Hi!
I’m going to be a junior in high school next year. I took chem honors as a sophomore. I want to major in chemical engineering. Should I take ap chem as a junior and then ap physics c mechanics as a senior, OR should I take ap physics c mechanics as a junior and ap chem as a senior?
Any advice would be helpful.
Thanks!
AP physics C requires calculus. When do you take calculus?
@ucbalumnus I took it already
I don’t think it matters AT ALL which you take first or second.
If you have not taken any physics yet, take physics first, so that you will have some physics and not worry about future scheduling difficulties preventing you from taking physics.
yes, some people were telling me to take ap physics c in order to take the physics subject test. i was just worried that this would disturb the sequence of chemistry.
My son is a ChemE grad, and it does not matter when you take them. My son took them both senior year.
AP physics is actually a poor match for the SAT subject test in physics. The latter tests a large number of topics at a high school physics level. AP physics C covers only mechanics and E&M (and only one of these topics in a year if your school has each one as a full year course) in somewhat greater depth.
Better matches for the SAT subject test in physics would be a regular high school physics course, or AP physics 1+2 if it is done in one year for both (instead of two years, since you would only get half of the content if AP physics 1 is a year long course).
Thank you, ucblaumnus. My son, who is going into 11th grade, just took the Subject test for Chem. He had an honors chemistry class, not AP, as his school does not offer AP Chem. It is known to be a very challenging class and he was at the top of the class – nevertheless, there was a hole there with content relative to AP (we were told, though, that while he would not do well on the AP Chem he would do just fine on Subject). He did do three hourlong tutoring sessions but was given no practice problems to learn the stuff he had not had. His tutor maintains that my son was his best chem student this year and he thought he would quite easily get a very high score on the test (he got something like 720/730 on the first practice test). He got a 700. You can’t spin straw into gold (which is not to deprecate his high school class, which was excellent…it’t just that there was some material he did not get). He took Calc A/B last year, by the way, and did just fine: 5 on the AP exam. So, now he is going into junior year with this physics class…I believe that it is AP Physic C, as you mention. My son remarked in response to his Chem Subject score, “Well, I will probably take the Physics Subject test” as though that would be easier, given that his Physics class is AP. Oh no he won’t …not if we are going to have the same thing happen again. I suspect, based on your comment, that we are better off getting a tutor (really digging in next time) and having him retake the Chem Subject test, particularly given that he loves chemistry and does not mind spending extra time on it. I was pretty disappointed by the Chem score, though. Several family members have graduated from College of Chemistry at Cal. Even if he kills the SAT (he probably will – very high 10th gr PSAT), I don’t think Cal or similar will overlook his 700 (UC says they evaluate students based on available curriculum / opportunity – not sure I buy that when it comes to competitive programs). I wish someone had explained that the Subject tests are quite challenging – and, that there are a lot of strong students in the pool of test-takers (lots of AP Chem kids, I think…). It’s not the same thing as the general S.A.T. pool (should have been obvious but never gave it much thought before the test). I think I was mislead by remarks like, “Subject tests are much easier than AP.”
The SAT subject tests were not really that hard from my (decades old) experience – if your high school course covered the topics tested on them.
When I took the Achievement test (as the SAT subject tests were then called) in physics, it was not hard, and I scored in the mid-700s after just a regular high school physics course (PSSC book and curriculum) and no additional preparation. But a student today who takes AP physics 1 or AP physics C would not have seen much of the tested material, even if the material that s/he did see was covered in greater depth.
Thank you! I don’t have to take the physics subject tests, as I already finished math 2 and bio and chem, but I thought that it would be nice to show interest in physics.
What do y’all think about not taking the physics subject test?
I think choosing the major implies enough of an interest in Physics if you have three other relevant tests already.
So the physics subject test wouldn’t be necessary at all?
Unless the school specifically requests it. Check out the requirements