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AP physics B without ever taking physics?

miamirulz29miamirulz29 Registered User Posts: 82 Junior Member
edited July 2009 in AP Tests Preparation
Next year I will be a junior and I will be taking Physics B AP. I have never taken a physics course before. The only science classes that have taken are biology and chemistry honors. How hard will Physics B AP be without ever taking a physics course. Also, I will be taking pre-calculus too next year. Will Physics B be hard without calculus. Thanks in advance.
Post edited by miamirulz29 on
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Replies to: AP physics B without ever taking physics?

  • BigWeightBigWeight Registered User Posts: 978 Member
    i took physics b this year, and its tough....even though our teacher was very easy and we did nothing....i didnt take the ap exam cuz the material is just scary.
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  • eyeheartphysicseyeheartphysics Registered User Posts: 609 Member
    Physics B wasn't a breeze for me and I love physics and had a good teacher. You can probably pass it with self-study and maybe senior year you can take an AP Physics C exam since you kind of have a feel for it now.
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  • hipster23hipster23 Registered User Posts: 600 Member
    Physics B isn't that hard. Sure, you probably won't get a perfect score like you can AP Psyche or something but the curve makes it so a good score isn't that hard to accomplish. I self-studied for two weeks using PR and managed to a get a 5 without ever taking a class. Calculus is nice to know to more easily grasp some Electromagnetism concepts, but otherwise you won't need it. The calculations aren't too difficult either. The trick is just to practice a lot of problems so you develop a mindset for stuff on the test. It's more about intuition than breadth of knowledge really.
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  • banjoman12348banjoman12348 Registered User Posts: 204 Junior Member
    i was a sophomore when i took it
    it was probably the easiest class i had, but most of the juniors and seniors did awful
    the class average was like 50% but i had over 100
    and i had never taken physics before
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  • banjoman12348banjoman12348 Registered User Posts: 204 Junior Member
    you dont need calculus i was in algebra 2 when i took it
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  • shs1992shs1992 Registered User Posts: 289 Junior Member
    When I first read the title of this thread I thought you wanted to self-study Physics B. If that had been the case I would have told you HECK NO. I took Physics B this year, as a junior, without any other prior physics course. Although I had an awful teacher, (and when I say awful I mean she often had to ask us for help making answer keys because she couldn't figure out how to do the problem), I think I passed the AP (most likely with a 3 or a 4). You don't need calculus to take the course, as I was in Pre-Calculus when I took it. To a lot of people Physics is boring, but I think that you'll be just fine. Good Luck next Year!
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  • KathoKatho Registered User Posts: 59 Junior Member
    At my school you either take regular physics or AP Physics, so everyone in AP Physics is taking their first physics course. But calculus or concurrent calculus is a prerequisite for AP Physics, so except for the kids in the very advanced math class who take Calc BC as juniors, most people taking it are seniors. There isn't a calculus prerequisite for regular physics. I haven't taken Physics yet, but I've heard AP Physics B is brutally hard at my school. On the other hand, I've never heard of anyone at my school getting less than a 4 on the AP test.
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  • eyeheartphysicseyeheartphysics Registered User Posts: 609 Member
    ohhh, sorry, i thoiught you meant self-study too. Yeah definitely take AP Physics B next year regardless of your past history. I didn't do any physics or calculus before my senior year when I took Physics B.
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  • traff21traff21 Registered User Posts: 5 New Member
    Physics B is designed to be a first year physics course. So you should be able to do it. Some teachers tend to go through it faster expecting that students know it, so if you have trouble you will need to get some extra help.

    Physics B is also a non-calculus class, so you can do it with no calculus (I was in pre-calc and got a 5).
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  • miamirulz29miamirulz29 Registered User Posts: 82 Junior Member
    I want to thank everyone for their help.
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  • waylay00waylay00 Registered User Posts: 73 Junior Member
    I never took regular physics before Physics B. Trust me, Physics B is very manageable.
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