<p>I am going into Senior year and want to independent study for Physics C while taking Physics B in school. I know it’ll be challenging (but not exactly to what degree), but I think I can do it. I took physics H last year and thought it was very easy. I’m wondering about how I should come at this challenge. The AP Physics C rubric says that there should be significant lab time or something like that for colleges to accept the credit and that experiments would probably help educate the student but I don’t really know what to do for that. I would contact my high school’s physics teacher but he moved and we’re getting a new one for next year. So basically any idea of what should be done to get the credits for college would be nice. Also, recommendation on the prep books I should get would help. Thanks.</p>
<p>This is exactly what I plan to do next year, and I’m asking a similar question. I recently got the Princeton Review Book '11 edition, can anyone who self-studied reflect on how exactly they did it?</p>
<p>Should we start this summer, or wait until the school year to start? What’s recommendable?</p>
<p>I’m self-studying AP Physics C: Mechanics And Electricity and Magnetism for next year but I took Physics B this year. Unless you are taking a Calculus course, or AP Calculus next year, like I am, then you will definitely need to self study some calculus on your own. Derivatives and integrals definitely show up on the Physics C exams. Not sure if there are any other calc topics.</p>
<p>Yeah I’m doing Calc BC this year and did AB last year. Probably got a 5. This was my first post on here ever so I didn’t really do my homework before asking this question. It looks like people suggest getting a textbook to fill in on topics along with PR. So I got the PR book. I also saw another book that they said was even better but I didn’t get it cuz it was 30 bucks haha.</p>
<p>Cortana, what’d you think about Physics B? I heard a lot of colleges don’t even accept it so should I even bother?</p>
<p>Physics B wasn’t bad. I took it this year as a junior with no prior physics class or study in prior years. It’s not that hard to learn cold. It’s mostly formula based and knowing when to apply and connect formulas. </p>
<p>My school doesn’t offer AP Physics C so the only way for me to take it would be to self-study, however as that is extremely difficult, the best way for me to take physics C exams would be to take AP Physics B and receive a solid foundation of Physics C topics. Now the only topics for Physics C i need to learn are Mechanics: Angular momentum/rotation, and the calculus based topics for E&M. Much easier self-study than studying it cold. So taking Physics B was worth it (:</p>
<p>You need a textbook. Princeton isn’t enough.</p>
<p>I took all three physics exams this year along with BC calculus. Among those courses I took an exam in, I was enrolled in Physics B and Calc BC at my school. I got a 5 on Physics B and BC Calc, a 4 on both Physics C exams, which were self-studied to a minimal degree. </p>
<p>If you are enrolled in a Physics B course and have knowledge of basic calculus topics, Physics C exams should be passable without study. I skimmed briefly through the Princeton 2011 book for Physics C on the topics that were outside of Physics B and took a practice test just to be familiar with the question types. No extensive problem solving was done with the new C topics. I’d say with some good effort put into studing the Princeton book, Physics C would be a breeze given you are enrolled in Physics B.</p>
<p>Cortana, yeah my school doesn’t offer it either but Immatry to do it independently ha. </p>
<p>Sweet, thanks Java. I’m doing exactly what you did last year for my senior year. So I guess Physics B will be worth it. </p>
<p>Twins, what textbook would you recommend? Also, what was your experience with Physics C (liked what did you do and how well did you do?).</p>
<p>(Sorry for bumping into your thread, Immatry)</p>
<p>I took Calc AB and BC this year and took the BC exam; found out my scores today, got a 4 on BC and 5 on the subscore.</p>
<p>And by textbook, do you mean this?</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> University Physics with Modern Physics with Mastering Physics (11th Edition) (9780805386844): Hugh D. Young, Roger A. Freedman: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/University-Physics-Modern-Mastering-11th/dp/080538684X]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/University-Physics-Modern-Mastering-11th/dp/080538684X)</p>
<p>In addition to reading a textbook, watching MIT OCW helps a lot. I got a 5 in mechanics this year, and mostly attribute it to the physics lectures. As for textbooks, I used PR and 5 Steps to a 5. The books themselves do not provide sufficient depth, but rather a general overview on the topics, which helps with more difficult topics.</p>
<p>I heard Fundamentals of physics by Resnick Halliday and Walker is the best textbook for ap physics</p>
<p>Re: Coaster
No problem, ha without you this thread would’ve never started up. Nobody commented for almost a week before you. Do you mean that you just did BC? because that includes what AB teaches. Did you randomly look up a physics textbook? ha. I think Cortana’s right, Fundamentals of physics sounds familiar.</p>
<p>Re: Matrix
That sounds good. Did you read through any of the courses or just watch all the videos? Would you recommend getting another study book or just use PR as a guide and getting the real depth from a text book?</p>
<p>Re: Cortana
Thanks for the help. Is Fundamentals of physics what you used in B (have you seen this book)? What do you think you would change in your strategy to get 5’s if you did it again?</p>
<p>hahaha it’s the Physics C textbook in my Physics class but my teacher says that although they have the textbooks they don’t have the money to run Physics C at my school and the administrators are stupid.</p>
<p>Yeah I did AB and BC this past year, so I pretty much know Calc already.</p>
<p>Immatry: for me, PR would have been enough for a supplement review book. I used an old college physics textbook (one that’s ancient… 30 years ago with yellowed pages), which helped nonetheless. You can also download textbooks off torrent if you don’t have one already; I got Fundamental of Physics by Resnick Halliday and Walker by doing so (didn’t use it as much since I prefer reading hard copy, but I think it’s a good textbook).</p>
<p>edit: in my previous post, I meant to say prep book, instead of textbook. PR definitely cannot serve as an adequate textbook. As for practice problems, I’d add that the past FRQs provides the best practice problems, at least for me.</p>
<p>I am in pretty much the same situation as Immatry. I am going into senior year, taking physics B in school, and self-studying physics C. I took calc BC as a junior. I’ve been trying to find a good textbook to self study from and I am torn between these two:</p>
<p>University Physics by Freedman/Young
Fundamentals of Physics by Resnick/Haliday</p>
<p>I don’t know which book is best for me. I have a strong background in single variable calc, and a little bit in MV calc. I want a mathematically rigorous physics book. I will be taking 3 other AP’s as well, so I would prefer a book that can explain the concepts effectively, but does not delve into detailed discussion of unessential concepts. It would be a bonus if the book also helped me learn physics B concepts as well (judging from the table of contents, they both do this to some extent).</p>
<p>Given these criterion, which book will be best in helping me get a 5 in physics C next year, Freedman or Resnick? Thanks!</p>
<p>P.S. I have the Barron’s books for physics B and C</p>
<p>Re: Coaster
Why’d you do both classes when BC is AB plus some? They probably don’t do C because there aren’t enough kids to make it a class. My Calc BC for next year was canceled because there were only like 8 kids who would be in it. It is kind of dumb that they have the textbooks laying around though, just a bit of a waste.</p>
<p>Re: Matrix
Thanks for the advice. I’ll definitely use it. Successful self-study of Physics C= Prep Book (PR) + Textbook (F of P) + Physics B background + Calc background + watch MIT OCW</p>
<p>Well I guess I did BC but this is what happened:</p>
<p>Schedule at my school (changed now) was a 4x4 block - for the first semester you had 4 classes for 90 minutes each daily, and at the end of the semester you changed classes, so it’s like a semester is equivalent to a year of classes. APs are offered in the first semester. I know it’s dumb because you’d forget everything after prior to the AP exam (thus my 2s in English Lang and Spanish Lang), but Calc runs through the whole year.</p>
<p>AB was the first semester and BC would be 5 more weeks plus 5 weeks of AP prep (this was seriously great). Anyone who didn’t want to go on switched into an AP prep class for AB while the rest stayed to go on into BC. I’d say it was a pretty good opportunity.</p>
<p>And I’m glad to see there are other people in the same situation as us. We should probably start a support group, lol.</p>
<p>Yeah, does your district realize that it’s screwing all the AP kids by having that schedule? I’d be kind of annoyed if I got 2’s because of a bad schedule. The calc situation does sound like it has it’s benefits though. Was your second semester schedule super easy since you got all the AP classes out of the way? </p>
<p>Knowing that there are other kids who are as motivated or more motivated than us definitely brings out my competitive side. If I hadn’t gone to this workshop that featured a kid who got into Stanford, I would’ve lived my life not knowing the full potential of a teenager haha. The kid was amazing. So I’ve decided that if I could be half as amazing I’d could feel good about my high school accomplishments ha. Btw, are you serious about the support group? I’ve always been adept at teaching myself but if this challenge ends up being too hard it might be a good idea ha.</p>
<p>I don’t think a textbook is necessary when self studying both physics c courses. I used Barron’s physics c and went through all the released exams and scored 5s on both mechanics and electricity & magnetism.</p>
<p>@Immatry</p>
<p>Yeah, it was easier since I had Honors Physics and Regulars US History (Honors couldn’t fit into my schedule… weak; class was a total joke). I also did XC (cross country) and Track & Field, and it was cool because athletics would be 4th period classes, so I only had 3 academic classes per semester. The school district changed it, however; I’ll be starting a 6x2 schedule (typical 6 periods for a whole year).</p>
<p>And, lol. I was serious about the support group, I’m always unsure/worrisome and I’m not sure if I can do it myself; I’ve never self-studied before hahaha.</p>