I plan on going into the medical field when I get to college. I am going to be a senior, and I have already taken and will take many advanced classes, mostly for pre med. The courses include:
Math:
-Honors Alg 1 through Honors Pre Calc
-Ap Statistics
Science:
Honors Biology and Chemistry
Ap Chemistry
Ap Biology
Ap Environmental Science
Regular Physics
English:
Honors English 9 and 10
Dual enrollment English (6 hours)
Social Studies:
Ap Human Geo
Dual enrollment US History (6 hours)
Dual enrollment US Gov and Econ (6 Hours)
Currently I’m having a difficult time picking between AP Calculus AB and Physics 1 AP. I don’t have enough room in my schedule to take both. Both classes at my school have reputations of being very difficult, esp AP Calc AB. I can’t do BC, because at my school AB is a prerequisite for BC and I don’t have room for both. There is no honors Physics or Calc at my school either. I got a B+ in Honors Pre-Calc in sophomore year in the second sem, so I ended up taking AP Stats junior year in fear of doing even worse in AB. (Trig is what killed me in pre calc, and that’s a major part of calc). I have heard both AP Physics 1 and AP Calc AB are both very useful for pre-med. I already know either one is going to be a challenge for me, and I want to get the best out of whichever one I take. Based on my situation, which one would be better to take?
I agree that Calculus would probably be the better choice since you already had some physics. Buy The Princeton Review “Cracking the AP Calculus AB Exam” and teach yourself daily over the summer so that you know the material pretty well before starting. It would be great if your score on the AP exam allowed you to get college credit. Even if you don’t credit, it is better to have it as preparation before you take it in college. If you still feel defeated by the trigonometry, see if there is a student who could tutor you over the summer.
You **may/b be able to apply AP calc credits to prereqs. You will likely not be able to apply AP Physics (or bio or chem) to prereqs. Additionally, there is no reason to take AP Physics 1 when you’ve already taken regular physics, and I’m surprised the HS gives that option, unless the HS is a “physics first” school. AP Physics 1 is designed to be a course without a physics prereq and is almost always the first physics course an honors student takes in HS.
Also a lot of schools will not exempt students from taking college physics (either Calculus based or Algebra based) with a score of 5.
For your future college, you will need to check what type of math and physics requirements are needed. 1 year of Calculus up to the college equivalent of BC and a year of Physics (either Calculus based or the equivalent that is taken by Biology majors).
There are schools that go beyond. Son’s school requires Calculus 3/Multivariable for premeds and there is no Physics geared towards Biology majors. All premeds have to take the Calculus version that Physics majors take and the class is a known weeder.
At most colleges, physics for bio/chem majors is what pre-meds take. A HS Physics course will be okay.
However, you would be at a serious disadvantage if you haven’t taken calculus in high school, so I vote for calculus AB.
Since you have had some exposure to HS physics I would say calculus for sure. As a pre-med you will need to take calculus and you will find that most students at the good colleges have taken at least some level of calculus in HS.
My S did not take calculus in HS. When he took calculus his first semester in college he found that he was one of only a couple of students in his 35 or so person class who did not have some level of calculus in HS. On top of that (he said) the professor wasn’t great. Most of the kids had no issues in the class since the material was largely review. However, he struggled and the class took up a tremendous amount of time and energy (fortunately the college had a math center which proved to be incredibly helpful). He did get through the class OK but it was a very difficult way to start college. I made sure my younger D took calculus in HS.
WHat do you want to major in ? As you may know, premed is not a major. you can major in anything and take the premed prereqs (bio, chem, org chem, physics, calc, etc)
Yes, if the college does not have a physics for biology majors with less math, a pre-med needs to take physics for physics majors and its pre- or co-requisites (usually multivariable calculus for the E&M part).
However, most colleges do offer a physics for biology majors sequence that requires less math (single variable calculus or no calculus) that pre-meds can take.
It may be better for pre-meds not to have AP physics 1 or 2 credit in order to avoid having to mark “repeat” for their college physics for biology majors course on their medical school application.