yes, he has taken honors in all his classes and has taken AP lang, AP Chem and AP Comp Science.
He usually gets A+ in Math
I don’t think you want your son in regular physics if he is planning on AP physics and a STEM major.
My son, who is not a STEM kid, took regular physics last year and said it was the easiest A he ever got. For reference, S also took honors algebra 2 at the same time and got a C in that. He said that he had no idea how bad some people were at math until he saw them try to solve physics problems. The teacher would give them the equation, tell them the values for all the variables, and then ask them to solve. He said all you needed to do was plug the numbers in and calculate. Many, many kids could not do it. Is this the environment you want your son in?
I want him to take the honors class and he also wants to take it. Question is will he be able to handle the workload with all the other stuff and ECs. I dont want to push him, just want him to take the best decision he can.
What is the rest of his schedule like? What EC’s is he a part of? Is it common for STEM-track juniors in his school to take Physics Honors? In that case, keep Physics honors and ditch AP Chem, if time is an issue. Keeping both, and slogging through with a tutor may also be another option. As others have mentioned, I would not recommend Physics -Regular either.
It’s a tough call, so choose what will make the most sense in relation to all the other commitments your son has, and move forward.
Can he or you ask the regular physics teacher how prepared for AP he’ll be? What does the honors class cover the regular course doesn’t?
It’s hard to give advice when teachers may teach the course so differently.
My d19 took physics honors and AP Chem last year, with grades in the upper 90’s for both all year. Physics was very easy for her. But she also was in AP Calc BC and I remember her commenting a couple of times that there were activities she found much easier because of the math she already knew than it was for kids in PreCalc. I think they still did well in general, it was just a couple of concepts that she noticed it in.
I think you have hit it. Its the math behind it. My son is in precalc honors, but he likes math. I am hoping he can manage.