The Battle of the Classes

Jinsol Lee
Ms. Wilson
AP English Language
3 September 2009

Which AP to Pick: Chemistry or Physics?

Congratulations! You have already made a good choice by considering AP Chemistry and AP Physics. Chemistry and physics are two great and fundamental courses that most students take as one of their science courses during their high school careers. Having finished AP Chemistry successfully and taking AP Physics, I have a good insight of these two courses. Students who wish to take either of these classes or major in science may find this information helpful.

If you are a high school student who wishes to work at some field that is related to science, you need to take either or both chemistry or physics. It is also very important that you take advanced courses, preferably Advanced Placement, but at least an Honors class. An AP class does a great deal more than shining your college resume; it prepares you for the classes you will take in college. Good knowledge gained through an AP class will help you through the freshman course you choose to take and place you several steps ahead of others. Most people choose the handy option of starting freshman year with a number of AP credits or even starting college in their sophomore year, but it is not your only option. Even if you fail the AP exam, the knowledge is not wasted; however high grades you had in your AP class, the contents of your class was in a much higher quality and much greater amount. You will meet many people choosing not to take their AP credits and aim for a higher GPA.

My chemistry teacher always said AP Chemistry was the hardest AP exam, but I personally disagree with her. I took AP Chemistry as a sophomore along with Algebra 2 and got along fine with it. People generally assume that science is related to math and that one has to be good at math to be good at science. That is a lie, now that there are calculators. The hardest math you will do in chemistry is barely the quadratic equation, and being the bright student considering an AP course, you would be ashamed not to know it. Also, chemistry is more about concepts and understanding than math. There are a lot of concepts, and that is why AP Chemistry could be the hardest AP, not the math. In contrast, AP Physics is more math than chemistry. You would use the four functions in a chemistry course and trigonometry in physics. If you are considering AP Physics B, go ahead and take it (Physics C might need more confidence in math). Yes; physics math is harder than chemistry math, but it will all get easier once you figure out how to apply formulas efficiently. Formulas are, in fact, all there is to physics. Moreover, you are given a sheet of formulas at the actual AP exam. How easy does that sound?

Since you are going to enroll in an AP class, it would be reasonable to expect a greater workload than a regular class. I had two teachers with different teaching styles for my chemistry and physics class. I had way more homework in chemistry than in physics, and I can say it is only reasonable because the new information introduced in chemistry is massive in amount. On the other hand, I had a high A in physics with a workload that is about two thirds of chemistry workload. As mentioned above, physics should not be hard once you know how to use formulas in different situations.

I hope this information succeeded to give you an insight of AP Chemistry and AP Physics. I strongly recommend you to take either of these two courses for your career again. Congratulations again on being a bright student, and good luck on these courses.






I really am not trying to brag; it's called a strategy, apparently. I couldn't lose my credibility by telling the reader that I have actually taken AP Physics for three weeks.