<p>I'm going to be a freshmen next year, and I've already requested AP Phys B as one of my courses. How hard do you think physics B is going to be for someone who's never had any high school level physics before? I do plan on taking a reg physics course over the summer.
I'm an OK math student I guess, gonna be in Alg 3/4 next year. I have a solid A in geometry as of now.</p>
<p>On a scale of 1-10, how hard did you guys think the class/exam was?</p>
<p>Took it as a sophomore with only Trig/Algebra 2. It wasn’t that difficult, but I would suggest having pre-calc, it makes it so much easier. If you are taking regular physics over the summer then you may have no issues in AP Physics because you will have some background. If you’re just an ‘OK’ math student, I would suggest waiting until you have had enough high school math.</p>
<p>You’ll be fine. I self-studied AP Physics B as a sophomore while taking algebra/trig (well, I was also self-studying precalculus…) and I got a 5.</p>
<p>If 10 is the hardest, I would put it at a 6-7 if you prep enough. (I did that by cramming a lot of free response questions and practice tests in April.)</p>
<p>DONT DO IT! you will hate yourself. I’m a very good math student too (got all As in honors) I took it junior year. It was A LOT of work and frustration. physics is a subject that you either get it or you don’t. freshman year is not a good year to have such a difficult class. if you take it, it will CONSUME your life.</p>
<p>My S, who is quite good in math (AP Calculus BC as a freshman), took Honors Physics his freshman year.
The class was not designated AP Physics B, but the teacher met with the few ambitious students several times in the spring to cover the material needed for AP Physics B.
S got 5 on the AP exam. I can’t speak as to the class difficulty, each school is VERY different.</p>
<p>My S is taking AP Physics B this year as a freshman. He is strong in math, but he had not had any prior physics classes. However, the AP physics B class at my S’s school meets for 85 minutes the entire school year. AP Physics B covers a lot of topics. If your school’s AP class does not meet for a double period the entire year, I would recommend taking honors physics before you took the AP level.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>bump?</p>
<p>I’m in Honors Physics right now, already taken PreCalc and all that. I considered taking the test but looked at a book just to see how hard it was before paying to sign up for the test. I almost fainted when I opened the book. I had no clue about anything. Unless you think you’re a super genius, don’t do it.</p>
<p>snowbeltmom - My school is on a 4x4 schedule, so it’ll be 90 minutes everyday. We’ll only have 12 weeks to get all the material down. Do you think that’s enough?</p>
<p>5minutes - 12 weeks is not much time for AP Physics. How do the kids in your school perform on the AP test? Have most of the students had a class in honors physics prior to taking the AP class?
It took my son’s class from late August until the middle of March (85 minutes a day) to get through the entire textbook.
If you do decide to take the class, I would recommend that you work through some of the AP Prep books over the summer. My son did not find the topics difficult, but there are a lot of topics and a lot of formulas to memorize in order to do well on the AP exam.
While most AP classes are the equivalent of 1 semester of college course work, that is not true of AP Physics B - AP Physics B is equivalent to 2 semesters of college course work.
Good luck in your decision.</p>
<p>Class 5 4 3 2 1</p>
<p>Physics B 32 16 12 3 0</p>
<p>Whoops, sorry it’s all out of whack</p>
<p>5s: 32
4s: 16
3s: 12
2s: 3
1s: 0</p>
<p>***, you are a 8th grade on cc? haha</p>
<p>all the ap exams are not that difficult, but some of the classes are, find out how many A’s/B’s there were for what teachers</p>
<p>5minutes, those are good results. The question to find out now is how many of those students who passed the AP exam took honors physics prior to taking the AP class. Since your school’s AP class is only 12 weeks long, my guess is that the vast majority of the students had completed an honors physics class.</p>
<p>snowbeltmom-Yes I believe most kids take Physics 1/2 [we don’t have H. Physics] prior to taking Physics B. However, I have purchased a couple high-school physics level books and will be reviewing all summer & throughout the school year.</p>
<p>5minutes- you should be in good shape then. Good luck!</p>