When to take AP Physics test?

Test Preparation AP Sciences
, , ,
1

<p>Hi. My school is pretty lacking in the number of AP courses offered. Once school starts I will be a junior, and taking what my school calls ‘Honors Physics 1’. Then my senior year I will take Physics 2. Would it be better to take the AP Physics exam(self-studying) after my senior year or junior year? Which will be more advantageous for applying to college?</p>

2

<p>I’m going to start off by answering your last question. It doesn’t really matter when you take the exam, as AP exams don’t usually play a big role in admissions, if at all. So I really wouldn’t worry too much about it.</p>

<p>As for when to take the exam, that would be a little tricky. The AP Physics B exam (I’m assuming your honors physics class is algebra based) will have its last administration in May 2014 before it splits into AP Physics: Algebra Based I and II. Probably, it would be better to take both of them after your senior year, because at least then you’d have learned mostly what you need for those exams (which seems what your school is trying to do, spliting the physics class into two sections like the exam). If you take it at the end of Junior year, you take the entire AP Physics B exam, which is just all of physics minus some topics (like rotational kinematics and so on). You’d need to teach yourself all of the material that they don’t teach you in your honors physics I course.</p>

<p>So, probably you should take it after your senior year, unless you can teach yourself the rest of the material needed for the exam at the end of your junior year. If there is any topics they forget to teach you in your honors physics classes, then you can always teach yourself the missing topics.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the advice. And if I took the AP Physics C it would be safe to assume that I should do it after senior year so that I have a stronger base since the C exam considered more difficult?</p>

4

<p>Yes, assuming you know calculus-based physics by the end of your senior year. If you feel up to it, you can take it at the end of your junior year, but it’s safer to take them after your senior year.</p>

<p>Just so you know, you can take all four physics exams at the end of your senior year, which really isn’t that bad, but really you only need Physics B or Physics C for college credit.</p>

5

<p>Thanks. I’ll probably wait till senior year then</p>