How to Prepare for the AP Physics C

Rating:
Summary: Not bad
Review: As usual, Barrons has produced an amazing comprehensive AP prep. Sure, the questions are so difficult my physics genius father grudgingly admits he would've had trouble solving them at my age. Sure, they give disturbingly detailed coverage on derivations of equations and so many integrals and differential proofs your mind can go dizzy looking at all that calculation.
But it's excellent preparation for the AP exam, and as usual, after surviving Barrons, the AP exam truly seems like a joke.

Without having taken any physics before this, jumping straight int Physics C cold, and without taking any classes at school or colleges and relying only on guidance from my father who rather likes teaching physics in the exact style Barrons does (2 sentences of explanation, millions of practice problems, and hard ones at that...ok, maybe slight exaggeration), I've been able to handle AP Physics *very*, *very* well. I couldn't have done it without Barrons.
Only warning: sometimes, the problems are ambiguous and sometimes they put the problems in nonsensical order (really hard problems followed by really easy problems).
Nonetheless, this book is BRUTAL but will meticulously prepare you for the AP exam if you are brave enough to stand the faultlessly thorough preparation.

Rating:
Summary: worth every penny
Review: As usual, Barrons has produced an amazing comprehensive AP prep. Sure, the questions are so difficult my physics genius father grudgingly admits he would've had trouble solving them at my age. Sure, they give disturbingly detailed coverage on derivations of equations and so many integrals and differential proofs your mind can go dizzy looking at all that calculation.
But it's excellent preparation for the AP exam, and as usual, after surviving Barrons, the AP exam truly seems like a joke.

Without having taken any physics before this, jumping straight int Physics C cold, and without taking any classes at school or colleges and relying only on guidance from my father who rather likes teaching physics in the exact style Barrons does (2 sentences of explanation, millions of practice problems, and hard ones at that...ok, maybe slight exaggeration), I've been able to handle AP Physics *very*, *very* well. I couldn't have done it without Barrons.
Only warning: sometimes, the problems are ambiguous and sometimes they put the problems in nonsensical order (really hard problems followed by really easy problems).
Nonetheless, this book is BRUTAL but will meticulously prepare you for the AP exam if you are brave enough to stand the faultlessly thorough preparation.

Rating:
Summary: Good practice - Lots of typos
Review: How to Prepare for the AP Physics C contains a good deal of very helpful problems that are harder than the problems on the actual exam. The difficulty level of the problems makes the AP exam rather easy in comparison. However, there are typos on nearly every other page. These errors range from the benign grammar and spelling errors to the downright atrocious mathematical errors. You do need to have a pretty good grasp on physics before you use this book so the errors won't confuse you. If you don't feel you have a good grasp on the material, consider buying the Princeton Review's review book, which is for both the Physics C and Physics B.
The book is good overall and especially helpful for the Physics C student considering it is the only review book devoted specifically to the Physics C AP exam.

Rating:
Summary: Not enough problems, poor presentation
Review: I bought this AP guide because it is the only one that addresses only the Physics C test and I was hoping to get deeper coverage than in the other guides. The book has its positive points: the review text is complete, if dry, and there are many worked out examples. However, there are not nearly enough practice problems and questions: only 11 multiple choice questions in each of the 21 chapters and just 2 in the last one, and from 0 to 4 free response questions per chapter.

The presentation of the questions and problems is atrocious: the answer is right after the question, in bold letter, making it nearly impossible to not notice the answer when reading the question. The solution is right there as well. For a good presentation and number of problems, the authors ought to copy the format of the AP Calculus guide of the same brand: it is superb.

My final complaint is that according to my son, the questions and problems were easier than on the real AP test. This makes the guide not particularly useful. More than two practice tests would also have been welcome.

I hope this guide gets updated with the suggested improvements before my daughter needs to use it in 2 years.

Rating:
Summary: Not enough problems, poor presentation
Review: I bought this AP guide because it is the only one that addresses only the Physics C test and I was hoping to get deeper coverage than in the other guides. The book has its positive points: the review text is complete, if dry, and there are many worked out examples. However, there are not nearly enough practice problems and questions: only 11 multiple choice questions in each of the 21 chapters and just 2 in the last one, and from 0 to 4 free response questions per chapter.

The presentation of the questions and problems is atrocious: the answer is right after the question, in bold letter, making it nearly impossible to not notice the answer when reading the question. The solution is right there as well. For a good presentation and number of problems, the authors ought to copy the format of the AP Calculus guide of the same brand: it is superb.

My final complaint is that according to my son, the questions and problems were easier than on the real AP test. This makes the guide not particularly useful. More than two practice tests would also have been welcome.

I hope this guide gets updated with the suggested improvements before my daughter needs to use it in 2 years.

Rating:
Summary: poorly presented
Review: I purchased this book a few months ago, and in studying for the exam, I have found many flaws. The grammar is often quite poor, even to the point that I am stuck trying to understand the meaning of a sentence. The proofs skip steps and are not explained well enough. Finally, the choice of variables will often change mid-problem. (The radius will be given as R, and then used in the solution as r.)

This book may serve many people well, but I recently completed a college calculus course that was based on proofs, so when I do not understand how the text jumped from point A to point B, I stop and try to figure it out even though a person simply must understand how to use an equation and not how it was derived.

Rating:
Summary: poorly presented
Review: I purchased this book a few months ago, and in studying for the exam, I have found many flaws. The grammar is often quite poor, even to the point that I am stuck trying to understand the meaning of a sentence. The proofs skip steps and are not explained well enough. Finally, the choice of variables will often change mid-problem. (The radius will be given as R, and then used in the solution as r.)

This book may serve many people well, but I recently completed a college calculus course that was based on proofs, so when I do not understand how the text jumped from point A to point B, I stop and try to figure it out even though a person simply must understand how to use an equation and not how it was derived.

Rating:
Summary: Test-taker's best friend
Review: I purchased this book in the winter of my senior year, having decided to study for the Physics C exam independently, as my school does not offer such a course. The book, on first sight is quite thick, and is a bit daunting to get into, however, Mr. Pelcovits does a tremendous job explaining each concept as it comes along, One is expected to have a foundation in calculus, however, the major concepts regarding derivatives, integrals and vectors are presented so that a reader less versed can catch up (if you're trying to learn calculus, however, this is not the book for you, although it will reinforce major calculus concepts with concrete examples).

I ended up only taking the Mechanics portion of the exam due to time constraints, and admittingly, the material overlapped very well with my Calculus BC course so it was easier than it would have been if I had done it exclusively, nevertheless, the book provides very solid explainations, plenty of examples that are, frankly, alot harder than i would have liked them to be, but as most of the reviewers have noted, after mastering the diffcult questions in the book, the actual test was a breeze.

I got a 5 on the exam, and my only regret is that I did not take the E/M portion of the test. Even after the test, I plan to use it as I study E/M next year at Stanford. (In a side note, the book is comparable in material and depth (though it is much more example oriented) to the venerable "Mechanical Universe" freshman physics textbook by Goodstein et. al.)

Rating:
Summary: Test-taker's best friend
Review: I purchased this book in the winter of my senior year, having decided to study for the Physics C exam independently, as my school does not offer such a course. The book, on first sight is quite thick, and is a bit daunting to get into, however, Mr. Pelcovits does a tremendous job explaining each concept as it comes along, One is expected to have a foundation in calculus, however, the major concepts regarding derivatives, integrals and vectors are presented so that a reader less versed can catch up (if you're trying to learn calculus, however, this is not the book for you, although it will reinforce major calculus concepts with concrete examples).

I ended up only taking the Mechanics portion of the exam due to time constraints, and admittingly, the material overlapped very well with my Calculus BC course so it was easier than it would have been if I had done it exclusively, nevertheless, the book provides very solid explainations, plenty of examples that are, frankly, alot harder than i would have liked them to be, but as most of the reviewers have noted, after mastering the diffcult questions in the book, the actual test was a breeze.

I got a 5 on the exam, and my only regret is that I did not take the E/M portion of the test. Even after the test, I plan to use it as I study E/M next year at Stanford. (In a side note, the book is comparable in material and depth (though it is much more example oriented) to the venerable "Mechanical Universe" freshman physics textbook by Goodstein et. al.)

Rating:
Summary: Better than some text books
Review: I took AP Physics C in my high school, and often, I found that the textbook we were using was very badly laid out and difficult to understand. I decided to abandon the textbook. Instead, I solely used this AP Physics study guide. I noticed an immediate improvement in my grades. They went from previously being 87-93 to consistently being 98+ (and this is in a class with a dynamic curve based on how well you do compared to the rest of the class). I couldn't believe how well this book prepared me for tests.

However, this book goes into so many details and gives such incredibly complicated examples, that I often found myself skimming. Also, simply reading the book takes enough time as it is, I found that making time to actually try example problems was very difficult. This isn't necessarily a shortcoming, though, because I found I understood the material much better because the book didn't condense the information.

Now, on to what people really care about: How did the AP exams go?

Well, after having read this book, I breezed through the mechanics test and instantly knew I had a 5. (and I did get that score)

The electricity and magnetism test raped me very badly, even to the point where I felt like I was making things up to fill space. Would you believe I still made a 5? I can only imagine how horribly you'd have to do (and feel) to make a lower score.

Despite the fact that this book is not condensed and that it is incredibly difficult to the point where I almost want to throw the book at the wall and say "Just tell me the equation, and be done with it!!!!" , I cannot complain because this book has taught me physics better than any other book that I have consulted, and it has achieved its main purpose: It gave me a 5 on both AP Physics exams. Also, from my E&M results, I think it's clear that although the book is difficult to plow through, it's because the material is difficult, not because the author wants to torture our little minds.

Definitely recommended.