<p>My school only offers Physics C: Mechanics but I would also like to take the E&M test. How hard would it be to self study E&M while taking the Mechanics course? Will I do well on the test?</p>
<p>LOL. Have you done E&M yet?
Calculus?
LOL.</p>
<p>I’m sure some *******s going to come in and say “Its easy go for it” but in my opinion the answer is simple: very.</p>
<p>^^What?? Is it easy or hard?</p>
<p>I think he means it will be either very hard or very easy depending on your strengths.</p>
<p>No… the OP asked how difficult it would be to self-study for the test. He was simply saying it would be very difficult.</p>
<p>I’m the person here who’s going to say it’s not that hard. Since E&M was my second semester, I pretty much gave up on trying in class. I skimmed the book’s equations so I could do decent on the book quizzes. I had other people/the teacher basically give me the equations for problem sets. Before anyone gets on me telling me that I’m a terrible person for not trying to learn, I just wasn’t really interested in E&M (more of a bio and mechanics guy), and I was extremely busy 2nd semester. Anyways, I digress.</p>
<p>So, we do some sample tests the week before the AP test. I know enough (mainly circuits) to BS my way through the AP test and get a decent score. But I just had no idea how to approach most of the questions. I was pretty worried for the test, especially since it was the only one I had an option to get credit for. I looked through the book, bought a AP review guide, asked friends, but most of the E&M stuff, besides circuits, wasn’t clicking. Saturday night (monday test) I stumble upon some website: hippocampus.com. It has a whole bunch of E&M tutorials organized quite nicely. It basically explained to me Maxwell’s four equations, which for me were the hardest concepts to grasp, and other concepts that were essential for the difficult problems. My teacher never explained where these equations came from, but this website derived everything. After two run-throughs, I learned SO MUCH. This all took about three hours. So three hours, and I gained more knowledge then I did the entire previous semester. I got a 5. While most of my classmates struggled with E&M, I finished the free response 12 minutes early. I did not think one problem was difficult.</p>
<p>So, my advice: go to the website, do the first few tutorials (if you have enough time, do them all). Did you learn anything? If you did, go back a few days later and go through the tutorials again. Did you learn enough to do parts of AP problems (remember you have an equation sheet on the test)? If you did, keep going back (presumably much later, a few weeks before the test) until you know everything almost by heart. Once you reach this level, you should be set.</p>
<p>If you’re a physics person, it will be difficult. If you’re not, you will cry.</p>
<p>You definitely don’t want to do it while simultaneously trying to do mechanics in school. That’s insane. It was really goddamn hard just doing one at a time, and that was with a teacher guiding us every step of the way. Unless you are extremely good at physics, I would no way in hell do that.</p>
<p>There’s a massive curve on the test, so it’s possible you won’t do horribly, but you’ll be incredibly sleep deprived by the end of it. If you’re looking for college credit, maybe self-study something easier instead (which would pretty much be anything).</p>
<p>GammaGroza is kinda right actually. You’ll find more tutorials/practice on the internet than trying to study by yourself and friends+teachers. Also, simulations make more visual sense.</p>
<p>I did Mechanics and E&M in the same year (we had first semester Mechanics and second semester E&M), with concurrent Calc AB.
Scored a 5 on Calc but didn’t do too well on the Physics exams. I think my problem was that I took Calc alongside it. Imo, if you’ve already done AB/BC last year, the calculus-application part will be really easy. Now, looking back at my first-semester Mechanics class tests, I laugh at the calculus mistakes I made.</p>
<p>Yes, E&M does have more calculus-based application. I warn you though: If you’re already struggling with Mechanics, don’t opt for selfing E&M. It’ll only add to the workload. Just fine tune your Mechanics skills and look for a 5. However, if you feel that Mechanics is easy and wish to go for something more challenging, do the E&M self-study. </p>
<p>I’m not saying that its gonna be easy, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re not fully confident and comfortable with Mechanics.</p>
<p>^Good point. I probably should have mentioned that mechanics was a breeze for me, so I was able to devote all my study time to E&M. </p>
<p>I should also mentione: E&M calculus is different than mechanics calculus. Much more thoeretical, imo (except for derivations for circuit variables, but those could be easily memorized). Take this as you will. For me (took calc previous year) it meant mechanics was much easier with my calculus skills (whereas some current calc’ers struggled a lot), but calculus did not help nearly as much with E&M. Imo, E&M really isn’t about calculus as much as it is about getting a solid foundation and seeing (with the online animations) the derivations for equations. Luckily, hippocampus gives you both.</p>
<p>Thanks guys, I’ll try hippocampus.</p>
<p>i did it all alone mech;4, e&m;4…
do it. buy a review book and take the challenge.
good luck.</p>
<p>It’ll be tough and the AP is super super hard. I guess if you study you A$$ of and review a couple hours at the end of every week, you might be able to do it.</p>
<p>^I really don’t think you have to study your *** off. Here are the AP topics: circuits (one FR question), electric charges (another FR question), and induced magnetism (the final FR question). Circuits are pretty straightforward. Electric charges are slightly more complicated, and there is more to learn, but if one knows the equations it really isn’t that difficult. Magnetism requires the most thinking, but if you know where the few equations are derived from, it becomes much more simple. Three topics; one that could be easily learned in a weekend, another that may take a week or two, and a third that, depending on how you learn it, could take anywhere from a weekend to a month. This isn’t like Physics B or something, where almost anything is fair game. And although the test is hard, it’s hard for everyone. That is why the curve is so generous.</p>