<p>Ramned, its better to take AP Physics if you hate physics (like I do). The reason is, if you can place out of the class, you will never have to take physics again.</p>
<p>That is, if you do very well on both C exams. It depends if your distaste w/ physics outweights your motivation to never take it again. Depends on your major</p>
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I dunno when you last checked, but I'm taking C right now, and in the first couple months we've had to solve diff. eq.s and do linear algebra to do work in higher dimensions. C is much more math intensive than just simple calculus. At least C at my school is.</p>
<p>Does your calc AB class cover surface area integrals?
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No... I believe that is the 3d analogue to finding the arc length using integrals, a topic we are just covering in Calc II at my university. It wasn't at the AB AP Exam, either.</p>
<p>But seriously, I think it's just your school. Differential equations, linear algebra, and calculus III topics? Sounds like you have got a hell of a teacher (in the good, really knows his/her stuff and pushes the students sense). When you get to the AP Exam, tell me how many of those advanced mathematical topics you actually find necessary for answering the questions.</p>
<p>^ yeah, I agree. It's probably just at your school in one hell of a crazy physics class.
AP Physics C only requires basic knowledge of calculus (integration, differentiation) , and some other topics such as dot/cross products. I suggest taking a look at past AP Physics C questions.</p>
<p>i hated physics after taking the honors level my sophomore year. i self-studied pre-calc the summer before my junior year, placing me in AP calc, with the sole intention of being ahead in just math. then i realized i could take AP physics (C, b/c that's my school's only option). being the ambitious person that i am, i took advantage of it and took both AP physics C and AP chem. by the end of junior year, <33333 physics lol</p>
<p>in my opinion, calc plays a large role in C (at least on the may 2008 exam). i don't remember much from either the Mech or E&M, but i do remember one part from the Mech that involved creating a differential equation and solving for some stuff. some pretty calc intensive stuff i thought, and i'm pretty d*mn good at calc, not gonna lie. i ended up getting a 5 on mech, but i'm pretty sure i butchered the calc stuff lol</p>