I’m in honors biology right now and I’m signing up for class right now. I can take Pre-AP PhysChem or AP Physics 1. I asked the AP physics teacher what to take and he recommended me for this class. However, I need to be in AP Calculus 1 and pass honors physics, but I’ll be in Pre Caculus. He told me that this class is just like AP Physics 1 with a little bit of calculus. He told me that he teaches all the kids that calculus so my knowledge in math won’t matter because he’ll teach it all to me and it’s not that hard compared to E&M so I’ll only being learning differential and integral. He said to read a physics textbook over the summer to gain some background knowledge and I sound be fine. I can drop out if it’s way too hard but should I give the class a chance and take the opportunity because it’ll look good for college.
What’s the rush? Physics C is one of the hardest APs. Why not just take it as a junior when you are also in calculus? That makes more pedagogical sense. Why not just take the chem this year? Yes, it’s possible you could do well in Physics C next year, but you’d probably do even better the following year. And the chance that you won’t do well is greater if you take it next year. I see no benefit to this.
You really need to take calculus concurrently or, better, after you’ve had calculus. You definitely need one year of physics in order to do well - imagine skipping Russian 1 and finding yourself in Russian 2 while you don’t even know the alphabet, let alone the cases… That’d be you in physics C.
Your goal should be to truly master the subjects, not to rush through.
Also, what’s your game plan ? This class is meant for first year engineers. What would you do afterwards with physics ? Do you intend to become an engineer ?
In addition, if your reason is to impress colleges, the plan sounds so much like “adolescent hubris” that it’s unlikely to be useful in that respect.
Take Pre AP physChem and pre ap pre calc. Get A’s. Junior year, take calculus bc and physics C.
Make sure the rest of your schedule is balanced (in addition to these two classes, you’d need to take English, History or a social science, a foreign language, and 1-3"personal picks" reflecting your academic interests).
It sounds like some high school teachers are giving really poor advice. This isn’t the first prospective sophomore without either physics or calculus background who is being advised to jump into Physics C by high school teachers.
@mathyone I suspect that a class like this might be in danger of being discontinued if there isn’t enough interest. What is in the best interest of the teacher or the school isn’t always what is in the best interest of a particular student.
@314415 Physics C is very difficult! If you aren’t taking Calculus at least concurrently you do not have the basic mathematical skill set! If you add in no formal instruction in physics whatsoever, you have a recipe for disaster! Listen to @MYOS1634 and stick with the pre-AP classes!
I took AP Physics C Mechanics as a sophomore and got a 5. I took calculus bc concurrently and skipped calculus ab. Honestly, there is hardly any Calculus involved and it really is an easy class…all you need is pretty much basic algebra skills. To succeed in this class, you mainly just have to have the right mind set when trying to solve physics problems. Instead of memorizing formulas and trying to remember how another similar problem was solved, visualize the problem you are given and really try to figure out what is going on and truly understand the problem. Physics is different from other sciences in that you do not have to memorize much…maybe just 5 formulas max. A lot of people think it’s hard because they try to memorize every possible problem type…DO NOT DO THAT! VISUALIZE THE PROBLEM!
I took physics c as a junior, but I had no background in physics or calculus either. Like your teacher, mine taught us calculus as we learned, and the subject matter was almost identical with the physics 1 class, just more in depth with calculus. If you understand the basic calculus that you’re taught, then any math will be a breeze. I don’t get why other people are saying that you NEED calculus because its pretty common in my school for students to take Physics C, both Mechanics and E&M before having any calculus courses and they do fine from what they learn in Physics because its all really just derivatives and integrals mostly. If your teacher recommended you for it, I’m sure that you’re smart enough to take it and succeed.
Also the best thing you can do if you can take this class is to understand the formula derivations, and to focus as much on the theoretical aspects of the class as you do on the calculations; deriving a formula for Simple harmonic motion isn’t going help you when a test asks you what happens when u put a pendulum on a different planet with a different mass and you have about a minute to answer it. There’s a lot of logic involved in problems and the smartest math kids in my class failed at the conceptual steps of questions, so they never even get to the math parts.