**spaceranger**

What math is required to understand the B curriculum? Will doing B before C help you significantly? My school doesn't have C so I will self-study during junior year (I will take B as a sophomore).

IlDesi

You need at least Algebra II to be successful in B and the physics introduced in B definitely helps you in C.

BrightRed

For Physics B -- Algerbra II and took precalulus/ current enrollment in precalculus
For Physics C -- taken calculus or current enrollment in calculus

Physics B is easy math. As long as you can move variables around and solve for x, you're pretty much all set. Oh, that and memorize your triangles, know some basic trig stuff, etc.

Physics C, according to my teacher (I'm taking it next year), require basic calculus. It's not as hard as AP Calculus AB or BC.

Don't do Physics C without any physics foundation. It is possible to take a regular/ honors physics class and still do C without any problem, just don't jump straight into C.

**spaceranger**

Good. People at my school make the Physics class seem really difficult, and I will be the only sophomore in that class next year. I just want to make sure that I'm making a smart decision to take the class. I really enjoy physics, so that is a plus in itself.

Treiliae

physics involves alot of group work and collaboration so I would really really recommend against taking it early unless you have a strong base of friends in the main class taking it, in your case I"m guessing seniors. I was lucky first semester and had a couple really good friends in my class, but second semester I was stuck with people I hardly knew.

fiN01

At my school the 1st semester curriculum is the same for both the Phys B and C students, but in the 2nd semester the C students learn different stuff, and it is of course more difficult.

thegeneralguy

if you know any calculus, a lot of the handwaving that goes on in physics B will make a lot more sense..

shore

I'm doing Physics C as a sophomore at Andover and the only pre-requisite is completion of Calculus AB. I don't even need to know any physics and I have never taken a class so it fits well. I just hope I am not plunging into something way too hard. Hence I need to PREPARE right now!!! We don't offer Physics B at Andover, so it was my only option.

whosthat1234

the calculus in physics c is REALLY easy. i preferred the calc problems over the non-calc problems most of the time.

Ephemeral2

you need to know trig for physics B

**spaceranger**

thanks for the help!!

skatj

How much trig?

WMHS

I don't think that's quite true. Last year I took Physics B and Calculus BC, but I studied to take the 2 Physics C tests. I would say that the calculus is focused differently and is certainly not harder.

Basically, you'll need to focus on:
dot and cross products
derivation and integration of x^n (don't remember what it's called: algebraic?) and trigonometric functions
differential equations
using calculus/differential equations to work with volume/surface area and other related infinite sums

Don't worry; none of the calculus on the test isn't too complicated. There's very little on the multiple choice sections, if I remember correctly. However, I got screwed by a FRQ on Physics C:Mechanics from this year. I think it was an anomaly and certainly out of place; we had not covered such calculus in our BC class (and it was certainly not necessary on the test).
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/ap...c_mech_frq.pdf (Question #1, D)
The rest of the calculus was very easy, though. BTW, Barrons is much harder than the real thing (for Physics C).

Note: I take it other people got that question by noticing it was similar to RC and LR circuits?

Soulside Journey

Little. The basics.

GPAx213

So all you need for Physics C is Calc AB?