<p>I’m taking physics c mechanics this year and its been pretty terrible so far. My teacher doesn’t really teach us, he just assigns practice problems from the book but doesn’t go over the answers. He then gives us an incredibly difficult quiz. I feel like I haven’t learned anything, or at least solidly learned anything. I really do not want to bomb the AP exam, and I definitely do not want to fail the class
I bought the Barron’s physics book, is it good for the AP? Also, how hard is the exam itself?
Any other tips/good books for self studying? </p>
<p>Hello there. Sorry to hear about the teacher situation, that sucks. I don’t know much about the book (our teacher never really had us use the book), but I do know about the test and subject well. </p>
<p>The test itself has one greatest challenge (in my experience), the time limit. Physics is meant to take a while to get through, but they press you for time and they press you hard. However, if you can manage to teach yourself the various subjects well, the questions themselves don’t tend to be very difficult (with the exception of the hidden trick questions). Just make sure you “skim” through the problems and take out the easy ones first, cause some of them purposely take more time than you would like to contribute. </p>
<p>As for self studying, you can use various websites around the internet for help from physicist far better than I. What i believe to be the premier website is <a href=“http://www.physicsforum.com”>www.physicsforum.com</a> which is just crawling with hungry physicists eager to do work. You can go there and share your predicament, I’m sure they’ll be able to help you more than I can. </p>
<p>Physics is a cruel mistress, but she is worth it, just hang in there 
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<p>(Source of experience: Top physics student at my HS, 5 on AP Physics C exam, current physics major)</p>