AP Physics in Sophmore year
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Anonymous
I don't know which teacher these kids had but I remember at the CAP open house a few kids took it early in 9th or 10th and said it was the worst decision they made. They hated it, didn't learn much and did really poorly. If your child is really good at math and loves science sure but otherwise my advice would be to skip at that age which my child did based on this advice. |
Anonymous
| My RMIB sophomore took it sophomore year. Tough class, a number of kids dropped it. Hard-fought A, did get 5 on the exam. I agree with PPs it's teacher- and kid-dependent. RM decided to cut the class, now only offers Physics C. |
Anonymous
| ^^typing too fast, sorry. The options are now Honors Physics, AP Physics C and Astronomy with Physics. |
Anonymous
You seem to be forgetting the effort a student puts in as a component of the grade. |
Anonymous
How can it be conceptually rigorous, did you mean to say conceptually demanding? All physics is built up from mathematics, so saying it's rigorous conceptually seems contradictory unless it's also rigorous mathematically. |
Anonymous
This is a common misunderstanding from how physics is often taught. It would be better to say mathematics is the language used to describe physics. Newton invented calculus as a mathematical process to explain physical concepts. All physics is built up from experimentation and using the results to determine relationships between various variables. Those relationships are where the physics equations come from. Many courses teach physics from the perspective of providing the equations and then plug-and-chug away with word problems. Not AP Physics 1. It has kids analyze new situations and explain how to determine something in a multi-step process linking several physics concepts, without a number crunch. Or kids describe an experiment, or analyze given data, or tell what else would change in an experiment if something was changed. Go look at the released free response questions - they aren’t simple. |
Anonymous
RM also offers IB Physics 1&2 to all students now. IB Physics 1 is similar content as AP Physics 1, but a better pace and better balance between concepts and mathematical practice. |
Anonymous
Yes, makes sense that Physics 1 a little redundant with this course available. And it’s open to all, not just the magnet kids. |
Anonymous
| Just be sure you are realizing the difference between AP Physics I and AP Physics C. AP Physics C is one of the higher level APs which is calculus based. AP Physics I is a lower level class taken at times by freshman who have not taken any Physics before (which is why it is challenging). |
Anonymous
| My main advice would be to only do it if your child has a solid foundation in math. There's a lot of solving systems of equations and some trig and other Alg. 1, Geometry and sometimes Alg. 2 (although the teacher could rework problems to not include that) in AP Physics I. If your child is relearning math concepts at the same time they are learning the physics it will be difficult. DC's teacher who is very good gave a breakdown of the grades in their class and it was something like a third As, and a third Cs/Ds which is unusual in MCPS classes that usually have grade inflation. |
Anonymous
| There are different AP physics courses. It' s common to take AP Physics 1 sophomore year (in lieu of Honors Physics) and then to take the more advanced AP physics courses junior or senior year. |
Anonymous
| I would listen to the Physics teacher and sit with your DC to really decide their math and maturity levels. Further, pre-med is not a major in most schools but a set of classes needed to successfully qualify for medical school. None of which requires a HS student to take AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics. In fact, one doesn’t even need be a Science major to be pre-med. Colleges like to see a rigorous course load Junior and Senior year because students should have been building towards the resilience, stamina, and intellectual curiosity needed to handle the load during the Freshman and Sophomore year. |
Anonymous
The questions aren’t that hard either. The issue it’s the first time students are asked to apply mathematics to a situation that is governed by a set of principles so it’s feels difficult compared to the plug and chug formulas. Also there are surprisingly few good physics teachers that can give a coherent picture of the material. The problem with taking physics 1&2 is that it takes two years, while most introductory classes for chemistry and biology are only one year. You won’t get college credit towards any stem degree either. Since the prerequisite is only Algebra 2 it leaves out any oscillations and waves, and the subject matter treatment is very superficial and the questions focus more on some minute details rather than the big picture. It’s much better to take AP Physics C, the actual material is closer to a college physics class, and it is a great example of using higher level math to solve more concrete problems. The issue with AP physics C is that it leaves out thermodynamics, optics, atomic and molecular which would be very useful for chemistry. There’s also the option of taking a dual enrollment/cc class which tend to move at a faster pace and are more complete covering the entire physics. For the very top students that’s the best option, but it’s not accessible for most because of math requirements: first semester mechanics (calculus), second semester EM, thermo (multivariable), third semester quantum, atomic, optics (linear algebra and diff eq). Some community colleges have some versions that require less math, still better in my view than AP physics 1&2. |
Anonymous
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So if a student takes Honor Chem and AP Physics 1 in sophomore year and is interested in both AP Chem (double period) and AP Physics C, which one should they prioritize taking first in junior year?
DD's schedule only allows for one of science, and she is not sure which sequence to take first? Are there advantages and disadvantages to each sequence if there is no preference by the student? |
Anonymous
If it’s AP physics C Mechanics, there’s too much overlap with AP Physics 1 so the priority should be AP Chemistry. |