<p>Don't know what to do so i thought i'd ask for help. Daughter is taking AP Physics (Sr year), took AP Bio, AP Chem so natural sequence BUT having a hard time and wants to drop down to regular level - our school either has AP or regular, no honors available. She is also taking Anatomy & Physiology at a regular level but will bump that up to honors if we let her drop down in Physics. I can't figure out if this is a good move or not. She is taking Pre-Calc now and claims that the AP is too math oriented. HelP!</p>
<p>AP Physics ordinarily presumes that the student has already taken precalc. AP-Physics C at our school requires taking AP-Calc concurrently. No wonder your D is struggling! </p>
<p>I think your daughter should take the course she is more interested in and in which she is more likely to do well. No sense making herself miserable.</p>
<p>At the college level, Physics I has Calculus I as a co-requisite. And even then it can be tough. Many students struggled in my son's classes (Physics I and II) with the corequisites. Physics I and II are easier if you've already had Calculus I and II. Our son mentioned that some of the things that the physics professors talked about in class assumed some knowledge of Calc III, Linear Algebra and Differential Equations (he already had those down before taking physics). Sometimes the professors assume that you know what they know.</p>
<p>AP Physics (if it's like university physics) would be very, very tough without precalculus. It gets into vectors pretty early on and the assumption is that the student is already good in trig.</p>
<p>Which AP Physics is she taking? If she's in Physics C, she probably doesn't have enough math and I'd recommend the switch. If it's Physics B she should be all right and may just need to get used to it.</p>
<p>My younger son ended up in regular Physics instead of AP Physics B because of scheduling issues as a sophomore and said he probably would have been fine in the AP Physics B course (which most kids in our school take concurrently with Algebra 2.)</p>
<p>What course of study/degree does she want in college? In the recent visits to several colleges, U of Mich, Penn State, Syracuse, Stanford.....it was explained like this. </p>
<p>If you are using AP classes to be able to enroll in your second or third levels of college math and sciences and you do well in the high school AP class and make a good score on the test, it is a good plan. </p>
<p>If you are taking the classes to just "pump up" the GPA and don't do well in the class or the test, you may potentially hurt yourself. </p>
<p>Being that the colleges look at the unweighted GPA and the classes that the student took and the grade in that class rather than the weighted GPA this makes a lot of sense.</p>
<p>In other words, if a student is not intending to go into a field that requires higher level math and sciences, it is better to take AP courses in English, History, Economics, etc. in order for it to transfer to the college and help with the ged ed requirements.</p>
<p>We just heard a sad story about a young man that took AP classes and made B's and lower in the classes. His other classes suffered grade wise and he ended up with an unweighted GPA of 3.3. His dream of attending UCLA was crushed when he received his rejection letter. His family is equally crushed as he would have been a 3rd generation legacy :(</p>
<p>AP Physics without pre-calc? Ugh. I wouldn't try it and I'm good at Physics. I can't see how dropping down to regular Physics would hurt your D. Her course work is plenty challenging without AP Physics.</p>
<p>AP Physics at our school requires co enrollment in AP Calc... and enrollment in honors physics requires co enrollment in pre calc (note that AP Physics is regarded as a second year of Physics at our school).</p>
<p>D is taking AP Physics C currently. She took AP Calc AB last year but most of the other students in the class are taking AP Calc AB concurrently. The teacher taught the other students derivatives and integrals in 1 day so they would be able to get through the class. I can't even imagine anyone being close to understanding any of this without having taken precalc.</p>
<p>I talked about college physics with a graduate from CMU (with a masters at Princeton) and he said that a lot of engineering majors switched to business majors after taking physics.</p>
<p>"The teacher taught the other students derivatives and integrals in 1 day so they would be able to get through the class."</p>
<p>That's done at the college level too along with a cram course in vectors. Needless to say, the students have no depth of the math material and only use the crammed knowledge to plug and chug.</p>
<p>Regarding post #5, I disagree with the generalization that humanities majors should skip AP science classes. My humanities D is very good in math and science, and a 4 on the AP chem test got her 8 college credits for chemistry. </p>
<p>Regarding the OP, AP physics at our school is considered the hardest AP. I would let her drop down if she wants.</p>
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AP Physics at our school requires co enrollment in AP Calc... and enrollment in honors physics requires co enrollment in pre calc (note that AP Physics is regarded as a second year of Physics at our school).
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<p>Ditto that in our high school. Honors Physics and Precalc are typically taken junior year, with the APs taken senior year.</p>
<p>My S took AP Calculus BC last year. This year, he's taking AP Physics C. There are 10 students in the class and all the others are taking AP Calculus concurrently. He told me he's glad to have been positioned to take the calculus class first and so far is breezing through vectors.</p>
<p>"I can't figure out if this is a good move or not."</p>
<p>A "good move" for what purpose? If you are talking about admission to the most selective schools, either a bad grade in AP or dropping to standard will hurt chances. But if you are talking about merit scholarship possibilities at less selective schools, it seems to me that a good grade in standard is better than a bad grade in AP.</p>