Is it better to take AP Physics C concurrently with Calculus BC?

<p>Should I take AP Physics C concurrently with AP Calculus or the year after I take AP Calculus?</p>

<p>If you have taken Calculus AB, then you could do well enough in Physics C. Since Calculus BC will be mostly review of AB, it would be an advantage to you.</p>

<p>It’ll be tough if you’re taking AB Calc at the same time as Physics C.</p>

<p>I’m not taking AB, only BC. Just asking if I should take it concurrently or the next year.</p>

<p>I would wait until after a full year of calculus to take Physics C, but you could probably manage concurrently.</p>

<p>Thanks. And which combination of these AP classes is easiest to take in one year: AP Physics C, AP Chemistry, and AP Biology.</p>

<p>Chem and Bio probably. Physics C is a beast.</p>

<p>My class is obscenely hard: like 5 reasonably smart kids in a class of 20 got C’s or lower. But the midterm exam was a mechanics AP test from a few years ago and I would’ve gotten a 5 (~66%) so… maybe I have a really hard teacher.</p>

<p>You must know how to use calculus really well in Physics C.</p>

<p>Not to be rude, but have you all taken the AP Physics C exam or are you all talking out of your ass?</p>

<p>Talkin out of my ass :).
However, my class took an AP Physics C Mechanics test from a previous year for a midterm and we took the test like an AP - same amount of time for each section and all that stuff. I realize it isn’t the same as taking an actual AP, but I found the test to be very difficult and I was surprised to learn I squeaked by with a low 5.</p>

<p>You found it to be difficult because you didn’t know Calculus, or because it was just difficult?</p>

<p>I’m okay at calculus, but I still found the problems to be hard - the multiple choice problems weren’t so bad, but for the more difficult free response problems it’s hard, at least for me, to figure out what’s going on in terms of whether I should use energy equations or kinematic equations and what forces are acting on the object in what ways and that kind of stuff. I believe the problems I have with physics don’t involve calculus difficulties.</p>

<p>not to offend anyone, but physics c only requires taking some basic derivatives and integrals. its the physics part that kills the students (especially if you have a hard teacher). I’m currently a junior taking bc and physics c, and I barely surviving in physics (probably because its my first physics course). math aside, one needs have a very logical mind to succeed in physics.</p>

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<p>Yeah, I just realized.</p>

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That gets me sometimes, especially with E&M</p>

<p>I took AP Physics C the year after I took AP Calculus BC (5’ed all three exams)</p>

<p>I would say that if you have a good grasp of Calculus, have a good background in physics (be it middle school or an Honors class), and really are interested in math/physics, you will do fine.</p>

<p>I do recommend not to take Multivariable Calculus concurrently with AP Physics C as you will want to use triple integrals to do flux, and if your teacher doesn’t teach it that way it will frustrate you beyond belief.</p>