Should I take the AP Physics exam?

Applying to College
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1

I am taking an Honors Physics course right now. It does teach to the curriculum of AP Physics, but not as far in-depth. Many students in the past have taken the AP Physics exam with a LOT of extra work and done well after taking the honors course, but it is not recommended. I was wondering if I should do the same? Will it help me with college admissions at all? If not, I don’t really see the point as I will probably take College Physics because I want to go to medical school. However, I have also not been able to take a science AP class/test yet, so could taking the AP Physics exam and doing well show colleges that I do have competency in college level science work?

Is it possible that if I pass the physics exam, I could use it to satisfy gen ed requirements that I don’t want to take? Such as non-premed or neuroscience (what I want to major in) courses?

2

Probably not worth it for a number of reasons:

  • No college expects AP tests if you have not taken the class

  • Taking an AP exam without the class does not improve a college application

  • The physics exam has a 60% failure rate. And most of those took the class

  • Few med schools accept AP science credits as meeting prerequisite. So you either have to take again in college (and it would be marked as a repeated class to med schools) or take the higher level class with the engineers.

  • Depending on the college, the AP credit may not apply to either gen ed requirements or to major credit - only elective credit

3

Which Physics? AP Physics 1 and 2 rarely provide significant college credit, IME, and Physics C would be very challenging to pass from a first-year Physics class.

I’ve never seen Physics classified as a GenEd, though most of my experience is with STEM majors.

I don’t see a good reason to try to do this.

4

If you will be a pre-med, you probably do not want AP physics 1 or 2 credit. Having AP physics 1 or 2 credit as a pre-med may put you in the position of having to take college physics for biology majors and pre-meds (since many medical schools do not accept AP credit, and there are no advanced physics courses to substitute unless you take physics for physics majors) and then having to mark “repeat” on your medical school application.