<p>Next year, my junior year, I want to take Physics because I want to study astronomy in college and if I take Regular Physics next year, I can take AP Physics senior year.</p>
<p>But my dad told me that I should study Pre-Calculus before I take Physics...I know Physics involves lots of complicated math, but should I avoid taking it until senior year??</p>
<p>Is the AP Physics at your school calc-based or algebra based? (there are two AP Physics test- one is while one isn't) You probably will want to find out if calc is a requirement for your school's AP Physics class.</p>
<p>For regular physics, all you really need is a good, solid understanding of algebra and trigonometry. If you haven't had trig yet, you might want to think twice about taking Physics w/o pre-calc. I'd say at the very least, take Physics with pre-calc concurrently.</p>
<p>The only requirement for AP Physics is regular Physics and Pre-Calculus/Trigonometry. I should've mentioned, but right now I'm taking Algebra II/Geometry and next year it's going to be Pre-Calculus/Trigonometry. It's one course, not two seperate math courses.</p>
<p>But next year I'll be taking Physics (maybe) with Pre-Cal/Trig. Is that still good?</p>
<p>At my school the requirement is that a student be in at least Algebra 2 to take physics...</p>
<p>if its regular physics then ur fine.....im in physics honors AND taking precalculus at the same time and easily getting an A in both.........u should be fine</p>
<p>Ok, thanks a lot for the respones guys/gals. :)</p>
<p>we don't have APs at my school, but we have Advanced Physics and most people who take that and do very well on the AP test. At my school you have to be in at least BC Calculus before you can take Physics.</p>
<p>My teacher covered Trig last year at end of semester of Algebra 2.. Physics is basic trig and stuff. If you know the basics, your physics teacher should guide you along the way.</p>
<p>I took both classes at the same time and did well. The best thing to do would be to talk to the current teacher and ask if you will be at a disadvantage only being in PreCalc.</p>
<p>yeah, im doing the same thing next year. For the 1st semester im taking trig and physics honors then next semster AP Physics B. I talked to the teacher to see if there was alot of calculus for the class and she said not really, so i guess im good.</p>
<p>Depends, does this physics course involve vectors? If so, wait until you take trig. Otherwise, go ahead.</p>
<p>You might also want to find out what other students do -- if there are lots of people who take physics before/during precalc the teacher may soften up his style to accommodate you.</p>
<p>I took physics at Rutgers before taking pre-calc and I still did perfectly fine. I also know a ton of people who took it without pre-calc. You should have no problem.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks for the responses. I'm gonna stick with taking Physics then :)</p>
<p>Also, I forgot that my sister is taking Physics this year as a senior. She waited until after Trig and she told me the only Trig they do is sin/cos/tan...so I'm definately good to go.</p>
<p>"She waited until after Trig and she told me the only Trig they do is sin/cos/tan"</p>
<p>That's not entirely true, we deal with parallelograms too xD</p>
<p>You don't have to take pre-cal before you take physics, but rather you should take it at the same time you are taking physics. The trig part in pre-cal will help out. AP Physics C will require you to take calculus though, I belive B won't.</p>
<p>Yea, I think physics B is algebra-based and physics C is calculus-based.</p>