Hey everyone, I was admitted as a chemical engineering major to UCLA and I’m taking AP physics C: mechanics right now. I’m making a 78 in that class and got an 86 last semester. I am okay at kinematics, forces, linear momentum, and simple harmonic motion but when it comes to angular momentum and torque I am completely clueless and I failed both of those tests even with hours of studying. Physics does not come naturally to me and I have a hard time understanding it. It could be because I have a bad teacher, but even in my physics honors class I earned an A through hard work, not natural ability like some other kids.
I picked chemical engineering because I absolutely love chemistry and I am very good at it. I’m also pretty good with computers and I became interested in the work chemical engineers do when I attended a camp in the summer. Give me almost any chem problem and I can solve it in a second, but half the time when I see a difficult physics problem I just sit there scratching my head.
If I can’t even get a B in a high school physics class it makes me wonder if I’m cut out for engineering. If I didn’t do chemE I would probably major in statistics (or econ) because I’m good at those subjects, and I’d just take chem classes on the side for fun.
The majority of people succeed with hard work and no natural ability.
Actually, a lot of the people I’ve met with “natural ability” actually just had better foundations in math/science from working really hard earlier.
Hard workers who don’t make excuses usually succeed.
On another note, I’ve heard that chemical engineers don’t use that much chemistry in practice (others can prove me wrong). It’s more about heat and mass transfer. Also, I haven’t touched angular momentum and torque (at least formally) since taking AP Physics C myself! That would probably be more prevalent/relevant in MechE and AeroE than Chem E. You can’t be good at everything.
If you are at UCLA, the physics courses there are not taught as well. But you seem to do well because my daughters friend got C. So hang in there.
Chemical Engineering, like most other engineering disciplines have a lot of physics in them but as @Seirsly says, it is a different part of physics. For Chemical Engineering, it would be thermal and statistical physics rather than classical mechanics. I also agree that Chemistry is not as large a component of Chemical Engineering as you might guess from the name.
Just stick it out with your AP course this year and at the very worst you will be better prepared for when you retake the material in college. After that, make sure you pay particular emphasis to the thermal physics course you will take and you shoudl be all set. Nothing beats hard work and if you can do that you will be fine.
Oops sorry, I read this post incorrectly. You are senior in high school. Ignore my comment in post #2.
Hi! I’m in a similar situation as you - looking to major in engineering, but I’ve found my AP Physics C: Mechanics class to be very challenging. I’ve somehow squeezed out an A in the class, but my struggle with physics has caused me SO much anxiety and doubt about my choice of major. When I took the AP physics exam this week, I was very nervous, and I’m not sure that I passed the exam.
However, I love math (I’m currently in AP calc AB), and I found my biology and chemistry classes incredibly interesting and performed well in them. I love designing things and making things work, I can’t imagine myself never doing math again…and yes, I’m still leaning toward pursuing chemical or biomedical engineering.
My advice for you is that simply passing AP Physics C is an accomplishment, not something to be embarrassed by. It really isn’t a high school physics class like you said - it’s a college-level course designed for second-year physics students (see page 11 of this pdf http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-physics-c-course-description.pdf). Physics is something that many people (even engineering students!) struggle with. Everyone has their weaknesses, and having less of a natural ability for physics is, I daresay, common, and absolutely is not an indication of your success as an engineer. You can always retake physics in college, and you’ll have a headstart compared to other people. I can almost guarantee you’ll perform better when you see the material a second time.
If you are really passionate about problem solving and chemistry, I think you should definitely start in engineering and see what you think. I’ve heard from admissions officers that it’s much harder to switch into engineering than to switch out of engineering. You don’t want to wonder “what if I had tried engineering?” the rest of your life. And you don’t want to study something for four years that you’re not completely passionate about - that’s lame, and not as fun. 
Like the previous posters have said, there are definitely branches of engineering that will use less physics than others, so you’ll just have to find your niche.
Also, you were admitted to one of the top engineering schools in the country, so there’s at least one other person who thought you have some potential in the field.
I wish you luck, and I really hope you do well!!