<p>To get straight to the point, a friend and I are planning to take the Physics C: Mechanics & Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism courses during the 2011-2012 school year through the Stanford EPGY program. Our school does not offer the class but has agreed to allow us both a period each day for the online course. While we have not applied for the program yet, it looks like the deadline for applications generally extends to just a week or two before the class begins so we should be good for now. We have both taken AP Calculus and AP Physics B this year already (we're juniors).</p>
<p>Does anyone have any experience with the EPGY program, specifically in an area of Physics? The information provided online suggests that virtual and at-home labs will be required during the course. Does anyone know what a typical workload for the course will be in terms of homework, required labs, and the formal lab reports? Also, how difficult are the tests? There really isn't much information available so any comments or reviews would extremely helpful.</p>
<p>*If anyone has another suggestion for an accredited online Physics C course, it would be greatly appreciated as well!</p>
<p>How do you feel it compared to Physics B in terms of difficulty? Also, how did you go about self-studying it and how prepared did you feel for the AP test afterwards?</p>
<p>Well, I had taken Calc BC the previous year, so I was very comfortable with the calc. After that, all the Physics C stuff was just deeper extensions of the Physics B stuff, with calculus making computations easier. </p>
<p>As for the tests, I feel confident of a 5 on all 3 Physics tests.</p>
<p>Yeah, I took BC this year too and I’m really comfortable with all the topics except the Taylor Series stuff. But I’m guessing Physics C doesn’t utilize those anyway?</p>
<p>Yeah, don’t worry about Taylor series. The calculus involved is just basic derivatives and integrals. The most complicated is like a line integral around a circle, but there you just multiply by 2pir</p>
<p>Okay, so hopefully it won’t be too bad; I’ve heard that the EPGY course isn’t too good but my friend and I don’t really have any alternatives at this point. I perused the AP Physics C post-exam thread out of curiosity and it seemed like everyone thought it killed, perhaps you’re just a physics beast haha.</p>
<p>By the way, what did you use to self-study the course?</p>
<p>Self-studied Physics B last year and Physics C this year, no physics class.</p>
<p>The regular exams were really not too bad if you knew your physics and had a solid foundation in calculus. Frankly, I’m still sort of confused because apparently most people thought E&M was easier than Mechanics, while I had the opposite experience, but I suspect that I didn’t brush up on E&M enough, especially those extra circuits that you never learn about in Physics B. So just don’t neglect what may seem like random things in a prep book, and be sure to practice a lot (though EPGY probably helps you with that).</p>
<p>Did you end up signing up for EPGY AP Physics C this school year? If so, what do you think of it? Are you taking it self-directed or through the on-line high school? Like you said in your original post, it is hard to find reviews on the course / experience and any help would be much appreciated.</p>
<ul>
<li> The website indicates the workload will be about 10 hours a week in order to finish one course in a semester. Does that seem reasonable to you, or is it more like 15 plus hours a week?</li>
<li>Are the labs both virtual / CD-ROM style and hands-on, do it at home? If so, how easy is it to do the labs at home – find the materials necessary, etc.</li>
<li>Is there good teacher support - answering questions if need be, etc?</li>
<li>Are tests, lab reports, etc mailed back and forth or completed on-line?</li>
</ul>