<p>Hi. I’m a junior this year, and am looking forward to do engineering in college (perhaps chemical engineering). I am faced with a little dilemma concerning my course selection for my senior year. I know chemE is a lot of physics, so I originally planned to take AP Chem and AP physics C. However, I realized our physics teachers really SUCK. I really think that if I self study for Physics C, it will be more efficient than taking the course (I have a pretty strong math background). </p>
<p>What do you think would be wise courses to take senior year?</p>
<li><p>AP Chem (awesome teacher), self study AP Physics C (maybe skip a semester of college physics)</p></li>
<li><p>AP Chem + AP Physics C (bad teacher)</p></li>
<li><p>not take the AP exam for both (to retake them in college)</p></li>
<li><p>take the AP exam for both and skip intro chem and intro physics in college.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>What would you pick if you were me? (considering I have a strong science/math background).</p>
<p>I'd take both AP classes since every little bit helps. Also at least try the exams. The possible college credit depends so much on the school, as some are getting pretty strict on letting you skip intro courses. But, even if you retake the same courses in college, you'll have the head start. Personally, I think Physics would be difficult to self-study unless you have some sort of video course or a tutor available, as many things are conceptual that are difficult to explain in a text. Why not take the class, and plan to spend a little extra time on your own (depending on your course load)?</p>
<p>What a coincidence, my school's Physics C teacher is also horrible. I've also heard the same for every other school. Is this a trend or what?</p>
<p>Anyways, our physics c teacher was terrible at teaching; he had an accent and everyday he would go over materials for 10 minutes then let us have free time. I had to depend on myself to self-study and cramster.com for homework help. Acing the class was not a problem as he handed out As like nothing, so you should ask people who've taken Physics C how hard it is to get an A and stuff.</p>
<p>Even though I thought I was going to fail the AP tests, they were so incredibly easy that I 4'd the mech and 5'd the E&M tests. All I did was cramming the couple nights before the tests.</p>
<p>It's not really that I can't handle both classes at the same time (I can), it's because I really don't like our physics teachers. In their class, I have the impression that I'm wasting my time listening to their confusing explanations that end up being riddled with errors. At the begining of our class, I listened to them, did with their method etc. and messed up my test. After, I never listened in class anymore (I started saving time and doing other homeworks), read the physics book before tests and got much higher grades (100 on both tests). I've heard that the Physics C teacher is even worse. However, I'm concerned that if I don't take Physics C, colleges will consider that I'm not challenging myself.</p>