<p>Avoid Physics at all costs!</p>
<p>I failed out of Physics. Twice. It's dropped my GPA nearly .3 points.</p>
<p>I got B/B in my physics year</p>
<p>I want to know this too. How bad would it look if I took 3 years of science (including Intro to Chem, Biology, and Chem) and I took AP Environmental Science my fourth year? I don't really have an interest in physics and I have an interest in the environment, but at the same time, I don't want to look like I took the easy way out by taking AP Enviro.</p>
<p>any other opinions? i really need to make my decision asap.</p>
<p>I'm in physics now. Apparently people are scared of it because of the math. I seem to have the opposite problem. I had problems understanding the principles. I had an unbelievably hard time with mechanics. I'm now learning electricity and magnetism which is so much more intuitive and those mechanics are finding it difficult, I'm not sure why since as a unit magnetism/electicity is so much easier. </p>
<p>how i've been dealing with this course:
well pretty badly at first and I think that was the average person. I'm in a class mostly filled with juniors. Our class average was around 70s for every test or quiz, which means people were failing. In general a majority of the class struggled with physics for a variety of reasons. I was able to pull up my grade between mid-term and the end of the term (I was failing, and my lab grades were the only factor that led me to pass the quarter) due to magic (no i'm not sure why, but I guess things clicked better or I coped better, I still work a lot to understand what's going on). </p>
<p>The general trend is seniors don't struggle with physics (generally because you have more brain dev==>easier to understand things) and physics manifests itself in math a lot (i.e. vectors, integrated calculus) and AP Chem. :) </p>
<p>Lately I'm in math (precalc for me) and then I go oh we did this in physics, and vice-versa. For mechanics at least teh only math required was trig and still continues to be (we haven't used any other... math topic besides... the four functions). </p>
<p>Hope that helps. I think I don't regret taking physics as a junior anymore. I used to because I feared an epic GPA drop (logically I should've I was still failing in November), but I stuck with it. Now I have a low ninety GPA which is fine and can be improved (hopefully).</p>
<p>It seems pretty obvious that you don't want to take it ("10x the pain"). If you're not planning on going into any sci/math field, taking bio instead of physics is fine. You won't be looked down on and it really won't affect you in the long run.</p>
<p>I didn't. Counselors push physics also at my school, even though its not a requirement. </p>
<p>I took Biology Honors, Chemistry Honors, AP Biology, and AP Environmental Science. I decided not to take physics. Don't worry about it... colleges don't care THAT much that a certain course was taken, or not taken.</p>
<p>thanks guys. gryffndor, we are in the exact situation. i took bio honors, chem honors, plan on taking ap bio and then ap enviro senior year. seeing as you got into yale, im assuming not taking physics didn't affect you too much.</p>
<p>thanks for your input guys.</p>
<p>take regular physics. no honors/ap.</p>
<p>it will be easy. simple algebra + paying attention will be enough to dowell.</p>
<p>that would kill my class rank of salutatorian though.</p>
<p>I didn't enjoy physics very much. It's applied math...ewww. :(</p>
<p>From Stanford's website:</p>
<p>Academic Preparation</p>
<p>"Science: three or more years of laboratory science (including biology, chemistry and physics)".'</p>
<p>Lindsay, I am in the same boat as you (I went to a physics camp before I started high school and hated it). I would say to just take regular physics, like I am. It's better than not having it at all in the competitive admissions process.</p>
<p>Im taking conceptual physics rite now and it is actually pretty fun! I have to take regular physics as a senior though. the class im taking now is like intro to physics.</p>
<p>Seems like more post are saying to take physics.</p>