Should I take AP Physics 1?

I’m going into my junior year next year and this will be my schedule:

AP English Literature
SAT Prep
AP Seminar
Accelerated Pre-Calc (learn all of precalc and half of calc AB)
US History Honors
AP Environmental

My school only offered honors physics and AP Physics with no pre-requisites. I’m looking for a career in engineering or computer science. Should I take AP Physics or Honors?

For prospective engineering majors, AP physics seems like a no brainer. But most importantly, be sure to have at least one class each of bio, chem, or physics by the time you graduate. Make sure you can handle the workload as well, 4 APs can be a lot.

Ditch AP Env Sci (unless you are super interested) and take AP Physics 1 this year and AP Chem next year.
Honors Physics would be fine too if that doesn’t work out.

Agree with the above advice. What about your foreign language? I would drop SAT prep (do on Khan Academy instead) and take a 4th FL year, if you haven’t already.

TBH, it’s not a no brainer. If the student plans on applying to any schools that require/recommend Subject Tests and s/he want to take the physics Subject Test, Physics Honors is better preparation. If the students plans to take AP Physics C Mech & E&M as a senior, Physics Honors is better preparation for E&M, although AP Physics 1 is probably a better preparation for mechanics…

AP Physics 1 does not cover a lot of topics including E&M. It also has one of the highest fail rates on the AP exam - ~60% and one of the lowest percentages of 5’s - 5.7%.

Now if the OP’s HS weights the 2 classes differently, then that’s a consideration. The better teacher is also a consideration.

Whichever way the OP decides will not be a wrong decision.

@skieurope Does physics honors cover material that would appear on AP Physics 2/C E&M like electrostatics and such? If so, that’s my bad, I only know what’s covered on the AP Physics exams.

A typical high school physics course covers the full range of topics at lesser depth than AP physics 1 and 2 cover. The SAT subject test in physics is matched to a typical high school physics course, not AP physics 1. Of course, a student who has completed both AP physics 1 and 2 will be will prepared for the SAT subject test in physics, but a student who has completed only AP physics 1 will be missing many topics.

Compare the topics in the SAT subject test:
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat-subject-tests/subjects/science/physics

To those in the AP tests:
https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-physics-1/course
https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-physics-2/course

@damon30 My foreign language is italian which is also my first language and i will be taking the subject test and AP exam for. Had an unfortunate run with Spanish 2 because my teacher was absent all year and we didn’t learn anything.

@skieurope my school doesn’t offer any classes beyond AP Physics 1. My school is relatively small and 1 teacher teaches regular physics, honors physics and AP Physics. an A in AP Physics is weight 6.0 and an A in honors physics is weighted 5.0. Word out on the street is that the teacher is OK at teaching honors physics what an awful teacher for AP Physics. I’ve heard that workload for AP Physics is not bad (you get a packet to complete and turn in at the end of the unit, tests and labs are curved) and many end the class with an A. However, due to her teaching. methods, only few pass the AP exam. Honors physics at my school is said to be a more fun course, but still hard to get an A due to her teaching style. Having said so, which course is my best suit?

So it’s the same teacher. It’s easier to get an A in AP Physics and it’s weighted higher. Does that sum it up? If so, and you don’t need a physics Subject Test, I’d probably opt for AP.