<p>I'm a high school senior. I'm a bit worried when I head to college next year as an engineering major. I'm currently taking AP Calc AB and AP Physics B. I'm doing well in both classes. However, will I be at a disadvantage for freshman college courses since I'm in Calc AB and Physics B as opposed to taking Calc BC and Physics C?</p>
<p>Depends on where you go but mostly no. </p>
<p>You might be better off any way as you will have the more rigorous versions of the VERY important Calc 2, mechanics, and E&M.</p>
<p>Unless you know that you will be a fall-term freshman starting off with Calculus III and Modern Physics I…I really do not know all the “hub-bub” about the AP’s. My last Math class in high-school was Analytic Geometry (or whatever is after Trigonometry) and started off with Calculus I in college.</p>
<p>…ended up a Math/CS major</p>
<p>thank you!</p>
<p>All this stuff about “preparation for college” is fairly useless. Sure it is nice to have a solid foundation, but there is really nothing that is going to prepare you for exactly what you will see in college. These so called advantages are very minimal to say the least. There are people in my classes who have taken Calc BC and are making a C in Calc 1. There are people in my Physics Mechanics class who took Physics C and are failing this course. The correlation to success is not as straight forward as you might believe. </p>
<p>Coming from a person who took Physics B and IB SL Math in high school and is doing perfectly fine freshman year without the much higher level AP’s.</p>
<p>thanks a lot aggie.</p>
<p>You’l be fine. I only took Calculus AB and AP Physics B in high school, too. I ended up doing really well in Calculus II, III, and the Physics Mechanics class in college anyway.</p>
<p>a guy i know was able to transfer in 40 credits worth of ap classes in gen eds and math requirements. thats over a year taken off just for doing harder work in high school</p>
<p>Sounds like me when I was in high school (graduated 2009). I took AP Calc AB and AP Physics B. Taking AP Calc was a smart decision because I didn’t have to take the first calc class in college and made me ahead. If you pass the AP Physics B class and you’re a science or engineering major, your credit is WORTHLESS because you have to take calculus-based physics. At my school, you need a 5 on the C exams to get credit if you’re a life science major. But even if you geta 5 on the C exam and you’re an engineering or physical science math at my school, it’s worthless and you’ll have to take it again. HOWEVER… It’s not a waste of your time! It will prepare you for college physics. It might not cover every topic in college physics, but it covered about half of my mechanics class that I just got finished taking.</p>
<p>So I think you’re doing fine.</p>