Taking AP Physics C again?

Sam2018

Sam2018

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So my DS is a junior and currently taking AP Physics C. He is doing fine in the class, an A, but is considering taking it again next year for several reasons. The main one because his teacher does not think the class will be prepared enough for the electricity & magnetism test. He has offered to hold some study groups and allow my son and a few others the option to self study and still take it but he has 5 AP classes this year so he's already pretty busy. The other reason is he is kind of out of science classes to take. He could do AP Bio but he doesn't really have any interest. So my question is would it look bad to admissions if he retakes it? If he does he would still mostly self study for the E & M test but he would have all year and overall a less demanding schedule. Or would he be better off self studying this year for that part, or just letting it go and taking AP Bio? Thanks!
 
I would think it would look strange to retake a class after getting an A in it. Even though he may be expanding his curriculum, I imagine it will still show up as the same course code and everything on his transcript. And it will probably help your DS to get some exposure to biology before going into the academy's core curriculum. If he can get an A in a rigorous class like AP Physics, I bet he would do well in AP Biology.

And to clarify, so your DS is considering not taking the AP exam for Physics this year and instead studying for it next year? Why? He can always take the exam again next year so I don't see how it could hurt him to try it this year (and then maybe he'll find out that he was fine all along).

disclaimer: I am just a high school senior
 
I personally would not have him take the class again. My DS took Physics C and called the E&M portion "Black Magic". He took both the Mechanics and E&M portion of the AP tests (There is nothing to lose taking it other than the cost). He scored a 5 on the Mechanics and a 2 on the E&M portion. When he got to the Academy he validated Physics 1 (Covers the Mechanics portion) and went straight into Physics 2 which was basically the E&M section. He ended up with an A in that class. The only gain your DS could possibly get from retaking the class to master the E&M material is to validate Physics 2 which is certainly not guaranteed and to me is not that important. What he picked up in the class he took should help him when he gets into Physics 2 at the Academy. Just my 2 cents.
 
I guess I should have explained more, Ap Physics C has two parts, Mechanics and Electricity & Magnetism and two AP exams. Some schools only concentrate on one part (usually Mechanics). Ours has done both in the past but this year we have a new AP Physics teacher and he started off the year too slowly I think. So right before break he told the kids they might not be prepared for the E & M section and could just do the Mechanics test or do the study groups and self study. All the other kids are seniors so those are thier only options and most are just not going to worry about the E & M from what I understand. But mine is a junior so he could take the class again next year or just self study next year. We're just not sure if it really matters too much if he has the E & M score or not.

I think he's leaning towards AP Bio and self studying the E & M for next year. He's confident he'll do well in Ap Bio its just not a subject that interests him, he didn't care for Honors Bio freshman year. Did really well in it , it just isn't his thing. He wishes he could take more Chemistry :)
 
Thanks Rocko, that's pretty much what we were wondering, if it mattered. Can they even validate Physics 2?

Fwiw, his sister is at the Academy now but she is totally different than her brother and didn't validate anything :) She's also a management major and he wants to double major in Aero and Astro. They couldn't be more different :)
 
According to the below link it looks like they can validate Physics 2. They would need at least a 4 on the exam and then score high enough on the exams taken during BCT.

When adding a minor or a double major it certainly is helpful to validate a number of classes. My DS is majoring in Engineering and plans to minor in language. His last semester was 21 credit hours. I can't imagine what it would take to double major... Hopefully there are MANY duplicate classes in those two majors.

https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/...es Air Force Academy&address=USAF Academy, CO
 
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