Registration for classes starts this week at my school. I’m a sophomore currently taking AP Physics 1 (there is no AP Physics 2 at my school). I took gifted chemistry last year and got a 95 first semester and 97 second semester. I want to become a CS major in college and don’t know whether to take AP Chem or AP Physics C junior year. I do plan on taking both eventually. I’m doing okay in AP Physics 1 (B so far). I also plan on taking AP Calc BC next Year. Should I just wait until I know Calc to take physics or not? Please help! Also I plan on taking APUSH, AP Capstone, German 2 Honors next year.
I want to preface this by saying I am definitely not going to major in CS. I also only have experience with AP Chemistry and not AP Physics C.
I would recommend AP Chem junior year and AP Physics C senior year taken concurrently with Calculus III/MV Calculus, if it’s available to you via dual enrollment.
Flip a coin. Since you are planning on taking both, it does not matter which one you take first. You might find Physics C is easier after completion of Calc BC, but that really is student specific.
Concurrent enrollment in calc is fine. The calc concepts you need in Physics C are not that difficult, and in the unlikely event that you have not yet learned a particular concept to apply to the current physics chapter, the physics teacher will teach it.
I’d do chem junior year, physics C senior year, since you’d have more math by senior year, always helpful for PhysicsC .
Also have you taken Biology?
@bopper I’ve already taken honors biology in 8th grade. I didn’t plan on taking AP bio.
I’d recommend taking AP Physics C for two reasons:
- Physics is more useful to a CS major (Chem is not used at all)
- Knowing physics would give you much deeper understanding of chemistry should you study chemistry later.
@1NJParent I do plan on taking both, mainly because I know I don’t need ap bio or apes, but when looking at ha courses for a cs major the website showed physics and chemistry.
https://www.cs.vt.edu/undergraduate/recommended
It’d depend on whether cs is with math or with engineering in the universities you’re considering.
Chem may be one of the required courses in the engineering school, but it has nothing to do with CS. However, if you want to take both physics and chemistry, then the chem-then-physics sequence is still better for the reason I stated earlier, unless you want to take an easier course first.