2 in AP physics

I’m glad to hear that @micgeaux. I hope my daughter’s college chem experience goes as well.

It helps if you study for the test. In my stupid kid’s case he did not. In his mind the ap test was just an exercise. Didn’t even take them his senior year.

Tell daughter not to worry. Good student’s don’t always do great on AP tests. I know of kids that did great and took the class in college and didn’t do so well. Besides getting some credit it really doesn’t mean much. Colleges get it…

@JBStillFlying Physics 1 and 2 are only a few years old. There are no decent textbooks for AP physics 1, not sure about AP physics 2. Up until a few months ago, there were almost no exam prep books either.

Your daughter probably won’t get credit or placement with that score, but it is unlikely to affect her college admission.

As far as what colleges will see- she will send them a report from College Board AFTER she is admitted, when it won’t matter except for credit or placement. She need not send a report beforehand; most people do not. There is a spot for self-reporting AP scores on the Common App, so she can decide whether to self-report it or not. If she has other higher AP scores, it might benefit her to report it along with the others, so she both looks “open” and the other scores make her look good.

In terms of passing the class, it depends on your high school, but unless your high school adjusts its grades in midsummer, it is unlikely to factor into the grade. In my son’s high school, the scores are unrelated to the grades, which come out before the scores are released.

It’s not legal in a public school for a student to teach a class, and that could cost a private school accreditation. I’d be more worried about the actual academics my kid received because the “A” in the class certainly doesn’t mesh with the “2”.

Its OK to repeat physics in college, and probably a good idea. Its also OK to get low scores on AP exams, but it is possible to learn the material on any AP test by one’s self as well, with self study using Khan Academy or a book.
So your daughter can retake the physics exam, if she chooses to study for it this time. No one should trust the high school teacher of a so called “AP class”, and everyone should study for AP exams if they want to get a high score.

And a score of 2 means she did not master the subject, but its fine to repeat it. She probably got the basic concepts down, and she can go from there to learn to solve physics problems.

The test is testing college material, so they are difficult tests. One other reason physics has low scores is
very few high school physics teachers have a physics degree. Most high school science teachers do not understand physics and cannot teach it correctly. Many school distracts across the USA cannot find qualified physics teachers.

Arizona State is addressing this program by offering training to AP physics teachers over the summers, but the program is only open to school science teachers in the state of Arizona.

Her A in the class stands. She does not have to report the score. The college will not get an official score until she matriculates. Since she has a legitimate reason for the low score I think she could address it herself in the supplemental essay area, or ask the GC to address it. People get low scores for all sorts of reasons, sometimes they are sick, sometimes they just get unlucky with a question, sometimes the teacher doesn’t cover the entire curriculum. It’s a shame she didn’t have a better teacher, but if she does take physics in college she’ll be better off having had some exposure in high school.

Wouldn’t any textbook suitable for a college physics-for-biology-majors-and-premeds course be suitable for AP physics 1 and 2 (which are just the old AP physics B split into two courses)?

Some are free online:

http://www.lightandmatter.com/books.html
http://scipp.ucsc.edu/outreach/index2.html
https://cnx.org/contents/Ax2o07Ul@11.7:HR_VN3f7@3/Introduction-to-Science-and-th

^ Unless the school requires the reporting of all AP scores for an admissions decision, or the high school itself includes the result of AP tests on the transcript, not sure why a low score needs to be addressed in a college essay or even disclosed. Most colleges consider AP scores to be supplemental (similar to subject tests) for an admissions decision, so a student may report any, all, or none on the application unoffically. While there might be a theoretical risk of looking like you are hiding something, in general schools will likely ignore the fact that the score isn’t there simply because there are too many reasons for it not to be (ie you might not have sat the exam). While different high schools and districts have different rules, neither College Board nor colleges themselves require that you actually sit the AP test just because you took the class. And no college is going to rescind your admission because you turn in a 1 or 2 along with other scores when you matriculate. And of course, if you aren’t getting any credit for any AP score (say, all your scores are 3’s and 4’s and you are heading to Harvard) don’t bother submitting any at all.

There’s more to an AP class than the actual test, especially if you are taking it because it’s the most advanced course available in that subject. Like @mathmom is saying, exposure to the subject and an effort to take a full load of challenging college prep courses can be sufficient reason for enrolling in the class.

DS got a 4 in APUSH and a 3 in Chem with a final A in both classes. I also wonder about reporting the 3 in Chem because he says he wants to study chemistry.

My mom is an AP teacher (at 73!!! still!!) and insists with her years of experience the score isn’t important to college admission, only college credit.

She has seen plenty of good students not get the 4s and 5s, especially first time out the gate on these tests. She has seen plenty of good students knock it out of the park. She has heard from students who didn’t do too hot on the test grow to excel in the subject in college.

In the case of my DS, I have to say that paying attention to his tests in AP Chem across the year, he had plenty of Bs and sometimes Cs tests that seemed to align with getting a 3. His grades were bolstered by quizzes and labwork and he ultimately squeaked by with an A. I am happy he had the exposure to a tough class and learned how college is going to work - the midterm and final is almost everything in college and he will need a plan to attack those tests.

He also knows he can’t blame teacher or curriculum as there were 5 students with 5s of 20 in the class.

There have been prep books since the first year the exam was administered. No comment on how good they were.

One does not need (and IMO should not have) a text specifically designed for AP. for this, or any, subject. Most college-level texts should be fine.

Bingo. I have said for three years that the switch from Physics B to Physics 1/2 is an epic fail. The last year Physics B was offered, 94K students took the exam; last year, 170K took Physics 1 (only 24K took Physics 2), so there are probably 70K students who should not have been in an AP class, IMO.

The problem is that Physics B required an into physics class. When Physics 1/2 came into play, many high schools eliminated honors physics and AP Physics 1 became the gateway physics course. Additionally. AP Physics 1 is a more conceptual course than the old Physics B; it’s not plug-and-chug math. One would hope by this time that teachers have adapted.

Fret not…colleges are much more concerned about your grades in those classes as opposed to the AP tests.

Why is that?

  1. Doing well in a class shows you can learn over the year and work hard over a period of time. That is what they want in college.
  2. Not all HS have many APs.
  3. Many people take AP tests senior year which is too late for admissions

For example, Stanford says:
Students currently enrolled in AP courses are not required to submit AP scores as part of our admission process. AP scores that are reported are acknowledged but rarely play a significant role in the evaluation of an application. Grades earned over the course of a term, or a year, and evaluations from instructors who can comment on classroom engagement provide us with the most detailed insight into a student’s readiness for the academic rigors of Stanford.
http://admission.stanford.edu/basics/selection/prepare.html

Where does this leave you?

  1. It tells you that you cannot place out of those classes in college…you will need to take them in college like many many other people do.
  2. Do not self-report your scores

Low AP scores do not need to be submitted to colleges. I think there is a way to eliminate the low ones if a student takes many AP test and only fails one or two. Its OK to try and fail in high school.

Many schools will only take a 5 for the AP physics exam and many will only take AP Physics C for credit.

A score of 2 means she did not master physics and needs to repeat it. One needs to study for AP exams.
Many teachers do not understand physics, so it may be best to take it in college, especially if a student is wanting to become a mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, or any type of scientist, including biologist or chemist. Even environmental scientists and medical doctors need to understand some physics and mathematics. Orthodontists need to understand mechanical forces for instance.

Class grades are based on performance to the teacher’s standards and not the AP test standards. I think some teachers do a better job than others at figuring out what is needed to get a higher score on the AP exam and base their standards off those. My daughter’s AP Bio teacher gets a % of students getting 4s and 5s way higher than the national average. It’s him, and not the students, because those same students don’t have nearly the same success on other subjects. (My daughter said he was a really, really good teacher.)

Our school dropped honor physics the first year they offered AP Physics 1, and then brought it back the next year. Still, a lot of kids opt to take AP. I think some kids wanted honors as an option because they want to take physics while they’re taking AP Chem or AP Bio junior year, and then take Physics C senior year. As far as I know, his school never offered Physics B.

My son took AP Physics 1 this year - they did have a college physics textbook, but rarely used it because the teacher said it didn’t align well with the curriculum. It does seem like the teachers are still figuring it out. He actually wants to take AP Physics 2 next year and it’s not being offered - not enough kids signed up.

My D ended up with a B in AP Physics 1, but got a 3 on the AP test. She did the same for AP Chem a B and a 3 on the AP test.

She ended up taking 5 AP classes( Scores 3,3,3,4 & 4) this year and it hurt her GPA, but I think it helped her ACT. She ended up with a 35 on the Science part of the ACT.

Can you clarify this? Are you saying that they are teaching wrong material? or teaching the correct material wrongly?

One can make this excuse the first year, maybe the second year. We’re now in the 4th year, so I find this an unacceptable excuse.

It is one test, on one day, it is not reflective of ability as a whole. No one has to see the score, you don’t have to submit it. I am not going to tell you that it is not going to be noticed at some of the schools, particularly elite schools, but I honestly don’t think it will tank an application. If she planning a STEM major the 2 is going to hurt a tiny bit more. She did not fail the course, but I am guessing she did not completely understand a good bit of the material and would recommend she review it before moving forward in the physics sequence.

Some perspective on the admissions front: neither of my kids applied to elite/top schools, most were ranked #50-#100 range. My eldest (2016) did not submit nor self report a single one of her 12 AP scores. She was accepted at every one of the schools she applied too (12 in total) for direct entry DPT/Biomedical Science, here are the ones I recall: Pitt, Purdue, Marquette, Drexel, College of Wooster, Ohio University, Quinnipiac, Duquesne, Baldwin Wallace, Seton Hall.

My youngest (2018) on the other hand choose to submit/self-report her 9 AP scores; including a 1 (yes a 1) on her Physics I AP. She was accepted to all but one of the schools to which she applied (16 total) for Psychology: University of Florida, Florida State, Texas A&M, Loyola Chicago, Trinity University, U of South Carolina, Auburn, College of Charleston, Fordham, LSU, Ole Miss, High Point, SFA, Clemson (waitlisted, ultimately accepted), UT (capped), U of Washington (denied).

I have just listed 27 great schools that were happy to accept a student without knowing their AP scores and/or didn’t seem to be bothered by seeing a 1. A low AP score is not the end of the world. I am sorry she didn’t receive a score that she/you hoped for or was indicative of her potential. IMO, schools will be more impressed by resilience.