AP Physics teacher doesn't teach

Test Preparation AP Sciences
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1

I’m a senior and I’m taking AP Physics C: Mechanics. My teacher absolutely does not teach.

We’re on Chapter 4 out of a book with 40 chapters (although I don’t know if we’re supposed to cover the entire book). Half the year has gone by, and I feel like I haven’t learned anything. My teacher never goes over concepts; he assumes we know everything from Honors Physics, and he randomly assigns us problems. He gives us random quizzes on these problems, but he tells us which ones he’s going to use, so naturally everyone does well. Sometimes he gives pop quizzes, and everyone cheats on them (he’s pretty oblivious and doesn’t see people sharing answers), so he thinks the class is doing fine.

I’m one of the few students in my class who actually do the assigned problems and take notes from the book. He doesn’t do notes in class; he never teaches us anything because he assumes we know it all. The only thing he does is go over a few problems on the board. His handwriting is awful so I can never read what he does. I usually look up solutions online.

We’re only on Chapter 4 because most of class time is spent on listening to my teacher speak about Elon Musk or the latest asteroid that has passed Earth. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to listen to these things if he didn’t spend entire classes talking about them. We watch videos about SpaceX and a lot of nonsense when we should actually be learning. By the way, we’ve watched a bunch of sci-fi movies in class too, which have absolutely nothing to do with AP physics.

I really want a 5 on the exam, but I don’t know if I’ll take it. We’ve never done AP practices, so I don’t know what to expect on the exam. I’ve heard that it’s the hardest exam there is. The average score for last year’s class was a 2 point something. I am super willing to self-study, but I spend a lot of time on my other APs, and I don’t think I could teach myself everything I need to know for the exam with the little time I have. I actually self-studied last year for another subject with a similar (but slightly better) teacher, and I got a 4.

I had actually considered going into engineering in college but this class makes me hate physics. I actually want to learn it, but I’m not really learning anything. I’m getting good grades (everyone is, to be honest), because we’ve never had actual tests, just quizzes. Labs are all right, I guess, but he never passes them back. In fact, I didn’t know my grade at any time last term, until the week before report cards came out.

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks for listening :slight_smile:

2

I would get a prep book and just self study. In my school the course is structured well, but for getting a 5 self studying is the way to go. Plus you are only taking mechanics so you have enough time to prep. Also, look at past free response question to get a feel of the test.

3

Basically me in my chem class…worst thing to have a bad teacher. I would say self study from the book and use khan academy a bunch

4

Life dishes out bad teachers, bad bosses and bad co-workers from time to time. Your job is to figure out what matters and then what to do about it.

To be blunt, as a second semester senior, beyond pride, AP Physics doesn’t really matter for you. Your grades are in for college apps, so that’s done. You know that you are not getting any idea of what physics is really like, so it shouldn’t really affect whether you do engineering in college (and unless you are going the LAC 3+2 or 2+2 route, you have probably already decided that anyway). Even if you self-study and get a 5, you know that you won’t really have a strong enough physics base to skip intro physics, so it won’t change your first year college course choices. At most, the question is whether you get credit towards graduation, and depending on the specific college you go to and how many other AP credits you have it might not even do that (many colleges limit how many AP credits you can apply towards graduation).

So, as bad teacher experiences go, this is not the worst. Fair dues to you for trying to learn something from the class, and being a serious student. Take the A and do your best to figure out who the good physics 101 teacher is at whatever you college you go to & get into that section.

5

Your 40 chapter book is probably for 3 classes in college: Mechanics, Electricity, and Optics, Nuclear Physics,…
You only need to study chapters on mechanics (about 1/3 or 2/5 of the book).

6

Find a group of like minded kids-- you can’t be the only one who actively wants a good score on that exam. You’re a senior-- you know the other top kids in your grade. Start a study group. If you start now, you still have 4 full months to get through the material on the exam. Or, perhaps better, to give you a really solid basis for Physics 101 in college if you choose to take it.

7

@collegemom3717 your post was super helpful, thanks!

@bjkmom My school is doing all its AP registrations right now. I’ve talked to some people about the exam. One girl says she won’t take it. Everyone else just jokes about it. They just say, “yeah, we’re screwed,” but they’re taking it anyways. I guess a lot of people want a good score, but they underestimate how difficult the exam is. Except for me and that one girl, nobody’s worried.

Also, an update: My teacher has told me that if I don’t take the exam, I’ll have to take a final that will be worth 33% of my cumulative average. :frowning: So, I guess I’ll have to self-study.

8

Whoa whoa, what kind of system is this? How are you graded if you DO take the exam, given that scores don’t come out until July, well after grades would be due?

If this isn’t a normal practice (which it shouldn’t be, as lots of students elect not to take AP exams for a variety of reasons), I would absolutely talk to administration and/or guidance about it.

In either case, self-studying is an important tool to learn early on. I had to re-learn bio for the SAT Subject Tests after three years without taking a bio class; I did a diagnostic exam to see my strengths and weaknesses and then went through the entire study book making flashcards and then studying them by the Leitner system.

The lucky thing about AP exams is that the grading tends to be a little more lenient than a classroom test would be: in 2012 you only needed a 55% for a 5 on Physics C. (Source: http://lesswrong.com/lw/ihw/advanced_placement_exam_cutoffs_and_superficial/ )

9

@thebetterhawkeye Just with regular tests and quizzes and homework. Essentially, we don’t have to take the final if we take the exam. It’s pretty much a school-wide agreement, although I have one class that makes you do both.

Also, thanks for the info!

10

In our district, kids who take the Physics AP exam are exempt from the semester final. The AP score isn’t relevant to your grade.

11

many schools effectively require you to take the AP if you take the class. making the student take a final instead is just a way to hold their feet to the fire.

12

my D16 took an AP physics class. The teacher is loved, but goes so off course. He left for some sort of fellowship at the semester break, and then daughter had 3 subs for the second semester; it was super-scattered. Finding long-term AP Physics subs is hard. She did NOT take the AP exam. She was in no way ready for it. She took physics in college last semester and did fine. I think @collegemom3717 was spot on with her thoughts in post #3.

13

See, in my school everyone had to take the semester final and it was entirely up to you if you wanted to take the AP exam or not, and it seems ridiculous that you can pretty much pay your way out of taking a final – if your AP score doesn’t matter, all you need to do is plop down $110 for the exam, choose not to report the score to your colleges, draw a dog on the free-response section, and use the extra time to take a nap (which is what my friend did on her AP Lit final after realizing it didn’t get her any credit).

14

can a student cancel the score after an AP exam? If so, can you cancel the score after the AP exam?