Taking AP Physics C Junior or Senior year

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hi there
I am deciding my classes for Junior year and am interested in applying for CS or Comp. Engineering. This year am taking AP Chem and as a freshman took Bio Honors. In junior year should I take Physics C or push to senior year? Not sure if this makes a difference for colleges and for the path I want to pursue, is AP Physics C (only physics my school offers) or AP Bio better junior year? The other APs in junior year will be AP Lang and AP Calc. Also is AP Bio needed for CS or Eng. path? Thanks

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AP Physics and AP Calc are more important for CS majors than AP Bio.

The advantage of doing these in Junior year is that you can report those scores when you apply to college. Technically, APs are only supposed to be used for placement and not for admission decisions, but general wisdom is that showing APs with 4s and 5s strengthens your application.

So: if you can take 2 APs in junior year I would recommend Physics and Calc. If only 1, then Calc.

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Thanks. Is AP Lang also seen as a good class to take even if STEM focused?

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Take any class that interests you. My son took AP Lit, AP Art History and AP Mandarin. He was loaded with full science and math though too.

As for when to take C, only with or after calculus. It’s a calculus based class. Most prefer to take it after, but my son took it concurrent.

5

It all depends on your interest and how much work you are willing to put in. How good are you at math? Do you enjoy it?

Are you planning on taking AP Calculus AB or BC next year? AB is a semester college course taught in a year while BC is 2 semesters worth of college calculus.

For AP Physics C, calculus is a prerequisite. The class is all calculus based. If you are a fast learner and are taking Calculus BC, you might be able to take Physics & calculus concurrently. However, school policies vary on this.

Also when you say AP Physics C, will you be taking AP Physics C: Mechanics as a yearlong course or Mechanics in 1st semester and Electricity & Magnetism in the second? The pace is very different between these two options.

Generally for computer science or engineering, you should definitely take calculus and physics in high school. What level depends on you and your school.

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Thanks. As Junior will be taking AP Calc BC, AP Lang and AP Physics C. The school is fine with that but I am trying to understand if I should do that Junior or wait till Senior for Physics C and most kids dont take a pre-req or any regular physics and take PhysicsC directly after calculus. This is Physics C Mechanics (year long) .

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You’ll be fine with that schedule. Good luck!

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The only advantage to taking AP physics C your junior year would be if you are very confident that you can get an A in the class and a 4-5 on the exam. If not, I’d seriously think about taking it your senior year. The benefits to this would be that you’d have finished calculus (which is needed for physics C) and you’d be less likely to forget the info when taking physics in college.

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Just make sure you do take AP Bio in high school. It is an important class, because it helps you to understand something of how life science and therefore medical care works. As a comp sci major, I doubt that you would take a year of bio in college, so take advantage of it in high school.

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