<p>Basically, my daughter wants to upgrade her physics B class into physics C. Has anyone done this? Any advice? What are the best texts for studying physics C? Are there any resources that would be particularly helpful for filling in the material from C which is not covered in B? Thanks.</p>
<p>Great question. Physics C Mechanics is very doable with Physics B. Physics E&M is much harder. </p>
<p>Giancolli publishes one of the most widely used books for AP Physics B. </p>
<p>It turns out he also publishes a book called Physics for Scientists and Engineers. If you go on Ebay, you can buy Volume 1 which will cover the material for Physics C Mechanics. </p>
<p>Because many of the sections are identical with his Algebra based Physics book, it’s really easy to figure out how Physics B extends to Physics C for Mechanics by adding only those sections that are different.</p>
<p>Just be careful not to use textbooks to too much depth at first. Often, textbooks can cover many more topics than those in the curriculum, but Giancolli can definitely be used as a supplement if you’re interested in physics.</p>
<p>I highly recommend the videos on this website:
[Viren’s</a> Videos Free AP Physics Review Help](<a href=“http://apphysicslectures.com%5DViren’s”>http://apphysicslectures.com)</p>
<p>Those videos are probably enough to simply learn the material, along with doing lots of practice problems, but if you are looking for a more rigorous study, then there is also MIT’s 8.01 lectures on OpenCourseware:
[Physics</a> I: Classical Mechanics | Physics | MIT OpenCourseWare](<a href=“http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-01sc-physics-i-classical-mechanics-fall-2010/index.htm]Physics”>http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-01sc-physics-i-classical-mechanics-fall-2010/index.htm)
That includes notes, lectures, practice problems, etc. from MIT’s Classical Mechanics course. Professor Walter Lewin is superb.</p>
<p>Thanks, I think she may try the MIT lectures. I also located the E&M, by the same prof. It looks like all the notes, problem sets and solutions are online, so I’m thinking she may not even need to get a textbook. Thanks for the info, and thanks, MIT.</p>
<p>Great! Yes, they are definitely awesome resources for any independent learner.</p>
<p>If using 8.01 (Classical Mechanics) and 8.02 (E&M) as self-study resources, just be careful to check which lectures are relevant for the AP curriculum. There is a lot of stuff in the last third of 8.01 (and some stuff in the beginning/middle as well) that goes beyond the scope of the AP course. The same for 8.02.</p>
<p>That’s good to know because it’s a lot of lectures (36 for one of them, probably the same for the other). Although, in the end I think it would be best if she does it all. She is applying to some pretty competitive engineering programs and if she can master all the MIT material, I’d feel better about her skipping the freshman physics.</p>