I'm just now really starting to look into the current state of AP courses as my ds is just now entering high school. I'm looking through the lens of an *old* parent who took AP courses in high school years ago (I won't post *which* years because I want to keep that info private lol!). As a student years ago, I saw AP as something that you had to be highly qualified to take, it was a bit of an honor to be able to take them, it looked good on your college resume, and it translated into real college credit for me which was very nice.
As a parent reading about the courses today, it seems to offer some of what I got out of it, but it also seems to be all about a company creating as many tests as possible, presumably to maximize profits. I have no issue with that, but how it plays out in school is really confusing to me at this point!
When I was a student there was only one "AP Calculus" course, which from what I can tell is equivalent to what is tested on "Calculus BC". There was only one physics course, "AP Physics", which was one semester of calculus-based mechanics and one semester of calculus-based e&m. I took a physics course prior to AP Physics (non-calculus-based), but it wasn't really necessary and I can't quite really grasp how you turn non-calculus-based physics into a college-level course - the only people I can think of who would take it are… well I can't think of any! If you're a person who is interested in the sciences, your college curriculum would require physics with a calculus base, and if you're not interested in the sciences… are you really going to sign up to take a physics course? Please know I'm not knocking physics here - I'm a physicist lol!
Anyway, it's all a little frustrating to me at this point but I don't really have a good understanding of the options yet. It appears that our school district tries to push kids into Calculus AB and then add on Calculus BC for some of the kids - but I see no reason why my ds shouldn't be able to take that full year of Calculus that I believe Calculus BC is intended to be. Having to sit through one semester's worth of college-level calculus spread out over two semesters seems ridiculous for most gifted kids, even for most high-average kids who are good at math.
According to the AP page, the official names of the Physics tests are now AP Physics I, AP Physics II, AP Physics C(Mechanics), AP Physics C(Electricity and Magnetism). Physics I & II are supposed to be one year cources. The two Physics C tests can be taken the same year, but are different tests so can be taught in one year or two.
polarbear
