<p>I am trying to get a 5 on AP Physics C exam, and my teacher sucks, so it's kinda hard for me to learn materials.</p>
<p>currently i am using "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" by Serway and Jewett for textbook, and have a PR prep book. Do you guys know any good books out there?(it doesn't have to be a Prep book, any kind of textbook will be fine too)</p>
<p>And to those of you who got a 5, how did you guys study for it? What i am doing is just going through stuff in the textbook and looking at a few problems in the PR book, but I am not so sure if this is really helping me. It'd be so great if you guys can give me some tips!</p>
<p>To those of you who are trying to get a 5, what kind of books/methods do you use to study?</p>
<p>I'm using "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" by Randall Knight and it's an excellent book. Unfortunately it's about half the size of my back pack.</p>
<p>We used "University Physics." It's a classic and has GREAT examples. I find the text less than engaging, however. My personal favorite is "Physics" by Ohanian. For background understanding, I would also recommend Giancoli's "Physics." You can then add the calculus later by reading one of the above two books.</p>
<p>1) Serway's pretty good and simplifies things a bit, but has good problems.
2) University Physics is better, but keep Serway if you're struggling.
3) But you could always combine UPhysics with Halliday-Resnick for a firmer background.
4) Test prep books suck.
5) Use them in April a month before the test.
6) PR should be fine.
7) When you're studying physics you want to read the chapter then do all the odd problems in the book.
8) Especially for mechanics.
9) Solving the Additional Problems are preferable.
10) Don't study in groups.
11) Do study in fields.
12) Remember, physics is the coolest subject in the universe.</p>
<p>I'm taking it right now and am on track to getting fairly easy 5s (knock on wood...but I'm pretty confident about it). </p>
<p>Anyway, I definitely agree with fizix about prep books. Do NOT use them exclusively or for understanding anything behind the formulas. They're good for a quick review (after all, that's what they're intended for), but that's it. Read whatever textbook you have, but don't go overboard with the notes. Take a sketchy outline of sorts as you read if you want to, and then at the end of the chapter go back and compile a set of neat, comprehensive notes. It's pretty common that after you read the last sections of a chapter, things in the beginning will make more sense, and then you can write the notes in a more efficient, clearer way. </p>
<p>I wouldn't suggest doing all the odd problems, especially if you easily get burned out from doing so many. All you need to do is thoroughly, deeply, completely understand the concepts in the chapter. Basically, you have to be confident that you could do any of the odd problems, whether or not you actually go through and prove it. It's entirely your call if you're at that point of understanding or not, and of course it never hurts to practice more (unless you're burning yourself out, in which case you should drop everything and hit a kegger...no joke). That being said, doing problems is absolutely essential for physics. It's like riding a bike...reading about how to do it won't actually help when you're out on the sidewalk.</p>
<p>If your goal is getting a 5, your best resource will be old exams. You can order them online, download the recent ones from ap central, or get them from your teacher...but be sure to do them properly. Really treat each problem seriously and try not to go too far over the alloted time. If you do a handful of years of FR sections, you'll start to see that the problems just repeat themselves over and over again, in slightly different forms. Then, getting a 5 is simply a matter of understanding the concepts (so you can slightly change the application for nearly identical problems), and having a lot of confidence. Again, an occasional party does wonders for nerves.</p>