<p>My plan was to take AP Calculus AB my junior year and then AP Physics my senior year–seemed like a good idea, right? Well, allegedly, not enough people signed up for AP Physics this year. I’m thinking about self-studying it, but I don’t know how to begin. Here are a few questions I have:</p>
<ol>
<li>Do I have to sign up for the self-study thing?</li>
<li>Do I get a discount for teaching myself an entire course?</li>
<li>How do I even begin teaching myself such a topic?</li>
</ol>
<p>It really does suck that your school does not offer the AP Physics course. I think that as long as there are people who want to sign up for it, they should make the class happen. But things happen. I’d be glad to help you out by answering your questions though.</p>
<p>1) It’s called self-studing for a reason. You just do it. You don’t need to sign-up for it or anything (unless you do some kind of online class or something). All it takes is a little perseverance to see it all the way through.</p>
<p>2) If you mean discount on taking the AP exam, then no not really, unless your school decides to pay it for you. I lucked out when my school payed for my AP Physics C tests when I wasn’t in the class last year (my district pays for all exams for the AP classes we are in). It’s self-studying, and as the name implys, all costs and benefits fall on you.</p>
<p>3) Where you start depends on what you’re looking for to obtain by self-studing. If you want to learn more about the topic, and then test yourself over it through the AP exam, then start with an AP/college textbook. If you are looking for college credit, then look through the AP handbook for the test of your choosing (Physics in this case) and look through the topics covered on the exam. Then, you can go see online videos/lectures, read textbooks, practice problems, or, the best resource, other people! Other people with experience with the exam or with the subject in general can help you out and keep you on the right track.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for your advice. I think that if I do decide to self-study, then I’ll incorporate some of my SAT study habits by taking the previous AP Physics exams to prepare. Also, you’re very lucky that your school pays for your AP exams! This explains why people are able to take like 16 APs–instead of paying $90/test they pay $0.</p>
<p>^^ There are several options for self-study.<br>
1)You can enroll in an on-line distance course that will provide you with a syllabus, maybe some recorded lectures, and text. </p>
<p>2)You can also hunt around on the internet and probably find some generous HS teacher who has listed the syllabus, text and reading for their class, and compare that to the material on the college board site about material on the test, and purchase Barron’s, Princeton review or similar text to review for the test. See recommended CC AP SAT prep threads and comparison of different AP self-study materials are all there.</p>
<p>@ sunwardflyer
That may be true in other high schools like that, but not many people take that many AP exams in my school haha. I took 11 during high school, and that is one of the most at my school. It would’ve been like 18, but scheduling conflicts and duel-credit changed things for me. (Plus, I didn’t want to deal with more testing. I just wanted to learn the stuff you know?)</p>
<p>Speaking of high school syllabi online, there are some sites that are up specifically for certain AP classes (typically for the class of the teacher who made it). An example is this site for [AP</a> Physics B](<a href=“https://sites.google.com/site/twuphysicslessons/]AP”>TwuPhysics). It has a whole bunch of video lessons for specifically the class. There are whole bunch more, it’ll just take a little searching.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone! This has been a big help.</p>