<p>My friend is a junior and she has a decent GPA. She's gotten a few B's in the past but mostly A's. She's freaking out because she got a C- in AP Physics for the semester (her first C). How bad does this look on college applications? Specifically, the UC's. She really wants to go to Berkeley or UCLA.</p>
<p>I think colleges should take physics out of GPA. </p>
<p>Physics=DEATH</p>
<p>heh, in my school, the physics chain goes like this: General physics=Honors physics, Honors physics=AP Physics, AP Physics=Death. :P</p>
<p>i got an A in ap physics this semester because i have a beastly teacher. and i built the best mousetrap car out of all his classes so i got a bunch of extra credit.</p>
<p>.... ok?</p>
<p>Yeah, physics is a pretty hard class. The problem with physics vs other math and science classes is that physics requires much more analytical thinking skills. A lot of times students would look at a physics problem and not know where to start. And when they do start the problem, the get stuck in the middle because they are inundated with many concepts at once, such that its hard to chose the best solution or any solution. For example, "a marble of radius r is given a slight push such that it rolls down a fixed sphere of radius R, where does it land?" So where do you start? Kinematics, Rotational kinematics,energy force etc? Well, you start with kinematics and use everything else!!! lol. And that was an easy one. Or you can have a problem with an short solution but a very difficult set up such as finding the rpm of an initially non-rotating gear after another rotating gear locks onto it. This is clearly a sharp contrast from math where the problem is usually easy to begin and the mistakes are made in the middle due to algebraic errors. For example, when the question asks, take the derivative, well you simply take the derivative haha.</p>
<p>When I took physics, I spent more time on it than all my other classes combined. And still didn't get perfects. But I did end up with an A in calc based mechanics and an A- in E&M due to the fact that I didn't sleep during finals week. What did I do for calc? Nothing, but received an A anyways.</p>
<p>The only thing I like about my physics class is how ridiculous the context of our physics problems are. </p>
<p>Like, "Suppose an x-kg person decided to stand y-km. from a z-kg swarm of bees. Determine the gravitational force between the person and the swarm of bees." If I were that person, I'd start running!</p>
<p>Or, "A 500 kg mushroom was grown in the island of Zenobia. Suppose it was dragged 500 m on the ground with a rope, horizontally. Determine the Frictional coefficient." </p>
<p>Or, "Suppose a person decided to sit inside a barrel on top of a pole for 46 days. If his friend decided to throw an ice cream sandwich to him, what would be its upward acceleration?"</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
heh, in my school, the physics chain goes like this: General physics=Honors physics, Honors physics=AP Physics, AP Physics=Death. :P
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>Therefore, general physics = Death</p>
<p>Physics is fun</p>
<p>
[quote]
Therefore, general physics = Death
[/quote]
Exactly. :-P</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
Physics is fun
[/Quote]
LIES!</p>
<p>then again, my views are skewed from not taking lower level physics before taking AP. whoops.</p>
<p>
[quote]
.... ok?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>just wanted to make you feel stupid. looks like i succeeded.</p>
<p>basically. i was wondering what the point of that post was amidst all the discussion of how physics was hard. it didnt make me feel stupid, i just laughed somewhat.</p>
<p>
[quote]
basically. i was wondering what the point of that post was amidst all the discussion of how physics was hard. it didnt make me feel stupid, i just laughed somewhat.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>so if the post is contrary to popular view, there is no point to it? maybe physics is not hard and all of these kids just have hard teachers. because almost everyone in my class has an A. Sorry that i dont have the same views as everyone else.</p>
<p>I think Physics is my hardest class. And my school doesn't even offer it as AP or Honors. The problem lies in the teacher. My teacher tries to teach from the book, but doesn't do a very good job. Her explanations are --subpar--and if I want to get a good grade, I just have to figure it out myself. She also takes off points for the most minute things. I missed a point on my exam for not labeling a unit in the MIDDLE of the problem. It wasn't even in the final answer! I thought I was doing her a favor by not putting any other alphabetic characters in the same equation as cosine, but apparently she wanted to see that I was working with a vector in Newtons before I was even finished. I really don't see the point of that kind of grading. I think I could do much better with a different teacher, but my school only has one Physics teacher.</p>
<p>My sister is doing horrible in Physics, mostly because the teacher is bad, plus she is bad at math. Physics won't be able to fit in my schedual next year, so I was just thinking of taking astronomy at a community college.</p>
<p>I feel sorry for those taking physics. MATH + SCIENCE = AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!</p>
<p>
[quote]
so if the post is contrary to popular view, there is no point to it? maybe physics is not hard and all of these kids just have hard teachers. because almost everyone in my class has an A. Sorry that i dont have the same views as everyone else.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>you're forgiven, don't be too hard on yourself.</p>
<p>my book is the most retarded thing ever </p>
<p>"Suppose you are being chased by an elephant running x m/s while you are running y m/s, suddenly you turn around and throw a rubber ball weighing n kg and the change in potential energy is U, find the initial speed the ball is thrown at"</p>
<p>-why the heck would you ever throw a rubber ball at an elephant???</p>
<p>Better question: Why the hell would anyone ever be interested in calculating the initial speed of the ball?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Oh just wait until you get to engineering level physics. Then the real fun begins. </p>
<p>Just as a sample of things to come: </p>
<p>An mass m is on a wedge of mass M. The wedge is of angle 60. But the wedge isn't fixed. As the mass accelerates. Find the accleration of the wedge. </p>
<p>Or even better. You have an infinite line of charge. A rod is moving in a direction parallel to the line. Find the induced emf of the rod.</p>