<p>My school only offers the mechanics portion of the physics AP, so I was considering self-studying the Electricity and Magnetism parts. What books have worked well in the past for you? I have strong math skills and i'm very good at rote memorization (formulas, etc) as well as applying formulas to word problems and the like.</p>
<p>I’d easily recommend Barron’s for Physics C.
It really does explain everything in detail and tells you what to do and how to attack different types of problems. By “strong math skills”, you mean you’ve already taken Calculus AB/BC? If so, you’ll do fine for the math part.
One strong recommendation though: Start selfing E&M only after you’re atleast halfway done with mechanics because there’s a lot of Mech concepts in E&M.</p>
<p>I STRONGLY recommend Barron’s. I have read several textbooks, and Barron’s easily beats them all. The material is covered extensively and treated in a very practical, no nonsense manner, which I found refreshing. Many of the practice problems were extremely unique and insightful as well. One particular example that I can recall was a problem where two springs with different spring constants were connected and then stretched.</p>
<p>Many people on this forum complain that Barron’s contains information not tested on the exam. This is simply not true. I will admit that there is some material in the text that is not tested OFTEN, but as people who wrote “FAIL” all over FRQ #2 (which I would like to add is treated very well in Barron’s) this year will tell you, it is much better to be over prepared than under prepared.</p>
<p>Very rarely do I go out of my way to advocate a prep book, but I honestly found Barron’s AP Physics book incredible. I am sure that it will remain on my desk throughout college and even possibly beyond that.</p>