For adcoms they’d be similar for rigor consideration. A Physics summer course will be plenty challenging.
While true, keep in mind that AP Physics 1 has one of the lowest percentage of 5’s (5.7%) and the highest failure rate (59.4%) of all AP exams. So if a less-than-perfect score is going to cause self-doubt, it may be worth forgoing the exam regardless of which course she takes.
https://apscore.collegeboard.org/scores/about-ap-scores/score-distributions//
Just remember that
E = 1/2mv^2
If you increase the velocity of the course by 4x, it can slap you in the face with 16x energy.
“If a less than perfect score is going to cause doubt it may be worth forgoing the exam regardless of which course she takes…”
Though I appreciate your input on the thread, you are addressing phantom issues that do not pertain to my daughter’s situation. Once again, I’m simply asking how an admissions committee would relatively rank each type of course.
“I also think they would be pretty much equivalent.”; “For adcoms they’d be similar for rigor consideration. A Physics summer course will be plenty challenging.”
Thank you, myo61304 and mathmom, that is excellent to know.
Perhaps this has to do with it being a “default honors physics” course at many high schools – i.e. strong students, but not necessarily strong in science or physics, take it because they want to take honors in everything. Physics 2 and (especially) both physics C exams have higher score distributions, presumably because the students taking those tests are self-selected for greater interest and strength in physics. Note similar with calculus AB and BC score distributions.
https://apscore.collegeboard.org/scores/about-ap-scores/score-distributions//