A question about university level physics and math.

[AJ]

Hi all,

I have a question for anyone who has taken 1st year Physics or Math. I am finishing off some high school courses right now, and I plan to go into the Kinesiology major program when I am done. The requirements for this course are:

Mathematics 11
English 11
Social Studies 11
A Science 11
A Langauge 11

English 12
Mathematics 12
Two other approved grade 12 courses (one of which must be Physics, Biology, Chemistry or Geology)

Now, here is what I plan to take:

Mathematics 11
English 11
Social Studies 11
French 11
Chemistry 11
Physics 11

English 12
Mathematics 12
Biology 12
French 12

As you can see, I'm already taking one more course then required with this (Physics 11).

Anyways, my question is as follows. Do you think that having only grade 11 physics/chemistry would be sufficiant for me to do 1st year physics and chemistry? The problem is, if I need to take Physics 12 and Chemistry 12, not only will that mean I won't be able to make the Spring 2005 admittance, but it also means I will need to pay like $400 a course since I will have already graduated (right now the gov pays)... plus it's a lot of work, and i'd like to get into university as soon as I can, instead of wasting time on high school.

I also think it's stupid how I need to take English 11 and Social Studies (which I haven't taken yet). I already have taken English 12, which I received a 91% in. Do you think if I talked to whoever I need to talk to at the school, they could give me permission to replace English 11 and Social Studies 11 with Physics 12 and Chemistry 12? It seems to me like that would benefit me much more than social studies and english 11.

Anyways could use some suggestions on what would be the best way for me to go about this whole thing, without me having to complete a whole 52 credits of fricken high school.

 

[holly]

Okay, one thing you need to do is speak with your counselor. But, in many schools, that's like talking with an anvil...or a doorknob...or some other insensible object. So, if that's the case, try talking to the counselors at the college you want to attend. Can you get credit for both high school and an associate's degree, through a program such as "Running Start" or other dual program?

Also, check out the John Bear book "Earning High School Diplomas Nontraditionally," from Ten Speed Press. Hopefully, it will be in your local library so you don't have to order it. I'm sure your local bookstore would order it for you if the library has none. It has ideas for how to get credit concurrently from various private and public schools.

Are in you the United States? By saying "...get into university..." you sound Canadian or European, and I'm sure the rules differ there.

Regardless, you might want to see about taking courses from Texas Tech ISD or from University of Texas at Austin High School. They are both done over the net and through correspondence. Texas Tech has a superb program (it's the Texas state program) and it's reasonable. You get credit for both high school and college if you choose the dual program. You need not be from the U.S. to take the courses, I don't believe. My son takes courses through there. Best of all, you will learn about Texas history, which everyone should know!

Make sure you are strong in math before you take on physics or chemistry. Don't dismiss the social studies and the composition courses as unimportant...you really need a rounded background to do your best in college. Plus, you want to show your college a really high GPA coming from high school...don't bite off too much and get C's in the hard stuff, that looks bad.

I'm sure other people will have better advice for you, that's my two cents' worth. GOOD LUCK.

 

[gnome]

You say you would like to be excused from taking English 11 because you have already taken English 12, and yet you are also planning to take English 12 apparently without complaint. This doesn't exactly make sense.

And I guess you want to be excused from taking social studies because social studies is just a stupid waste of time, right?

Wrong.

You should be able to do just fine in college physics without having taken it in high school. You will not be a physics or engineering major, so presumably you will be taking a non-calculus-based, non-math-intensive physics course. If the course in your high school is a good one, it's probably not too different from what you'll be taking in college anyway. If you take both you'll probably end up grumbling about studying the same thing over again.

And if it's a really "watered down" sort of high shool physics course -- why bother?

Looking at a list of careers in kinesiology, my feeling is that in the long run good communications skills will prove more useful to you than physics -- certainly more useful than high school physics. In your career, your success will depend to a large extent on your ability to convince people to trust their physical well-being to you. It's best if they believe immediately that you are an intelligent, well-educated person. You don't have to be able to quote Shakespeare, but being able to spell and form grammatically correct sentences will help you make a good impression.

Take the English and social studies. And good luck.

 

[AJ]

Thanks for the advice.

You hit the nail on the head, I am Canadian, and I am planning to apply to UBC. Obviously requirements are different between US and Canadian schools. Out here, the BC government introduced an "Adult Basic Education (ABE)" program in 1999. Basically, adults over the age of 19 who haven't graduated, only need to get 20 credits to graduate. This includes: English 12, Math 11 and 3 other grade 12 provincially examinable courses. All the universities recognize this form of graduation out here, but they still require that you have the pre-requisite subjects. This is good though, because it's only 9 required subjects, which is 36 credits (far less than the original 52 credit requirement).

The other thing is, the universities only use the average grade from 4 grade 12 subjects in the calculation of your admission gpa. So in other words, the marks I get in grade 11 subjects are NOT factored into the overall grade. I appreciate your comments about social studies 11. It seems I've underestimated it, and it would probably be a beneficial subject for me to take, especially since Kinesiology especially deals with a lot of social studies. And I will just go ahead and take English 11 also. I've already completed the first half of it, so it should only take me a couple of weeks to complete. In exchange for this, I will go ahead and take out Physics 12 and Chemistry 12. I am still going to need to take Mathematics 12, which will give me a solid background in math, so I should have no problem completing 1st year physics and chemistry.

Thank you for the comments.


Adam

Originally posted by holly
Okay, one thing you need to do is speak with your counselor. But, in many schools, that's like talking with an anvil...or a doorknob...or some other insensible object. So, if that's the case, try talking to the counselors at the college you want to attend. Can you get credit for both high school and an associate's degree, through a program such as "Running Start" or other dual program?

Also, check out the John Bear book "Earning High School Diplomas Nontraditionally," from Ten Speed Press. Hopefully, it will be in your local library so you don't have to order it. I'm sure your local bookstore would order it for you if the library has none. It has ideas for how to get credit concurrently from various private and public schools.

Are in you the United States? By saying "...get into university..." you sound Canadian or European, and I'm sure the rules differ there.

Regardless, you might want to see about taking courses from Texas Tech ISD or from University of Texas at Austin High School. They are both done over the net and through correspondence. Texas Tech has a superb program (it's the Texas state program) and it's reasonable. You get credit for both high school and college if you choose the dual program. You need not be from the U.S. to take the courses, I don't believe. My son takes courses through there. Best of all, you will learn about Texas history, which everyone should know!

Make sure you are strong in math before you take on physics or chemistry. Don't dismiss the social studies and the composition courses as unimportant...you really need a rounded background to do your best in college. Plus, you want to show your college a really high GPA coming from high school...don't bite off too much and get C's in the hard stuff, that looks bad.

I'm sure other people will have better advice for you, that's my two cents' worth. GOOD LUCK.