<p>Hey I'm a junior and I recently found out that it is impossible (with the schedule I currently have) to take ap physics at my school. I was wondering how hard it would be to do a self study in ap physics. I plan on reading a textbook, doing the problems, and then working through a review book in order to prepare for the ap exam. I'll start in about a week.</p>
<p>I'm relatively strong in mathematics (did well in calculus). However, I have no background in physics (never took a course). I self studied before for microeconomics and got a 5, although I heard that was a really easy test and physics is much harder. So, do you guys think it is reasonable for me to go ahead with a physics C mechanics self study? Also, should I consider Physics C E/M? what about just taking physics B?</p>
<p>You probably need to take an actual course. Physics C is one of the hardest exams, and nearly everyone who takes it is going on to major in Physics or Engineering in college.</p>
<p>Don’t let these people scare you. If your calculus background is strong and you shop around for a good study guide you are perfectly capable of a 5 on at least of one of the Physics C tests, maybe both if you put in the hours. Just start early and take a lot of practice tests.</p>
<p>I think its possible if you want to spend 100+ hours on physics. I had an honors physics course that did not cover cover E/M, and I self-studied for both Physics C tests. Mechanics is really easy, much easier to picture what is going on than E/M, I spent about 30 hours working on Mechanics, making sure I understood everything, and probably 60 hours on E/M. Most of those hours were unnecessary, it was just time spent procastinating on homework and studying for other APs.</p>
<p>I also had a good calculus background. (5 on BC previous year). It takes a while to get the concepts, but once you understand it, it is a piece of cake.</p>
<p>I sort of did self-study last year by taking Physics B online…</p>
<p>If you can put in the time commitment, you’ll be fine. Otherwise, you will struggle and the result will not be pretty. Physics isn’t just an easy course that you can blow by; Physics C E/M is probably one of the most, if not the most, intense AP test that exists. </p>
<p>Considering that your schedule is what is restricting you, that probably means that you either have a full schedule or a schedule that has many courses only offered during a specific bell–the smallest courses and hardest courses. If you think that you can commit 5+ hours a week to physics on top of all of your other courses, go for it. If you can’t, take it at a community college or something. That will force you to do the work, and having an instructor that you can ask questions to and get clarification on certain things for a class as intensive as physics is absolutely worth it.</p>