<p>So over the past few months I’ve responded to quite a few threads about people asking how to self study Physics C, and because of that, I’ve decided to make a thread for some general advice for those of you wishing to independently study what is often said to be one of the hardest ap tests, even with a formal class. Fortunately for you, with some refined practice, you can net yourself two 5’s on Physics C! For background, I am currently a junior; freshman year, I took a formal class for Physics B and got a 5 and last year I independently studied both Physics C exams and got 5’s.</p>
<p>So starting off, textbooks:
The majority of textbooks recommended for Physics C are college freshman level or often higher, so no matter what book you use, it will be fairly difficult. The ones I recommend are University Physics by Young and Freedman, Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday, Resnick and Walker and Physics for Scientists and Engineers by Giancoli.
Personally, I used Giancoli, but I found it to be really “dense” at some points, so I used additional material (which will be discussed later) as my primary way of learning.</p>
<p>Review Books:
Don’t get Kaplan, Kaplan sucks. Barrons is REALLY horrible and dense, but if you want to 10000% ensure you get a 5, master Barrons, but if you have better things to do with your time, read on. Princeton is supposed to be decent, I can’t comment on it because I didn’t use it. The absolute best for Physics C is AP Advantage by Mooney (no, it’s not one of those big brand review books) it is really comprehensive but also very accessible. It also has a correlation chart to some of the most commonly used textbooks.</p>
<p>Online lectures:
MIT OCW 8.01 and 8.02 are very comprehensive. Some might say too comprehensive :P. The lectures are targeted at MIT students, so they go quite beyond the level required by AP, also, there are some lectures that you don’t need to watch, especially for E&M.
[Viren’s</a> Videos Free AP Physics Review Help](<a href=“http://apphysicslectures.com/]Viren’s”>http://apphysicslectures.com/) Also has great lectures. They’re made by an AP Physics C teacher for his students. I attribute my success on the Physics C exams primarily to this website and the videos, they’re wonderful.
I hear Khan Academy has physics videos, I haven’t seen them, so I can’t vouch for them. However, Khan Academy is known for producing very thorough, albeit accessible videos, so it might be worthwhile to check them out.
Finally, you might want to see if Academic Earth has any Physics lectures that might be of use.</p>
<p>Practice tests:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ap-tests-preparation/923830-does-anyone-have-any-ap-physics-c-released-mc-exams.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ap-tests-preparation/923830-does-anyone-have-any-ap-physics-c-released-mc-exams.html</a>
This link contains quite a few released MC exams along with answers.
Also, going through past FRQs is very useful, remember to go over your answers and the solutions.</p>
<p>I think that’s about it! I hope you guys enjoy!</p>