<p>I have a friend who is going into his junior year. He's not quite sure whether it would be better to take AP Chem his junior year and physics senior year, or vice versa. He thinks that taking physics senior year with calc concurrently would be better, but I worry that colleges would want to see all of his physics grades instead of one semester (as the whole senior year grades are obviously not seen).</p>
<p>Any suggestions?</p>
<p>P.S. He is not going into a science related field</p>
<p>Which physics? If it’s B then he doesn’t even need Calc. He should most definetly not take C if he has no background in Physics (even with an Honors background in physics, I wouldn’t recommend C).</p>
<p>IMO, he should take Chem his Junior year and Physics his senior year. In my school it is required for you take Chem in Soph and Physics in Junior (you can take AP either the required year or do standard/honors the required year and do AP th next year if you want). If your school is like mine then that means you’d have a year of Chem under your belt before taking AP Chem (a definite must in most cases) and a year of Physics under your belt before you take AP Physics. This of course assumes he took Chem Honors this year and is taking Physics Honors next year if he’s not gonna do AP until his senior year.</p>
<p>Why is he taking them if he doesn’t want to go into a science field?</p>
<p>I’d say wait until senior year for AP physics. At my high school you’re not even allowed to take AP physics without calc… Your friend should have an easier time in physics if he is also taking calc, or at least thats the general idea I got from my physics teacher I have now.</p>
<p>^That depends on which Physics you’re taking…</p>
<p>^ At my high school it’s only called “AP physics” there is no option to select a different branch, or whatever is offered at your specific school.</p>
<p>Oh, in my school there is AP Physics B and AP Physics C. C is Calc based, B is not.</p>
<p>Chem during Junior year and Physics during senior year, although taking them at the same time wouldn’t hurt. I took AP calc, chem, and physics all at the same time, and I think it really helped me because there was some overlap between the classes, since I learned one thing that was applicable to three classes, and I didn’t get confused because if I didn’t understand a concept in one class, I’d learn about it again 2 periods later.</p>
<p>AP chem is easier than AP physics C.
I took AP Chem and AP Calc BC in 10th grade and now I am taking AP Physics C.
In our school you cant take AP Physics C without finishing AP Calculus AB before.</p>