<p>Im thinking of independently studying for AP Physics for my senior year. To give you some idea of where im at, I took physics honors this year, and hated my teacher... I didnt open the book, and barely paid attn when i actually showed up. I started late in the yr in the class becuase of schedule conflicts and that threw me off a lot. I finished the class with a C+. I did learn certain concepts and liked the general subject. I just hated the way the teacher presented it. I am taking calc bc next yr and am very strong in math. I liked mechanics ok, but I really enjoyed Electricity and Thermodynamics. (the two subjects I actually learned independantly online and aced exams on) Should I take Physics B or Physics C? Please tell me which prep books/text books I should use. keep in mind I'll be learning some of the things for the first time. Thanks :)</p>
<p>Will you have any support from school? Any other physics teacher who can help you if you have problems? If your background in Physics is already weak, I would not recommend studying for C because you will have to end up teaching yourself two subjects - Physics and Calculus (at least at my school, the calculus in the Physics C class advanced must faster than the BC class, so the AP Physics teacher ended up teaching basic calculus to everyone - you still had to learn the more in-depth stuff in Calculus class)</p>
<p>No, my calc class should be great, this yr we already touched on some bc topics. And even teaching my self calc would not be an issue. We only have one physics teacher @ our school, but I do have friends taking physics c, so that might help.</p>
<p>"I am taking calc bc next yr and am very strong in math."</p>
<p>Oh good, that means you have some calculus base BEFORE taking Physics...for some reason, that's somewhat uncommon, and it's a shame...</p>
<p>Anyhow, I used "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" by Paul M. Fishbane to self-study Physics C (which I recommend you take, as it's calculus-based, so since you know calculus, it's a lot more conceptual work and less memorizing)...if you want to do AP Physics right (i.e., actually learn the stuff that you will be placed out of in college), this is the book to go with. This is calculus-based, and there are some very difficult questions, but if you can make your way through this, you can forget about AP prep books :p Just in case, though, pick up PR's prep book.</p>
<p>Not sure, but I "got" physics from that book without any previous experience, so it wasn't too bad. On each problem set, they start you out with number-crunchers, and then slowly move you up until you have to start proving everything. But beforehand, they have nice detailed texts (with pictures!!!) that explain everything, including bits and pieces of calculus that you may need.</p>
<p>My class used a book of the same title by Tipler (be careful when buying - theres a dozen books by that same name) and I didn't particularly like it. I borrowed a copy of the Halliday Rensick book from my teacher and found it to be a lot more useful. Also, a word of warning: since you're self studying, you won't have access to a solutions manual for your textbook (the student manuals only cover half the questiosn in the book). There are websites with some solutions, but your best bet would be to see if your calculus teacher or some other science teacher can order you a copy at your expense (the prices are pretty high).</p>