IBM to US Senators: Yo Kids So CS-Stupid Nobody Wants to Hire Them

I recently, as of now it's been about two years, took the APCS exam when I was in high school. I can tell you it was a horrible measure of computer science or even software engineering knowledge.

I know they recently changed the exam, to remove grid world, but I took the exam that they used to transition from grid world to the new material.

I got a 5, the maximum score. I'm fairly sure I was one of ~3 in my school that got that score.

The material was antiquated: no low level systems questions, no optimization of code, no coding style questions, no design pattern questions, no software architecture questions, no security questions. In essence no thinking questions.

It was just a test based on "Do you know Java" as the only questions that I felt were of substance were things questioning understanding of Java's object inheritance.

I want to go into software engineering, and it is slowly turning me even more cynical that I can't actually find a good CS program to teach me about the over arching issues about software engineering (at least at a reasonable price).

I want to learn the things I need help with, but no one has given me a platform to expand my knowledge base. I'm stuck trying to look for work so that an employer can fill the gaps in my hodgepodge software engineering career.