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<p>I’ve noticed on cc that AP World History seems to be a popular frosh AP course. (I don’t know of any HS that offers it, but quite a few do, at least based on cc posts.)</p>
<p>Maybe the issue is that while our school allows freshmen to enroll in certain AP classes, they have never offered any AP class that is meant for freshmen to take. They seem to be balking at running an all-freshman AP class.</p>
<p>^^which makes sense, because as ucb notes, the more rigorous (and popular) AP’s require prereqs, and the typical Frosh hasn’t yet completed Alg II, for example. Conceivably, a Frosh could take AP Chem, since it only requires Alg I, or AP Bio, but it might be a struggle to keep up with the upper classmen. Plus, many high school districts require students to complete other sciences to graduate.</p>
<p>Our school requires a year of chem and bio before AP chem or AP bio. I have not heard of that getting waived. After a year of chem (which was very boring for her the months they spent converting units), and even after winning some kind of prize in some ACS competition, my daughter still said that AP chem was hard. I think it would be a very bad idea for a freshman to jump into AP chem with no prior chem class. Now she is in AP bio and it seems manageable but she isn’t saying it’s too easy or she wishes she had skipped honors bio. </p>
<p>But for her, two years to cover the material in physics B is way too much. That’s partly because she is good at that sort of thing and she already had to teach herself a little physics when she took calculus. It’s also easier when you have a good physics teacher.</p>
<p>In our school most of the kids who take AP Bio have had regents level bio in 8th grade and those who take AP Chem have taken honors chem in 9th grade. Neither kid thought AP Bio was easy - there’s just too much material covered in the course so it’s time consuming at the very least. I don’t have a good sense of how easy or hard Chem is, only my oldest took it and the only thing I heard him say was that he appreciated how important class size was. He was in the tiny section (less than 10 kids) while the other had close to 30 and they got through the material much faster even though it was the same teacher teaching the course.</p>
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<p>Could be one of those options, or they may just rename it “honors physics”.</p>
<p>This is very confusing. It sounds like right now there are 3 AP exams for Physics and next year there will be 4. All are supposed to take a year (perhaps C is now a one year course even though it has 2 exams?)? Students are expected to take four years of AP Physics to do them all??</p>
<p>mathmom, D is taking Chem 2 now, our version of AP Chem, and it is her easiest class. Not because it’s easy, because she is good at and enjoys Chem. AP Gov on the other hand, is killing her. I think it’s a kid-by-kid thing.</p>
<p>Now I wonder what she should take next year as a senior, Physics 2 (again her HS prefers that to AP Physics though they take the exam) or AP Bio. If Bio is just a lot of memorizing…yuk.</p>
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<p>1-2 appears to be splitting B (nominally taken over one year) into two courses that high schools can slow down to a year each (i.e. making an already light AP course into two even lighter ones). C remains the same; some high schools teach just mechanics over a year, some offer another year of E&M, and some offer each as a semester (about as fast as in college).</p>
<p>However, subject credit in college is less reliable for the physics APs than for some others like calculus. B or 1-2 is supposed to be like physics for biology majors and pre-meds, but many colleges do not accept it for subject credit (sometimes because the colleges’ courses do use calculus), and medical schools often do not accept it either. C is supposed to be like physics for physics and engineering majors, but some colleges teach E&M with multivariable calculus, so they are less likely to accept the E&M part, and may only accept mechanics with a 5 score.</p>
<p>Thanks ucb. I’m really asking partially on behalf of D. Since she intends to major in a math-science thing anyway, it’s probably not worth taking the exam even if she’d do well…?</p>
<p>As an aside, the idea of algebra-physics and calculus-physics is new to me, as what she is doing right now is analysis(pre-calc)-physics.</p>
<p>I may ask her to talk to her teacher about it if she is interested in taking the “B” exam this year.</p>
<p>It does look like The Ohio State University gives subject credit for AP physics B and C:</p>
<p><a href=“http://registrar.osu.edu/testing/em_brochure_2013_2014.pdf[/url]”>Office of the University Registrar - The Ohio State University;
<p>3+ on physics B = Physics 1200, 1201
3+ on physics C mechanics = Physics 1250
3+ on physics C E&M = Physics 1251</p>
<p>Physics 1250 and 1251 (with calculus) are allowed for physics majors, although honors versions are also available. Physics 1200 (or 1250) and 1201 (or 1251) (non-calculus) are allowed for biology majors.</p>
<p>If your daughter considers using AP credit for physics, she may want to review the college’s old final exams of the courses that she may be allowed to skip before deciding whether to skip them.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for looking that up, ucb. I appreciate it :)</p>
<p>btw- even if a student gets college credit for an AP course it can be best to take the college’s version, especially Honors courses. For serious math, chemistry and physics a student at the University of Wisconsin (Madison), for example, would likely want the more comprehensive material and experiences of the Honors courses. I’m sure it is the same at many other flagships. AP courses are most useful for getting the best available knowledge base at the HS level and for meeting degree requirements in electives.</p>
<p>A student with AP credit not intending to take the honors course, but intending to continue to more advanced courses in the subject could make a better informed placement decision by trying the old final exams for the college’s course that may be skipped.</p>
<p>This is basically what Berkeley’s College of Engineering advises students to do with respect to AP calculus scores: [Choosing</a> an Appropriate First Math Course ? UC Berkeley College of Engineering](<a href=“http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/current-undergraduates/new-students/choosing-an-appropriate-first-math-course.html]Choosing”>http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/current-undergraduates/new-students/choosing-an-appropriate-first-math-course.html)</p>
<p>^^concur with ucb. It depends on the college. A 5 in an AP course for someone attending HYP is much different than that same person attending directional state U.</p>
<p>It is still a good idea to check the old final exams of the courses one is allowed to skip with AP credit, regardless of what college it is.</p>
<p>High schools can have restrictions on AP classes even though most (if not all) colleges do not care when an AP credit is earned. I was removed from AP Psychology when I was a freshmen, only to go on and get a 5 on it the next year. Either way, colleges usually don’t care, it’s a school/district issue.</p>
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<p>I think that students can benefit from having exposure to the foundational material in a subject if they intend to continue in that subject. That would help her regardless of whether she takes college credit.</p>
<p>“In high school, it really does not make sense to spend more than a year on non-calculus-based physics.”</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus, I agree with you completely. Because our school doesn’t offer Physics C, we planned for her to take only a year of honors physics. But she liked her first year of physics so much she wanted to take the Physics B knowing full well it won’t get her any useful credit or placement in college. We also tried to find a college physics class for her, but could not schedule that. So, she is planning to self-study the Physics C. I suspect she’ll end up repeating the physics in college. Her sister is less likely (though still possible) to be a STEM major and could probably have used the single Physics 1 AP credit for a distribution requirement. Except it won’t be Physics 1 for her. Maybe she’ll self-study it, not sure.</p>