<p>Which one do colleges typically consider stronger?</p>
<p>I'm taking one of the two as a Senior, and I'm not going into STEM fields. From what I know, and at least in my school, AP Physics is more rigorous. But do colleges also see it this way?</p>
<p>I thought you needed AP Calculus AB before taking AP Physics C.</p>
<p>But anyway, I’d take Calculus. Calculus can be applied to many fields - economics, statistics, mathematics, physics, etc. </p>
<p>If you’re not interested in a STEM field, go with Calculus.</p>
<p>If you have not had any calculus before or at least concurrently, you should not be taking a calculus based physics course, including AP Physics C.</p>
<p>AP Calculus AB is typically credited as a semester of freshman calculus. AP Physics C theoretically covers two thirds to a year of freshman physics for science and engineering majors, but curricular variation in universities means that it is often not given subject credit (e.g. because the university’s freshman physics includes topics like thermodynamics as well as mechanics and electricity/magnetism, or electricity/magnetism is taught with multivariable calculus).</p>
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This is true.</p>
<p>AP Calculus AB. You do not have the prerequisites to be successful in AP Physics C.</p>
<p>AP Physics C is one of the hardest, if not THE hardest AP class out there. Also, a strong math student would take BC Calculus, AB the easier, simplified version of BC would not be viewed very rigorous.</p>
<p>Hmm…my two children took Physic C mechs as well as Calc AB in their junior year. They said it was a bit tricky in the beginning because they had to use some calculus in physics before they had actually learned it in math. Eventually the math caught up with the physics though and all was well.</p>
<p>So it can be done, but if you’re not that intuitively strong in math then I wouldn’t recommend the Physics without having had the calculus.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies.</p>
<p>@runnerxc I’ve taken a regular Calculus class before. So if I do choose AP Physics, I would just self-study Calculus along the way.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus Interesting what you said about colleges credit for AP Physics. I suppose AP Calculus would be more useful in that regard. Does anyone know the typical math requirement for a non-STEM major at a selective university? </p>
<p>But right now I’m more concerned whether colleges will think my Senior year schedule is too weak. My other 3 AP’s are all pretty easy, but I’m not good at math/science so I’m hesitant on these two.</p>
<p>I’d still like to pose my question: Can colleges differentiate the difficulty of AP’s?</p>
<p>I suppose WE all know that AP Physics is more rigorous than, say, AP Environmental Science, but do COLLEGES know?</p>
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<p>Then why are you considering Calculus AB, which is relatively low on the rigorousness scale, since it covers approximately the first semester of freshman calculus over a year?</p>
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<p>It varies all over the place. MIT requires math through multivariable calculus (and they compress what is normally a year of freshman calculus into a semester, so that is equivalent to three semesters of calculus at most schools even though it is only two semesters at MIT). But Brown requires nothing more than what can get you admitted as a freshman.</p>
<p>If you are not going into a STEM field, calculus will be more likely to be useful for either your major or just in general, compared to physics. Economics and business require calculus, while these and other social studies majors use statistics, for which knowing calculus can be helpful in learning.</p>
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<p>If it is common knowledge here, it is common knowledge in admissions committees. If nothing else, it is obvious that, for example, Calculus BC > Calculus AB > Statistics, the “big three” sciences > Environmental Science, and Physics C > Physics B. That universities commonly do not give any subject credit for APs like Human Geography and the like (but more commonly for APs like English Literature and Calculus BC) should be a pretty big clue as to what they think of them.</p>