<p>I am taking Physics right now but the teacher is an absolute joke. He doesnt teach us anything, as all we do in class is talk with eachother or watch useless movies. For the past week, 2 weeks before the AP exam, all we have done is watch The Office. </p>
<p>If I take it, I doubt I can get over a 3 on it, so Im not going to spend my money taking it. However, I am thinking about applying to top colleges, like MIT, so will it look bad if I dont take the exam even though I am in the class?</p>
<p>I am, however, taking 6 other AP exams and have a chance at AP national scholar by the end of junior year so its not like Im slacking off in every class. </p>
<p>I know MIT looks at it "holistically", but how much will this hurt me?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Self-study.</p>
<p>Also, I was kinda in the same situation as you, but I just bombed the exam. I got a 3 on the Physics B exam but was nonetheless still admitted (to 6 ivies as well). It was a mistake–I wish I had studied, but I had gotten burnt out (I made up for it with a 800 on the SAT II, so if physics is important to what you are interested, make sure you have some high scores)</p>
<p>Well I guess I will try the best I can. I am still signed up to take it (our school automatically signs us up), but if I do not do well, I will probably cancel it.</p>
<p>I probably should have realized this earlier instead of waiting until the last few weeks to worry about this, as in these last 3 weeks, I have had sooo many tests to take (some of which I probably should have sacrificed my time and studied for physics)</p>
<p>I do not plan on going into physics, but rather into math (which is related to physics more than any other science class)…and I am really good at math. So if I do bad on physics, I am just concerened that colleges might see my math awards as flukes or something.</p>
<p>Ya I would say self-study, although its a bit late at this point. I am officially in a IB Physics HL class, but the teacher also tacked on the extra bits for AP B. Since MIT doesn’t take AP B credit, I have been self-teaching myself the C test and have been getting along quite well. Self-studying AP Physics is highly doable. I wouldn’t recommend trying to self-study something like Unified Engineering though ;)</p>
<p>Always look for a way around the limitations of your immediate environment. That seems to be something MIT looks for. It shows passion and willingness to invent new paths for yourself when established ones don’t exist.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. Its not until next Monday so I can still study it this week. Luckily, the tests that I have this week (APUSH, English, Comp Sci), I do not need much studying for. </p>
<p>Who knows? Maybe Ill just get super lucky or something like I did last week =)</p>
<p>I’m in a similar situation. Taking 6 other ap’s, and physics teacher doesn’t do anything. I’ve been self-studying though, so I think as long as you can pass it, you’ll be alright.</p>
<p>I have a question btw. I took the Physics subject test, but I’m afraid I got like a 690 or a 700 on it. If I get a 5 on phy b this year, and take physics c both parts as a senior next year, will that make up for it?</p>
<p>I would say yes, AP is much better indicator of ability, but SAT IIs do count. I would suggest you do what I did, take the physics SAT II in November of senior year. SAT II physics isn’t hardcore calculations of anything, its no calculator so any calculations are from easy equations and nice numbers. It is more just a dabbling of many subjects and a theory test. Get a review book, study up over the summer/before the test and you should do fine. Honestly, I only started studying for the SAT II about a month before I took it and pulled off a 780 on it. It really isn’t bad.</p>