Self-Studying Physics C: Is It Worth It for College Admissions?

[asura]

Hi, I'm a junior at my high school taking physics B and I planned to take physics C next year but then I found out its not offered at my school. So now I want to self study it and take the AP test during May of senior year, but would this be worth it, since neither the class nor the score on the AP test will appear on my transcript for college

I've also heard that most schools no longer acknowledge ap scores

 

[St. Aegis]

Well it depends, what do you want?
I would do something like this, just because Physics brings me joy in life, and I like doing it (not that I am good at it ),
but if you just want it for credit, then if you don't want to take it your first year its a good way to get in a harder college course earlier.
So yeah, it depends

 

[lax1113]

I've also heard that most schools no longer acknowledge ap scores

This is not at all true asura, I am a senior and have already gotten accepted into a few colleges. Along with this, they have already said which AP courses I would and woudln't get credit for. Although sometimes if you are going into engineering/physics they will recommend that you retake calc or physics courses because a lot of other classes rely on understanding of these, many colleges will still give credit. Now I am not going to a top ten school, like MIT or anything like that, but U delaware, Maryland, Penn State, some other smaller schools, they take a lot of AP's, its just whether or not YOU think its worth it to skip that course.

Basically only if you completely understand it should you take the credit anyway. But even if you don't get the credit, yes i think you should take it. The big difference between B and C is that C is calculus integrated. So, the concepts while a lot of times are harder, are easier to grasp because you already know some physics with B. A big plus would be say you don't get a credit, you go into a college class tha tyou essentially already took. No studying needed, and you should get a really good grade, to start that GPA off high. My one friend even talked to his teacher and he just had to come for tests, never showed up to a single class.

One last thing, a good bit of schools now offer CLEP tests, to test out of entry level courses. If you do good in your physics C self study, test out of intro physics, it woudl be the same deal as taking and acing the AP test.