<p>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).</p>
<p>You need at least Algebra II to be successful in B and the physics introduced in B definitely helps you in C.</p>
<p>For Physics B – Algerbra II and took precalulus/ current enrollment in precalculus
For Physics C – taken calculus or current enrollment in calculus</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>if you know any calculus, a lot of the handwaving that goes on in physics B will make a lot more sense…</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>the calculus in physics c is REALLY easy. i preferred the calc problems over the non-calc problems most of the time.</p>
<p>you need to know trig for physics B</p>
<p>thanks for the help!!</p>
<p>How much trig?</p>
<p>
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.</p>
<p>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</p>
<p>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).
<a href=“Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board”>Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board; (Question #1, D)
The rest of the calculus was very easy, though. BTW, Barrons is much harder than the real thing (for Physics C).</p>
<p>Note: I take it other people got that question by noticing it was similar to RC and LR circuits?</p>
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<p>Little. The basics.</p>
<p>So all you need for Physics C is Calc AB?</p>
<p>Barely need Calc AB. There was a girl in my class who had never taken calc and she just picked up basic knowledge of derivatives and integrals in the first week.</p>
<p>There is usually one part of a problem on the AP exam that requires some tricky integration and a lot of work, but the amount of points rewarded for solving correctly is usually disproportionate to the amount of work. I’ve known students capable of solving that calc who skipped it just because it was a time-sucker; it’s more strategic to get the easy/quick points first. However, I always did the calc because it was kind of fun for me (yes, I am a geek you could say).</p>
<p>As for jumping from no physics into C, this is very difficult. I enrolled into AP Physics C with no prior physics education and struggled for the first semester a great deal. However, I ended up getting a 5 on the exam and an A for the second semester. High motivation + Great teacher = Success :)</p>
<p>I did honors physics freshman year and did ok in it (A-). Then I did no physics my sophomore and junior years and then did Physics C (M & E/M) my senior year. It was pretty miserable. I’m too cheap to pay for my AP scores though. </p>
<p>As far as calculus goes, my teacher did a lot of calculus derivations which you don’t need to know, so if you want to understand those, calc is helpful. But as far as the test goes, you don’t need it too much.</p>