<p>Hi! I plan to take the AP Physics B course in the fall of this year, and yes, I'm very nervous. But I figured the best thing I can do is prepare for it to some extent during the summer. </p>
<p>I've never taken a physics class before, and I wouldn't exactly say math and science are my forte. BUT I am very driven and hard working. Does that help? Plus I hear Physics is super interesting. I'm trying to go in with a positive attitude, instead of freaking myself out and setting up for failure. </p>
<p>What I'm looking for is advice, helpful tips, review book suggestions (I hear the Princeton Review one is good?), and anything other helpful info, preferably from people who have taken the class/test. What can I practice and study during these two months? Any insight at all will be greatly appreciated. </p>
<p>Please be honest-- but don't be terribly discouraging and say I'll fail no matter what because I don't think that's true. Thanks!</p>
<p>Having never taken a Physics course, I took AP Physics B this year. I didn’t study or start learning the course at all until September when classes started. I purchased the Princeton Review book mid-late September and went through the units I needed to the night before a test. I then went through the entire book before the AP and studied with official multiple choice tests, the 2008 AP Audit, tons of free-response questions, and the Princeton review multiple choice.</p>
<p>For the students at my school, it is mostly a matter of liking it a lot or not at all. I loved the class and enjoyed learning new things (with the exception of some units). Many people slipped into the low 80s and 70s in the course because they didn’t try at all. Also, everyone found the first month or so to be extremely hard because we were all so unfamiliar with Physics. Pretty soon a few of us caught on. Make sure you stay confident in the beginning, because that’s when a lot of people decided to give up.</p>
<p>For the AP exam, you should try to know a good amount about each unit. Our teacher didn’t cover Fluid Mechanics due to lack of time, so I learned the information by myself. Even though I didn’t know the information as well as I did a few other units, there was an entire free-response question on the stuff and I think I did well on it. Also, don’t rely exclusively on what your teacher says. There are some things in the review book that we didn’t learn that helped on the AP. However, the Princeton book tells you a few things that you don’t need to know (especially with waves), so make sure you know what you need to know for the exam. Also, be sure that you understand pretty much everything you have learned (you don’t have to remember every detail for now) before you move on to a new concept/unit.</p>
<p>Overall, I thought I did well in the course: I most likely got a 96-97 in the course unweighted, a 4-5 on the AP exam, and high 90s on the Physics regents (mandatory New York State assessment). I also got an 800 on the Physics SAT with some outside studying. You really can do it if you just try and don’t fall behind!</p>
<p>I took Physics 1 sophomore year, loved it because it was so easy, plug and chug action, great teacher.
AP Physics B with the supposedly “best in the school system” teacher, I HATE physics now…she was awful so that may have been the reason, but my new saying for the subject is PH + dUCK -d Physics.
As an aside, I am taking the same teacher again next year for Physics C not because I want to learn, but to just have it on the transcript…</p>
<p>I think that physics is really different than the other AP courses because if you don’t get it, it is pretty hard to understand. Courses like AP Bio or Euro History are ones that you can bs through without really understanding anything and just memorizing facts, but physics is totally not the same. You don’t have to excel in sciences or math to do it, cause I personally ‘asian fail’ at math but I just got 99% in AP Physics B at school.
My method of studying: DO QUESTIONS AND DONT GIVE UP ON A QUESTION if you cannot get the right answer right away. </p>
<p>I have 3 prep books at home, but I never really used them for Qs, I found the best Qs came from the textbook (Cutnell (or something like that))</p>
<p>Thank you for your replies! They’ve given me lots to think about.
An additional question: how is math integrated into the material? What math level were you in while taking the class? I have completed Algebra 2 and will be taking Trig/Calc. Are the math concepts challenging? How so?</p>
<p>Lots and lots of trig…
Because basically everything is resolved into components</p>
<p>I took Algebra II/Trigonometry the year before I took Physics B, and that was really all I needed for the course. You are going to have to understand basic geometry and some trig (x and y components, sin/cos/tan, angles, etc.). Also, be sure you know algebra: I can’t tell you how many times classmates have asked me how to solve a problem when they have everything they need. For example:</p>
<p>A student needs to find the spring constant k and he uses the following formula:</p>
<p>T = 2π√(m/k)</p>
<p>He has all the values he needs except for k, but he doesn’t know how to isolate k on one side of the equation.</p>
<p>Besides that, the math concepts aren’t challenging. You will need to memorize formulas, but after a while it becomes really easy to remember what you need. A lot of Physics B is figuring out how to approach the problem before you can start plugging numbers in.</p>