<p>My school only offers Physics C Mechanics. I am going into this class next year concurrently with Calculus BC with no prior Physics background, would it be okay if I didn't self-study for E&M and just take Mechanics? How hard would it be to self study alongside Mechanics?</p>
<p>Trying to self study E&M with no prior physics background seems impossibly daunting to me.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input, but has anyone done this successfully?</p>
<p>I know a couple of people who selfed E&M and got a 4/5 - but they had a near-perfect Calculus background, which you pretty much need for E&M. Last year’s E&M exam had some insane amounts of calculus on there, check the exam…I got a 4 on E&M last year (I was enrolled concurrently in Calc AB). </p>
<p>If you wanna self this, first of all - be VERY GOOD at calculus and understand vectors/fields well. Practice from Barron’s book (which I highly recommend) and I’m pretty sure your Mechanics teacher will help you with E&M if you ask for it.
My advice: Work with Mechanics and Calc BC for the first 3-4 months and see how you’re doing…if it seems easy and you’re acing everything, SELF the E&M. Or else, do only Mechanics and Calc BC. The #1 reason people do bad on the Physics C exams is because they take both in the same year (like me, got a 3 on Mech…).</p>
<p>me, it’s entirely possible to forgo the E&M test and only score on the Mechanics sections (as the two are entirely different tests). In most colleges also, the two AP’s similarly correlates to two different courses (even in many of the top colleges).</p>
<p>For self studying, it’s not too difficult, however much of the mathematics may be a bit conceptual without external guidance (it’s very heavily calculus based and the calculus is more often than not abstract as opposed to your simple cartesian calculus). At the same time, if you entirely forgo the conceptual aspect of the curriculum, then E&M is really no harder than Mechanics. I had not taken the E&M test for fear of a <5 score, as I know that in all likelihood that I will have a higher chance of scoring a 4 than a 5. However, there’s a gratuitous curve (even for an AP test) on the E&M section last year so I am having regrets now for not taking the E&M section last year and just getting over with it.</p>
<p>And of course, I re-emphasize what AxeBack said previously, be ready to be mathematically challenged, and make sure that you have a very solid background in traditional calculus as the two are interdependent.</p>
<p>From one overachiever to another xP</p>
<p>Yeah, but the thing is I have no Calculus background either…so I’ll just see how things go and decide when the time is right.</p>
<p>@ failboat ^ that is very true.</p>
<p>If you want to TRULY understand the physics concepts behind E&M, you actually need an instructor to ask all those questions. There’s tons of weird stuff in E&M and you make a lot of random assumptions…you can either memorize all this (by telling yourself “ok so when there’s a point charge there and you have a field here, you do this method…”) or if you want to really know the physics behind it and WHY you’re doing it, you need to take the course because the instructor will work you through all that.</p>
<p>A sidenote for Punjab: The E&M AP is non essential at the high-school level for a science-based or an engineering-based college bound major, as it is not at all beneficial to gain credit hours in E&M without the corresponding college level course, which is usually a sophomore physics credit. However, as the college level E&M is more often then not supplementary to the bare minimum requirements tested on AP, it’s always better to have at least a foundation and some conceptual knowledge of the field before entering college. (Although, this is coming from someone who has an unnatural and even somewhat irrational affinity for the physical sciences)</p>
<p>Not to hijack your thread, but what about self studying both parts of Ap physics C, but with no calculus background, math up to precalculus. I have taken high school physics 1 though. Should I go for it?</p>
<p>^ you would die. really. you NEEEEED calculus for this stuff.</p>
<p>
Agreed. Personally, I don’t think it’s wise to teach yourself calculus (you would have to if you wanted to self-study both parts of Physics C) because a good foundation in calculus is necessary.</p>
<p>Is there that much calculus in it? I’ve heard before that it only really contains applications of derivitaves and integrals. Also if it includes this, wouldn’t a decent Ap physics book contain this?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t recommend Physics C to anyone who just learned calculus. </p>
<p>
Contain what?</p>
<p>It only really contains applications of derivatives and integrals, yes. But it’s not the AP Calculus (as Applied to Physics) test; the calculus is what you’re supposed to know ALREADY, not what you’re being tested on. If you have to stop and think about “hmm, how DO i integrate this”, you aren’t going to do very well.</p>
<p>oh gotcha, that makes a little more sense, thanks.</p>
<p>A bit of a digression here, but I promise that this will become relevant shortly</p>
<p>@doberhound - How well versed are you at identifying properties of systems of numerical functions?</p>
<p>Well, I’m going to sound like an idiot here, but I’m not sure what you mean. Maybe if I saw an example I would know, but keep in mind I’ve worked through precalculus (logarithms, matrices, trigonometric equations, sequances, geometry, etc.), but nothing more.</p>
<p>oh haha don’t worry too much about it, basically do you know how different general types of functions behave under different circumstances? For example can you picture a rudimentary model for the function when someone starts talking about sine, cosine, logarithms, or even a simple polynomial?</p>
<p>If you can, you should be ready to tackle the mathematics aspect of Physics C. However a more comprehensive understanding of functions and limit based scenarios will definitely be required, you at least will be able to figure them out on your own =). Good luck with the AP, it might be a consolation to know that 1/2 of the material on the Mechanics section are B material and the rest only require rudimentary knowledge of Calculus (however a fluent conceptual understanding is required, which is what practicing is for xP).</p>
<p>Also, the test is ridiculously curved</p>
<p>ok, I do understand the basic graphs of those functions, and see what you are getting at. Thanks very much for your information, should I do mechanics first? or does it not matter?</p>
<p>You MUST know integral calculus before you start studying. You’re taking BC, too, so you should be all right there. Don’t start studying E&M until January. Remember–you only need to get 60% (I think) to get a 5.</p>
<p>For the physics test, it isn’t as necessary to understand the math as it is to understand the physical models. You need to be able to visualize the fields.</p>
<p>If you feel overwhelmed, though, only go for Mech, where you have a teacher to fall back on. Check first if you like E/M better…I found it easier than Mech. It’s perfectly possible to just take one test, but if you studied at all for both of them I would take both. Good luck!</p>