Should I take AP Physics C: Mechanics without previous physics courses and concurrent Calculus BC?

riverseden
Sun, 10 May 2015 19:43:26 +0000

@Pheeziks This is a bit late, but I honestly think that you are capable of taking AP Physics, even as a sophomore. I didn’t have any prior physics knowledge before taking AP Mechanics last year and was taking Calculus AB concurrently. I took the AP test and was able to make a 5.

Like what the previous poster said, you will need to know integration and derivatives and all that for AP Physics, but if you aren’t really adept in these topics, ask either your math or physics teacher to give you a brief overview of the topics. The first week of class, my physics teacher showed us how to take basic integrals and derivatives (without all the conceptual stuff you learn in math) so that we had the basic knowledge necessary to complete the problems. As I progressed in my calculus class, I learned all the special cases for integrals and derivatives, but I found that these cases weren’t really necessary until we got to some of the later topics in physics.