunity cost will also include time spent studying at home if the workload for the AP class will be more time consuming that your alternative, as well as additional travel time if you would need to go elsewhere at any point.

I did take a similar class in high-school (it was called an "enhancement module", and involved taking a couple of classes at uni whilst I was going years 11 and 12) and found mine to be valuable, as it gave me a head start when I actually went to university and also gave me a bonus to the score used to get into uni in Australia. Obviously your situation may be different, so you should consider what advantages may be available from taking the class.

I think the only cost is the initial fee. I believe the school provides textbooks and software. And I also made a mistake, I have 3 total elective slots, so this'll leave me with 2.

The college that I attended stopped accepting the AP CS test for credit after my freshman year, but I managed to get out of a boring introductory Java course because of it.

In high school, I worked through the Deitel & Deitel C++ and Java books (the monstrously heavy ones with all the bees), which made taking the test very easy. It may have changed since then, but if you can understand data structures at all, it's a breeze - I seem to remember that half of the test was about binary trees when I took it.