Anonymous
Post 01/12/2024 12:03     Subject: AP Physics in Sophmore year
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm going to piggyback on this post, as my rising sophomore and I are having the same discussion.

Unlike OP's child, my child has no interest in a STEM major, but is a strong student aiming for highly rejective SLACs for Honors Colleges within public universities.

Taking Honors Algebra II this year and doing well, but I wouldn't say the concepts come without some work.

The counselor advised just taking Honors Chemistry next year, since that is the grade-level advice, but all of my child's friends seem to be signing up for AP Physics in 10th grade.

Since we know colleges look at how one does compared to peers, would you wise DCUM minds advise my child follow their friends into AP Physics?

tl;dr. Do my child's friends' parents know something I don't know?



What area does your student want to study or have interest? Do the friends want to be STEM majors? I would think the trajectory long term. If your kid takes AP Physics sophomore year, they are going to be on the hook to take AP Chem junior year and at least one of the corresponding AP exams. Otherwise it will seem strange that your student opted to take two high level science classes yet had no intention of taking the AP exam. They will also need to demonstrate significant rigor in whatever other they have interest.

If your kid can handle the math and science and other needed classes without burnout, go for it. But if not don’t. Because while yes they will be judged against peers, they will first be judged on the grades they made.


I don't know what all of my child's friends are planning, but based on overheard carpool discussions I think some of them do want to pursue STEM careers, specifically life sciences.

That's a good point about taking multiple high level science classes without taking the test. My child is interested in politics and humanities, so was planning to add AP Comparative Government and AP Human Geography in 11th and 12th grades. This year they have APUSH and next year will have AP NSL.



The thing about AP Physics I is that it is algebra based, and it forces kids to jump through all sorts of hoops to derive equations that are more easily dealt with with Calculus. A smart move would be to skip AP Physics 1, go to Honors Chemistry and then take AP Physics C (two parts Mechanics and E&M) when they are taking calculus.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2024 09:32     Subject: AP Physics in Sophmore year
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm going to piggyback on this post, as my rising sophomore and I are having the same discussion.

Unlike OP's child, my child has no interest in a STEM major, but is a strong student aiming for highly rejective SLACs for Honors Colleges within public universities.

Taking Honors Algebra II this year and doing well, but I wouldn't say the concepts come without some work.

The counselor advised just taking Honors Chemistry next year, since that is the grade-level advice, but all of my child's friends seem to be signing up for AP Physics in 10th grade.

Since we know colleges look at how one does compared to peers, would you wise DCUM minds advise my child follow their friends into AP Physics?

tl;dr. Do my child's friends' parents know something I don't know?



What area does your student want to study or have interest? Do the friends want to be STEM majors? I would think the trajectory long term. If your kid takes AP Physics sophomore year, they are going to be on the hook to take AP Chem junior year and at least one of the corresponding AP exams. Otherwise it will seem strange that your student opted to take two high level science classes yet had no intention of taking the AP exam. They will also need to demonstrate significant rigor in whatever other they have interest.

If your kid can handle the math and science and other needed classes without burnout, go for it. But if not don’t. Because while yes they will be judged against peers, they will first be judged on the grades they made.


I don't know what all of my child's friends are planning, but based on overheard carpool discussions I think some of them do want to pursue STEM careers, specifically life sciences.

That's a good point about taking multiple high level science classes without taking the test. My child is interested in politics and humanities, so was planning to add AP Comparative Government and AP Human Geography in 11th and 12th grades. This year they have APUSH and next year will have AP NSL.

Anonymous
Post 01/12/2024 08:58     Subject: AP Physics in Sophmore year
Anonymous wrote:I'm going to piggyback on this post, as my rising sophomore and I are having the same discussion.

Unlike OP's child, my child has no interest in a STEM major, but is a strong student aiming for highly rejective SLACs for Honors Colleges within public universities.

Taking Honors Algebra II this year and doing well, but I wouldn't say the concepts come without some work.

The counselor advised just taking Honors Chemistry next year, since that is the grade-level advice, but all of my child's friends seem to be signing up for AP Physics in 10th grade.

Since we know colleges look at how one does compared to peers, would you wise DCUM minds advise my child follow their friends into AP Physics?

tl;dr. Do my child's friends' parents know something I don't know?



What area does your student want to study or have interest? Do the friends want to be STEM majors? I would think the trajectory long term. If your kid takes AP Physics sophomore year, they are going to be on the hook to take AP Chem junior year and at least one of the corresponding AP exams. Otherwise it will seem strange that your student opted to take two high level science classes yet had no intention of taking the AP exam. They will also need to demonstrate significant rigor in whatever other they have interest.

If your kid can handle the math and science and other needed classes without burnout, go for it. But if not don’t. Because while yes they will be judged against peers, they will first be judged on the grades they made.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2024 08:09     Subject: AP Physics in Sophmore year
UGH, typo. Above should say "highly rejective SLACs OR Honors Colleges...."
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2024 08:09     Subject: AP Physics in Sophmore year
I'm going to piggyback on this post, as my rising sophomore and I are having the same discussion.

Unlike OP's child, my child has no interest in a STEM major, but is a strong student aiming for highly rejective SLACs for Honors Colleges within public universities.

Taking Honors Algebra II this year and doing well, but I wouldn't say the concepts come without some work.

The counselor advised just taking Honors Chemistry next year, since that is the grade-level advice, but all of my child's friends seem to be signing up for AP Physics in 10th grade.

Since we know colleges look at how one does compared to peers, would you wise DCUM minds advise my child follow their friends into AP Physics?

tl;dr. Do my child's friends' parents know something I don't know?



Anonymous
Post 01/11/2024 20:28     Subject: AP Physics in Sophmore year
Anonymous wrote: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.


This!
What nonsense that OP thinks her kid needs 3 AP science classes to be a premed.
Anonymous
Post 01/11/2024 17:24     Subject: AP Physics in Sophmore year
I’ve seen permeations here of which Physics class to take with Calculus but which should kids take with Pre-Cal, AP Physics 1 or Honors Physics?
Anonymous
Post 12/16/2023 10:05     Subject: AP Physics in Sophmore year
One thing that is challenging about leaving it to senior year is that if you are applying to engineering schools, it sort of stinks to learn mid way through the year that you actually hate physics.
Anonymous
Post 12/14/2023 17:28     Subject: AP Physics in Sophmore year
Anonymous wrote:At Blair, they encourage freshmen in Algebra 2 or higher to take AP Physics.


They actually changed this recommendation last year to Algebra 2 being a prerequisite rather than a co-requisite
Anonymous
Post 12/14/2023 16:04     Subject: AP Physics in Sophmore year
Anonymous wrote:At Blair, they encourage freshmen in Algebra 2 or higher to take AP Physics.


I would love to see the distribution of AP scores for the freshmen. Some are ready for AP Physics but I bet most are not.
Anonymous
Post 12/14/2023 12:22     Subject: AP Physics in Sophmore year
Anonymous wrote:At Blair, they encourage freshmen in Algebra 2 or higher to take AP Physics.


Is that AP Physics 1 or is that AP Physics C? At our school, there appears to be 3 flavors of AP Physics C. (1 year Physics C Mechanics, 1 year Physics C E&M, or a double period Physics C with both Mechanics and E&M). Then there is AP Physics 2, which I am not sure if that's just another version of Physics C E&M??

If a kid takes AP Physics 1 already, shouldn't they proceed to AP Physics C E&M or do they just take the first of the Physics C series which is AP Physics C Mechanics?
Anonymous
Post 12/14/2023 12:13     Subject: AP Physics in Sophmore year
Anonymous wrote:Why are there always so many threads about AP Physics and not about other AP courses?
What is it about AP Physics that stimulates so much discussion? You never see anything written about AP Bio for example


Only AP Physics has the ridiculous structure with 4 AP classes.

1&2 are broader (Mechanics, Electromagnetism, Waves and Optics), and aren't divided along the same boundaries as C; C (2 separable parts: Mechanics; Electromagnetism) is more mathematically sophisticated.

Because it's so convoluted, it gets worse with single periods, double periods, and semester vs year long versions of the C classes.
Anonymous
Post 12/14/2023 10:06     Subject: AP Physics in Sophmore year
At Blair, they encourage freshmen in Algebra 2 or higher to take AP Physics.
Anonymous
Post 12/13/2023 22:14     Subject: AP Physics in Sophmore year
My tenth grader who is very enthusiastic about STEM but not great about studying a lot took it sophomore year and got a 5. I think he also got an A in the class.