My freshman has plans to major in a physical science, possibly astrophysics or astronomy.
She will finish Chem 1&2 this year. Sophomore will be AP Bio, Junior year AP Physics 1 and 1 trimester of AP Physics C Mechanics 1. If she has space Senior year, she will take AP Physics C Mechanics 2 & AP Physics C E&M 1&2. Senior year plans will really depend on whether she needs space for AP Spanish, plus applications for the UC system happen in the fall, so most likely there would be no time for the SAT then anyway.
We are in California, she most likely will attend a public in state college, but I don’t want to close any doors yet.
I realize that Chem 1&2 nor AP Physics 1 are sufficient preparation for the SAT exams. I am wondering what the best thing to do is in these circumstances. What would you recommend and why?
Having taken all 4 AP Physics exams (though not the courses), I’d say that the AP Physics 1 exam is totally not necessary to go on to AP Physics C Mechanics. The way CB set up the exams (again I don’t know too much about courses), AP Physics 1 is supposed to be the end of it’s own track instead of a course you take before AP Physics C Mechanics. As another note, you don’t even need calculus to take the Physics C Mechanics exam. I took it after just taking Pre-calc, skipped all the calc problems and one page of the FRQs and still got a 5 
good luck to your daughter!
@RotundChungus The AP Physics sequence I wrote in my message is set by her school. From what I have gathered, AP Physics I can be followed by AP Physics II, so it is part of a whole. It looks like my daughter’s school uses AP Physics I as an honors intro course that is accessible to a bigger range of students than AP Physics C Mechanics.
In any case, do you have any advice regarding what SAT she should take to maximize scoring with the least extra prep? SAT Bio after AP Bio would fit the bill, except Bio is not a physical science, and a lot of the University of California campuses consider or recommend a SAT closely related to the student’s major (physics, astronomy or astrophysics in my daughter’s case).
The SAT Physics test covers a wide range of topics from both AP Physics 1 (which talks about mechanics) and AP Physics 2 (which talks about electricity and magnetism) in much less depth than in the AP tests. A traditional Honors Physics class should cover most of the stuff on the SAT Physics test, but since this AP Physics 1 situation you’ve mentioned is foreign to me (where it’s used as an intro course), I’m not quite sure I can help just from lack of familiarity. Sorry about that.
Why do you think her chemistry class is insufficient for SAT Chem test? Have her take a practice.
@VickiSoCal I am basing that assumption on comments I have read on CC that consider regular high school chemistry insufficient prep for the SAT subject test. The majority of comments I have seen recommend taking it after AP Chem, which my dd is not planning on taking.
Good idea about having her take a practice test. Any recommendations for sources?
My daughter just took the one in the CB book.
High School Chem can be sufficient prep depending on the quality of the teacher and the class. I tutor high school chem and usually have students at 5 or 6 different high schools. Some cover 50% of what others cover! I have a student who didn’t learn what a mole was until March, and others that are close to AP ready. So there’s no way to say.