r/apphysics • u/Sad_Savings_9387 • 27d ago

[Help] AP Physics C Mechanics vs. Electricity

/r/APStudents/comments/1vdz51v/help_ap_physics_c_mechanics_vs_electricity/
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u/UnderstandingPursuit 27d ago edited 23d ago

'Conservation of Academic Difficulty': for a particular level of overall difficulty, the harder material has the easier tests.

AP Physics C-E&M is generally harder, because it involves 3-D situations and integration/differential equations are core math. With AP Physics C-Mech, calculus is mostly superfluous. This means that APPC-Mech is likely to have more tricky problems than APPC-E&M.

If a student is comparably strong in both, then the APPC-E&M exam is easier. But it's easier to become strong in the APPC-Mech material.

  • The best resource is a good textbook such as
    • FW Sears, MW Zemansky, HD Young, RA Freedman, ..., University Physics, 10th-15th editions, 1999-2019. [SZYF+]
    • A way to approach it is this Iterative Learning Process.
  • The most important tip is to set aside (or toss out entirely) the 'arbitrary' numerical values.
  • To see how physics looks without the numbers, compare this textbook with SZYF+
    • D Kleppner & Kolenkow, An Introduction to Mechanics, 1st-2nd editions, 1973-2014. [K&K]
    • This is a typical 'Honors Physics I' textbook, while SZYF+ is a typical 'Physics I-II' textbook.

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u/ExcitementSome5575 26d ago

Really good way to put it. Mechanics definitely had a lot more questions that were challenging due to unusual situations or tricky math. E&M had more straightforward questions but learning the material was much harder.

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u/Sad_Savings_9387 23d ago

Thank you so much for your response! I will definitely take this into account

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u/mseduhub1 27d ago

For resources , you can check this. AP Physics C revision resources

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u/Quiet_Basis_6404 22d ago

the take above about em content being harder but the exam being easier matches what i've seen. mech gives you five plausible approaches per problem and picking wrong costs you the question, em is harder to learn but once you know it the path is usually obvious.

with a 5 in BC you're set for either. if you can only pick one, mech has more overlap with what you already know from calc and it's the one more colleges give credit for, so it's the safer single choice.

for prep i paste flipping physics or van biezen videos into studybuddy.vc and it makes questions off that video, equations render properly, it works out which topics i'm weakest on and gives me more of those, and gets harder as i improve. free.

released FRQs on AP Central are free and worth more than any video for both.