<p>Hey guys,
Just wondering - does Plan II Honors required students to take Plan II's theoretical physics class, or can you take a different science, like chemistry, instead? I found conflicting answers on their website.
One page said you could take "the Plan II theoretical physics course (3 hours) or two other advanced chemistry classes (6 hours)" but all of the other pages on the site only mentioned that physics class as being required.
I'm curious because physics is without a doubt my WORST subject. I'm not even sure I could pass a Plan II class in it - my brain just doesn't seem to work with the subject. The thought of taking it in college (and having a terrible grade in it on my transcript) actually terrifies me more than you can imagine.</p>
<p>Also - this isn’t because I’m slacking off - I know how challenging all of the Plan II courses will be, and feel confident in my ability to do well in them. It’s just this one class that scares me so much.</p>
<p>Plan II Physics can be exempted in two ways. Either 2 upper divisional Bio-Chemistry courses or 2 upper divisional Physics courses. If you are not majoring in Bio-Chemistry or Physics, this will probably not be a valid path for you. With that said, Plan II Physics is a rite of passage for almost every Plan II major. It is a brutal class, some say one of the hardest at UT and your time commitment for the class will be like no other during your time there. But to say it is anything like any Physics you have ever experienced would be wrong. Homework sets are assigned weekly and are typical 10-12 problems each. EVERYONE does these in groups, and group work is encouraged. It is just not survivable any other way. In the boxes below are two sample problems from recent homework in Plan II, just for a frame of reference.</p>
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<p>Don’t let them scare you. It will be the first time in probably your whole educated life you barely manage to make a 50 on an exam (if you are really lucky) but the grades are based on how everyone else does and typically a 50 would be an A.</p>
<p>That’s funny you mention a 50 - I got a 45 on my first exam at UT, in honors physics (engineering). Scared me to death! I got a C one semester, and a B the other. The last B I had made was in 5th grade! There is life after a C, though - I ended up graduating with high honors. But I will never forget what it felt like to see that 45 on my test.</p>
<p>I am scared now</p>
<p>@ yetanotherid…the questions or the grades?</p>
<p>^^ both</p>
<p>@yetanotherid I have never known any Plan II kid to fail P2 Physics. So with that don’t let either scare you. I will say it is a right of passage and the talk of legends so don’t let that bother you either.</p>
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Very similar experience but not at UT. The high score in the class of about 200 was less than 60% and that wasn’t me. I remember thinking this is supposedly important stuff for engineers to know and not one person out of 200 understands it. I figured their were two possibilities, one being that the 200 people in that class were not cut out to be engineers or the one guy standing in the front of the room was not cut out to be a teacher. A bunch of us ended up having pretty successful engineering careers.</p>
<p>Plan II Physics will make you cry. Every day. My daughter took P2 Physics this year and it was painful. The good news is that there is a huge grading curve, so if you are smart enough to get into Plan II, you will make it through physics. I think it’s hard to get an A, but also hard to fail.</p>