The AP Physics class as defined by the College Board is supposed to teach Classical Mechanics during the first semester and Electricity & Magnetism during the second semester. Then at AP exam time, you take one subtest for Mechanics and another subtest for E&M. The exams are grades separately; and for flexibility, the College Board doesn’t require anyone to take both. In my son’s high school, the teacher spent the whole year on Mechanics and told everyone to leave in the middle of the AP Physics test. Does anyone know of this being done elsewhere or what effect only having half of the exam completed will have?
<p>A lot of high schools only teach the Mechanics half of AP Physics C, because Electricity & Magnetism is a much harder course. The effect is that a high score will give credit for one semester rather than one year of physics credit. Some colleges like MIT require a high score on both Physics C exams to get one semester credit. It's similar to AP Calculus AB versus BC: the AB exam gives you one semester credit, while BC gives you two semesters, but both classes are taught over a full school year.</p>
<p>How do the high schools justify only teaching half of a class? On the high school transcript, it lists the course as AP Physics (not AP Physics B or AP Physics C). During admissions, it would seem that this would be confusing.</p>
<p>I wonder if it's lack of faculty qualified to teach? </p>
<p>When I took physics my senior year in H.S., it was taught by an experienced biology teacher who took a summer course in physics to bone up for it. There was no one qualified (outright) to teach it. It was fine for an introductory overview course, a grounding for us college-bound kids (my high school didn't have AP anything), but the teacher would have been out of her element teaching anything advanced.</p>
<p>I've heard this is not uncommon--having to get other science faculty to cover courses that aren't really their area.</p>
<p>That may not be the case, but something to consider.</p>
<p>The collegeboard web site says that 21,903 students from 2,370 schools took AP Physics C Mechanics, while 10,772 students from 1,415 schools took E&M. So it appears that about 40% of all high schools only teach "half the class."</p>
<p>There's a very simple reason: they are two different courses. Any school that crams E&M and Mech into the same time span where one class is usually taught (e.g. APUSH) is actually teaching two topics at once. I'm guessing mechanics and E&M are only on the same exam because of 1) tradition, and 2) it makes it easier to grade, since the people who grade the Physics exams generally have knowledge of both.</p>
<p>There are two versions of the AP Physics class. AP Physics B is intended for students not majoring in physics and engineering and covers mechanics, E&M, optics, relativity, and atomic physics. The AP Physics C class is intended either as a follow-up to AP Physics B or as an initial course for physics/engineering students. AP Physics C should cover mechanics for the first half and E&M for the second half.</p>
<p>In my school, which follows the Sabis system, the AP physics C course is taught in full - both E&M and mechanics - in grade 12 (compulsory course). However the AP physics B is taught along with it (optional course) because both courses have many overlapping topics. So at the end of the year some students have the ability to give both exams and they can just choose whichever one they think they have a higher chance of getting a good grade in.</p>
<p>In my school, AP Physics C- Mechanics is taught in 11th grade and AP Physics E&M is taught in 12th. It makes things a lot easier and it allows for in depth discovery of more diverse topics during the year. We finished mechanics and waves in 3 and a half quarters last year and last month of the year was a special topic on special relativity. </p>
<p>I think its a great system. Hopefully I got 4's on both exams.</p>