Good Morning,
My son is taking physics C this year. In the past the first semester was mechanics but the teacher decided to start with electricity. The first couple of test/quizzes have been rough. Majority of the class failing. The teacher has offered to give one make-up exam… and is only testing/teaching the conceptual aspects of E&M. So my question if things do not start turning around my son feels like he will need to drop this class, but does not want to since he plans on majoring in engineering. What are your thoughts? Is it worth it to stay in if he barely passes? The spring semester should be better since mechanics aligns more with the Physics 1 course he took last year.
Physics C was my D’s hardest HS course but also the most useful for preparation for college engineering. I’d be inclined to get extra help/tutoring and try to stick it out.
Do you know the grading rubric for this class? My D’s teacher ran it like a college course so all exams were graded on a curve.
FWIW, I don’t love that this teacher flipped the curriculum. E&M was much harder for my D than mechanics. IMO, it would have been better to ease into the higher level of difficulty.
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Talk to the teacher and principal. If the majority of the class is failing then something is wrong here. It’s hard but if the majority is not getting the material then why way it’s being taught is off. Also as stated definitely get help. They will have to do it in college also so might as well start now. Kids don’t like going directly to the teacher but only the teacher can tell your child what’s important to study and what’s not.
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I have to agree. The teacher is doing the students no favors by doing this. I suspect the reason is that the spring semester has fewer than 18 weeks before the AO exam, but there is no rule that states mech needs to fill an entire 18 week semester. If that was the concern, they should have condensed mech to 14 weeks (+/-) and started E&M late in Q2
Same here. Both AP, and in college. And I’m saying that as a STEM major
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Physics C E&M has always been a mediocre fit for high school. In college, calculus-based physics for engineering majors often has at least a co-requisite of multivariable calculus, which is a more advanced math course that relatively few high school students get to. It is more difficult to teach E&M in detail (versus a conceptual overview) when students do not (or are not expected to) have sufficient math background.
In any case, frosh engineering majors in colleges generally need only calculus and high school physics to start the calculus-based physics sequence in college.
My son is now seeing a tutor and has met with the teacher a few times and will continue to do so. This is the first year of flipping the sequence. The teacher stated that senior year “kids are checked out” second semester so he wanted to make sure they were engaged. There is no curve or extra credit in this class and by the end of the first nine weeks only 2 quizzes and one test.
I don’t know? He is the main physics teacher… holds a couple of doctorates… so not thinking the school will say or do anything. It is frustrating for my son.
This is exactly why I guessed the teacher did it after reading your first post. We were as “back to school” night last week and heard that theme over-and-over from teachers of classes that mostly or exclusively had seniors – that they have adapted their curriculum to front load the meatier stuff knowing they lose senior focus in the second half of the school year (“senioritis”). Not saying that’s the right call since it’s rough to start straight with E&M, but I understand the theory. At my kids school Physics C is a pretty even split of juniors and seniors so they didn’t do that.
A preview of college where most of the grade is based on a small number of tests and there is generally no extra credit? But “grading on a curve” is common, so that they can write difficult tests for large classes targeting a median of 50%.
I’m sorry your student is struggling. You mentioned few quizzes and one test counted in the grade book. Isn’t Physics C a lab science? There should be lab work and reports that are counted in his grade? Does that not help a little? My student’s Physics C class was unable to finish the E&C material before the AP exam. It was really early in her year. So I can see the switch in semesters with Mechanics making sense, since more students have an inkling of Mechanics either through previous physics classes or through Calculus and other math classes. With an increase in effort and help I think your student should be able to pull up his grade. Good luck to him.
His high school is known for being excellent in math/science so generally there is no “extra credit.” However, given how the class as a whole is doing with few grades and no curve you would think there would be some grace. It is still high school and these are seniors… not a weed-out class in college. My kid says he is not going to drop so we’ll see how the semester rolls.
That sounds rough. My son is also taking physics C this year. They’re covering mechanics now and it’s been very manageable so far. No curve on tests.