<p>OK, so I know that calculus is required for AP Physics C, but exactly how much of the cirriculum is calculus based?</p>
<p>On a side note how difficult would it be to take AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, and AP Physics C all in the same year? Keep in mind I have no prior physics knowledge, but it seems a lot of people take AP without an intro course, and btw calc bc will be my first calc course, I haven't taken calc ab, thats not how it works at my school.</p>
<p>I took BC and Physics C, and did reasonably well. Chem requires little math, but does necessitate some work. I would say that this schedule is manageable.</p>
<p>Uh, I learned Physics C without the use of Calculus. Screwed me over conceptually, but it's pretty easy to learn by yourself. It took me about 6 hours to line up physics concepts with calculus for mechanics. It's all very simple. Don't worry too much about about your schedule. I'm sure you can handle it. It actually seems very fun. I wish I could take two science courses concurrently, haha.</p>
<p>Second semester of Physics C (electricity and magnetism) uses MUCH more calculus than mechanics does. First semester doesn't use very much calculus at all.</p>
<p>But is it ok to take Physics C with no prior physics knowledge?</p>
<p>If you have a good understanding of how the world works, then it might be ok, but E&M might still be hard because it's hard to visualize that stuff.</p>
<p>As for the calculus involved, it will vary. If you know the concepts, you could sit for the test without knowing any calc at all and get 5s on both sections. I've got around 25-30 years worth of Physics C FRQs, and the calc used definitely varies. Some don't use calc at all. You definitely should know how to differentiate and integrate polynomials (which are easy), as those questions almost always appear on the MC, and are freebies to those who know it. More algebra intensive than calc, really. I ran into more "manipulate the variable" type questions than calc questions when I took the test.</p>