Would love some insight-to utilize ap credit or not?

[apersonwith?s]

Would love some insight--to utilize ap credit or not?

To quickly summarize my current academic situation, I just graduated from one of the top private high schools in North Carolina, plan to attend Emory University, and intend to major in physics (I am considering pre-med as well). I was fortunate enough to get a 5 on the AP Physics C exam, and even though I was previously set on withholding my credit in order gain a firmer foundation in my future major, I am having some reservations about that decision. On one hand, I would love to get ahead and possibly side-step some unnecessarily hard weed-out intro physics classes, but the other hand, I think the challenge might be nice and also it could only benefit my later physics studies. Also, lamentably, the whole pre-med thing require such high grades I can't help but want to go for the "easy A" in a science class since I've kind of already taken physics. However, I don't know much about anything college related and am most likely wrong about a lot of this stuff, so I would love some guidance.

any suggestions/tips/guidance/insight/admonishments? ha

 

[lisab]

Just my $0.02: don't use your AP credit - take the class.

It could go two ways: it could be easy for you, in which case it will be somewhat easy to get a high grade. Or it could turn out to be difficult, in which case you probably would not have done well in more advanced classes, had you skipped it.

 

[snipez90]

Man if you major in both physics and pre-med you can be like crazy good at all science subjects and math.

If you're pretty confident about your abilities, then skip the course. Expecting nothing less than a 5 because you're pretty sure you aced everything on the exam is an okay sign. A much better sign is that you had an extremely good grasp of the material in the textbook and were able to solve the more difficult problems in the book.

 

[gigabyte3000]

I'm actually in the same boat as you, wondering if I should claim my AP credit. I was planning on claiming my mechanics credit, and take E&M, but after talking to a few students at my school, I plan on claiming both mechanics and E&M. I think what it comes down to is how well you understand the material, not so much how well you know it. There is a difference. If you understand it, you already have the thought process required for physics, whereas just memorizing formulas is not going to help much. I'd say that if you think you understand it, take the credit. If you feel like most of the work you did in the class and on the test was very mechanical, and you didn't really understand what you were doing, take the class.
I've gotten the impression that mechanics and E&M classes aren't necessarily the foundations you'll need for further physics classes, even though most people think that. Mechanics and E&M classes are catered towards the general college population, not physics majors, so I don't think that they are entirely necessary. I'm fairly confident in my self study skills, and I think that if I feel that there's something I think I should know while in a class, I can just go back and look over it. So don't rule out self study too. It might help you get used to college a little, but I kind of feel like I'd be getting a little behind.

 

[xcvxcvvc]

Take the credit. intro level E&M is a big waste of time.