I asked the question about AP Physics 1 vs Honors or pre-ap physics, because when my older 2 were in high school, AP Physics 1 was not an option as the first physics course. Every public and private school( in our area ) that offered AP Physics 1, 2 or C required the honors or pre-ap before taking AP… 6-7 years ago. Perhaps other schools in the US have always allowed AP Physics I as the first course but it was not “marketed” that way at least around here. Just feel like in a push to get kids to more advanced material some of the basics are getting left behind… an inch deep and mile wide of actual knowledge.
Every class, every teacher and every student is different so while I’m sure you are right that some students are taking these classes and missing some depth, I don’t think that’s universally true of those who go straight to an AP Physics class. The class if taught well doesn’t skip the basics, it just covers them rapidly because the students in it can absorb the info efficiently and apply it to the more advanced topics. Every year at my kid’s (public) school there are students who went straight to AP Physics who end up being invited to take post-intro physics classes at an incredibly rigorous and well known university who typically do well. If they had glossed over the fundamentals they would not.
I think in most cases it’s worth the student learning the rep of the class and teacher. At our school they tend to put the best teachers on the AP courses so when faced with a choice it’s often worth taking the AP to get the best instructor, if the student knows they can keep up.
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Note that AP physics 1 and 2 are usually a two year sequence trying to approximate material in a two semester college physics for biology majors sequence (which is less likely to list high school physics as a prerequisite than physics for physics or engineering majors). So the AP course is slower paced than the college course.
The old AP physics B that AP physics 1 and 2 replaced put all that material into one year (similar pace as the college course), but more commonly (in high schools) had high school physics as a prerequisite, although some high schools offered as a first honors physics course.