AP Physics C help...

<p>Yeah...I am selfstudying AP Physics C with Halliday and Resnick 6th edition...what do I have to do in order to pass?? any especial suggestions?? I read and do some problems....I had AP Physics B and passed with a 3 so I kinda know all this....
what else do i need to do besides problems and reading to pass??</p>

<p>its still early in the year. so dont sweat it.. i took calc bc, phy b and c in the same year and got 5's... one guy who took it with me (only 2 ppl took phy c from my school) didnt even study mechanics and got a 5. all you have to know for mechanics is the rotational motion part.. that's almost 2/5 of your exam. then know your calculus, like integral of a and v etc etc..thats about 1/5, then know your phy b stuff well, thats around 1/5 the other 1/5 is just little things like center of mass, potential energy curve... </p>

<p>the book you are using is not bad. i didnt really use it too exclusively.. i used the ap study guide by princeton review and occasionally used the text book as reference so to clarify little things up... i got it done in around 2 weeks.. you can do it!!!! if you need any help or advice, im willing to answer specific questions.. ive gone through the same thing, and i was freaked out when i had to wait till my calc bc exam is done so i can study phy c, cuz phy c requires calculus.. but you can definitely do it!</p>

<p>"its still early in the year. so dont sweat it.. i took calc bc, phy b and c in the same year and got 5's... one guy who took it with me (only 2 ppl took phy c from my school) didnt even study mechanics and got a 5. all you have to know for mechanics is the rotational motion part.. that's almost 2/5 of your exam. then know your calculus, like integral of a and v etc etc..thats about 1/5, then know your phy b stuff well, thats around 1/5 the other 1/5 is just little things like center of mass, potential energy curve...</p>

<p>the book you are using is not bad. i didnt really use it too exclusively.. i used the ap study guide by princeton review and occasionally used the text book as reference so to clarify little things up... i got it done in around 2 weeks.. you can do it!!!! if you need any help or advice, im willing to answer specific questions.. ive gone through the same thing, and i was freaked out when i had to wait till my calc bc exam is done so i can study phy c, cuz phy c requires calculus.. but you can definitely do it!"</p>

<p>You can't take Physics B and Physics C in the same year.</p>

<p>Maybe you're a lot smarter than I am, but Physics C: Mechanics is not that easy.</p>

<p>yes you can.... all i did was taking PHYC on the alternating date..</p>

<p>tho one cant take both calc bc and calc bc, ppl can take both physics exams.</p>

<p>calc ab i meant.</p>

<p>Princetonwannabe...did you check your PM???</p>

<p>Princetonwannabe, I see I have made a mistake.</p>

<p>:)</p>

<p>Did anyone here selfstudied AP Physics C, got a really good grade and would like to share the trick in how the pass that AP....please??</p>

<p>I self studied AP Physics C: Mechanics this year and got a 5. My advice would be this: PRACTICE. Get as many practice free response sets as you can from the AP Collegeboard website. Ask your teacher for copies of old multiple choice questions. Check your answers and study your mistakes so you don't make them again. In a word once again, PRACTICE.</p>

<p>I was in IB Physics HL, but I self-studied AP Physics C (Mech and E&M) because IB Physics doesn't involve calculus. I used Physics for Scientists and Engineers by Serway. The best thing to do is to practice, practice, practice. My physics teacher had about 20 years of AP free response questions, and I did most of them. I don't know what I got yet, but I have college credit, so I got at least a 4 on both parts.</p>

<p>Physics C mechanics is easy, but the electricity and magnetism thing is not. (if u disagree with this, check the number of ppl getting 5 in each part on the collegeboard website.) Most of the time you'll need simple calculus in mechanics (normal differentiation and integration), but complicated calculus (some trigonometry and such things) in electricity&magnetism. You'll also find tricky questions in the EM part.</p>

<p>I agree with warblersrule. I think you should do your textbooks' exercises until you understand the material, and do the practice questions to get the 5. This summer, I did all the science and calBC within 2 weeks and got mechanics 5 and EM 4. [Note: I took most science courses during my soph and junior year and I didn't use calculus in my school's physics courses.]</p>

<p>"Physics C mechanics is easy, but the electricity and magnetism thing is not. (if u disagree with this, check the number of ppl getting 5 in each part on the collegeboard website.)"</p>

<p>Funny... if you actually did what you are telling people to do, you would find that 27.8% of students received 5s last year on E&M, while 26.1% received 5s on mechanics. E&M have harder material, but it also has a much more generous curve.</p>

<p>the calculus on it really isnt that daunting... i havent taken calculus yet, but after two years of physics i got double 5s on the c exam</p>

<p>this year was friggen bad. :( we spent 1 day on orbits because my teacher said in the last 20 years, there's never been stuff on it. and guess what, it was on a bloody free response. :( there goes 1/3 of 1/2 my grade. :( I would be happy with a 3</p>

<p>sorry for the misunderstanding about the number, but the EM is harder anyhow. I did what I told ppl to do and I saw about 1/2 of the ppl doing mech did the EM. So more ppl thought they can do mech, and more (number of) ppl could get 5 in mech. I don't think the curve is "much" more generous.</p>

<p>"it was on a bloody free response. there goes 1/3 of 1/2 my grade. "</p>

<p>You mean 1/6 of your grade. Last year, I took Physics C Mech, left a whole FR question blank, and still got a 5 :D</p>

<p>Physics C EM isn't necessarily difficult, or at least, the exam isn't...I crammed half the test in one week and still got a 5...all you really need is a good understanding of calculus and a good memory...</p>

<p>EDIT: Then again, I had multi and vector calc before I took EM, so maybe that's why :p</p>

<p>The main thing that you have to know about Physics C is that it is wickedly easy if you have strong mathematical intuition, and very hard if you don't.</p>

<p>I just called and checked my scores - I received 5s on both the mech and E&M portions, and I self-studied (I took Physics B last year). It's possible to learn the subject fairly quickly, since I never had a textbook, bought a study guide the night before the test, and really only studied in the 25-minute (or so) interval between the Bio and Physics tests. I wouldn't advise this, of course, but I guess that it worked.</p>

<p>By the way, I do understand what valecollegorian is saying; if you already know some physics, and are strong at math, the mechanics portion is basically trivial. All that you have to learn is rotational dynamics, which simply consists of rotational analogs of your familiar translational equations. The E&M has a fair amount more. For instance, since I clearly didn't have enough time to learn how inductors in circuits work, I basically had to skip that question on the free response. However, using a few hastily crammed laws (like Gauss's, Coulomb's, Ampere's) plus logic, I still made my way through the test.</p>

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<p>That makes me feel sooo much better :)</p>

<p>Haha randomperson, you're so lucky. I had to skip that inductor question too. Anyway, I'm in a college already and I have nothing to care about (although my school accepts only 5s and I had 4 on EM). Good luck for anyone doing that AP next year. If you begin to think about it this early, I have no idea how you can get something below 5.</p>

<p>sweet, now i might even get a 4. :P i got 1 part of a FR question. got about 1/2 on another and got the last one right. on my MC i think i did pretty solid. SO i might come out with a low 4. whoopie!</p>