<p>I’m a sophomore in high school registered to take IB Physics SL next year. My school focuses more on IB than AP, but does offer a mix with AP courses. Physics, however, is not an AP course here, nor is IB Physics HL offered. Because most colleges don’t offer credit for standard-level courses in IB, I want to be able to take an AP exam for credit/placement in place of it using the coursework learned in the IB course, perhaps with a bit of self studying should some parts of the curriculum be lacking or missing. I do know that AP Physics B is being split into the two years of coursework (1 and 2) for next year and beyond but I am unsure whether this coursework is covered by the one year of IB Physics SL at my school. Does anyone with IB and AP physics experience know whether these two courses correlate with each other? Additionally, how does this tie in with the calculus-based physics in AP Physics C (either section)? Would that be removed from the AP curriculum in place of the two years of physics? If that is so, would it be a possibility to take both exams, or would it be a better idea to take just the first, or even neither?</p>
<p>Bump. Should I post this to a different forum instead?</p>
<p>I’ll tell you what little I know on the subject. AP physics 1 and 2 is useless in terms of college credit for STEM majors. For that path, it’s AP physics C you’re looking for, but IB physics SL I don’t know if it covers calculus. Sometimes even the topics differ greatly as the IB physics kids at my school spent a month on astronomy as some sort of part of the IB curriculum (it was the teacher’s choice of 3 topics).</p>
<p>So this means Physics C is still offered as an exam and hasn’t been replaced? That’s quite good to know. In this case, would you advise self-studying in case the curriculum isn’t covered in Physics SL, or calculus is not essential to the course? Thanks for your input.</p>
<p>You’re right about AP physics C; AP physics 1/2 will only replace AP physics B and it is mostly the same test split into two parts that are recommended to both be year-long courses. I would advise self-studying AP physics one and two if most of the topics match up with your IB course. I would not recommend self-studying AP physics C if IB physics is not calculus based because yes the concepts will be the same but the mathematical operations will be completely different. It would take a considerable amount of time to put into AP physics C, but the calculus is not hard to learn it’s just basic derivatives and integrals that you need to know which can be learned in a couple of weeks. I wouldn’t take either exam in your situation (I believe you’re doing full IB) and just focus on your IB curriculum and take the AP physics C equivalent course your first semester in college.</p>
<p>I’m not taking full IB, and I’ve already taken AP Calculus AB, so the calculus shouldn’t be all too difficult. Would it still be advisable to study the Physics C mathematics and use that to heighten my physics knowledge both in class and for an AP exam (I have heard that calculus-based physics is easier than formula-based physics once you know the math)?</p>