I am planning on taking AP Biology, AP Calculus AB, AP English, and AP Physics 1 next year; however, I am not sure whether or not I should take AP Physics 1 due to the fact that I have not previously taken Physics. I have taken Pre AP Calculus, Pre AP Chemistry, and AP Chemistry, which cover the prerequisites required as an alternative to taking Physics, but I do not know if it would be wise to take AP Physics 1 without a background in physics. Any thoughts or suggestions?
AP Physics 1 assumes no background in physics. Your bigger challenge will be the fact that 63% of the test takers failed the AP exam last year.
Wow! 63% I have a question, if my school labels AP Physics just by itself, Can I assume it is AP Physics 1?
I think you should go talk to the science teachers (or whomever is the school curriculum coordinator or your counselor) about each course. Please also consider the various lab requirements – the first course is now often AP Physics 1 (algebra based) but many schools offer AP Physics C (calculus based) as well.
AP Physics is a whole heck of a lot of work. Most of the kids who took the AP Physics 1 exam in our school got 2s so I honestly would not recommend AP Physics 1. I am only taking it because it is a requirement for me, if I had the choice I would have never taken this class. Also, I feel like it is better to take Calculus before Physics because then you will be able to utilize your knowledge of derivatives and integrals when doing physics. It is sooo helpful. Good luck to you!
As @CA1543 said, ask your GC, or the teacher. However, if the course does not require calculus as a prereq or coreq, chances are it’s AP Physics 1
Ask the teachers at your school about the pass rate. Unlike @witchjack, my school’s course had a 80 to 90% AP test pass rate last year (but then again, with Physics B, it was 100%), with 40% of students getting 5s. However, that depends on the strength of your program. AP Physics 1 requires no physics background whatsoever, although you should definitely know trigonometry (and if your precalculus course exposes you to vectors, that definitely helps. it’s not needed though.) before you take it. I don’t find it too difficult, but again, I have a good teacher.