My S is planning to take AP Phy II in his junior year and then AP Phy C in the Sr. yr. He took a fast paced summer Physics course with CTY and did quite well. He has not taken AP Physics I. Has anyone done something similar? Is AP Phy II doable without taking AP Phy I with some background from the fast paced course. Any input will be highly appreciated.
From the College Board:
https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/resources/planning-new-ap-physics-courses
Additionally, the HS might set its own prerequisites. Without knowing the content of the summer course, I can’t say if the background is sufficient or not.
Thanks skieurope. I am aware of the AP board pre-reqs. His high school pre-req requires an A in Chem Honors and Pre-calc for AP Phy II. The fast paced course he did includes material similar to a year-long, algebra-based introductory course in high school physics (a usual prerequisite for advanced physics courses such as AP Physics C or IB Physics). Here is a link to the syllabus: https://cty.jhu.edu/summer/docs/syllabi/phyw_1.pdf
It’s probably doable, although I doubt you’ll get many people who have actually tried it, as relatively few schools offer AP Physics 2 compared to AP Physics 1. Is there a reason for not just taking AP Physics 1?
Yes, his high school offers AP Phy C and E&M but the pre-reqs for these classes is AP Phy II/Calculus. He only has room for one class in his schedule in the Jr. year. Interestingly, the pre-reqs for AP Phy I and II are almost the same.
Is AP Physics 1 and 2 each a year-long course at his school? It seems weird that a HS would expect any student to have 3 years of physics upon graduation. How do students in Physics C fit this in without sacrificing other core subjects?
Yes, they are year long courses and it is weird because they also don’t offer an honors level Phy class, which would have been ideal. The non-STEM kids at the school just take AP Phy I and the STEM kids probably do something over summer or outside of school.
Hmmm. Seems like the STEM kids’ time would be better spent elsewhere. Good thing I don’t set curriculum standards
Well, then I guess, assuming you son wants to follow the path, what you proposed is the way to go.
Thanks for your input. I agree the Phy curriculum is a little funky. Ideally, I would have liked to see an honors Phy class (similar to honors Chem) and then move kids from the honors class to AP Phy I or II/AP Calc C and/or E-M.
Agreed. Unfortunately, when the College Board eliminated AP Physics B and replaced it with AP Physics 1 and 2, and HSs drank the Kool-Aid and eliminated Honors Physics, which I have said many times here that it was a mistake. Oh, well.
Does the AP Physics 2 class at your high school assume past knowledge of Physics without it necessarily being a prerequisite? I’ve never heard of an AP Physics 2 class that starts from the ground up in terms of what students are expected to know.
Also, like skieurope said, at my high school, Honors Physics was entirely scrapped in favor of AP Physics 1 + 2. For some reason, AP Physics 1 actually has less strict prerequisites than Honors did, and most kids at my HS seem to have failed the exam.
They don’t really mention past knowledge of Physics. The school catalog only says that pre-reqs for AP Phy I are Chem/Pre-calc and for AP Phy II [Honors Chem and Honors Pre-calc] and for AP Phy C: AP Phy II and AP Calculus.
Problem solved for physics. AP Phy 2 at his school includes both 1 and 2, so is similar to AP Phy B. My question now is whether he takes AP Chem with AP Phy 1/2 in Jr. Year or only takes AP Phy 1/2 and then takes AP Chem in Sr. year? He will take SAT II in Chem this year becuz his Chem class prepares you for it. He will take SAT II in Phy next year.
Is there a downside to take a gap year between Honors Chem (that he finds super easy and he is taking now) and AP Chem in Sr. Year?
Not really conceptually different from taking high school chemistry in 10th or 11th grade and then taking college general chemistry as a college frosh after not taking any chemistry in 12th grade.
Taking both AP physics 1+2 and AP chemistry at the same time can be high workload due to labs.
The internet exists. As long as she can self-teach or get help, she’s fine.