What do I do if my high school doesn't offer any AP courses?

Should I drop AP Physics C?

• Alright, here is the story guys...Im a junior right now. Re-wind ALL the way back to march of this year. I was signing up for my classes and here are the classes I picked AP Calculus AB AP US History AP English Lang Spanish III Teacher Aide Physics CP I wanted to take a Physics Honors course, but my school doesn't offer Physics as an Honors course. I did NOT however, want to take AP Physics, especially AP Physics C, which is among the hardest of AP Courses. Factor in the fact that I was planning on taking 3 other AP courses helped me decide to take the regular CP course for Physics. Now in late August, I received my schedule from school, and I wasn't pleased. The school had put me into AP Physics C, and for some reason, they wouldn't let me drop out of it. So now I'm stuck in a class, to this day, that Im doing VERY poorly in. I have a C+ right now, and I've been doing awful on tests and pop quizzes even though I study for them. I plan on majoring in engineering, and I like Physics, but the class is way too difficult for me right now. My plan was to take Physics CP, and THEN take a higher level Physics course in college. For some unforeseen reason though, My school decided to place ME in AP Physics. It must of been the fact that I took Pre-Calculus Honors last year, but I only received a B both semesters in that classes, resulting in my placement in AP Calculus AB, which I'm doing very well in right now(I have an A in there). I was not prepared at ALL for AP Physics. I had never taken a Physics course in my life before, but the school ultimately decided to place me into AP Physics C...Im going to attempt to drop out of it next semester, by speaking to my councilor. Anyway, I have a 3.3 GPA right now, which should go up to a 3.4-3.5 after this school year. My goal is to make it into a UC, such as UCI, UCSB, or UCD...maybe even UCSD if I get extremely lucky. Im already counting UCLA and UCB out, because I don't have nearly good enough stats to get accepted into those schools. Factoring in the UC system's GPA weighting, I'll probably have a 3.9 UC GPA, if everything goes as planned for me. I have decent extra circulars such as my job, and volunteer experience, as well as my enrollment in 3 clubs at my school.. So my question is, how BAD will this look? I mean, it's nothing against my teacher. I LIKE my teacher, but I think I'd feel more comfortable in his CP class instead of his AP class. And having a C+ in that course is really pissing me off. It's not even that I hate physics. As stated before, I am ENJOYING Physics right now, but the class is just difficult for me. Thanks for any input and help, community!

• Answer:

  Stick with it. If your teacher is anything like mine he/she will make the class extremely hard the first 3 quarters to prepare you well for the AP exam. Then after the AP exam you will most likely get an A which will even out your C+. Trust me I got a B- first quarter and probably will get a B- second quarter in Physics C but I just got into 3 engineering colleges already. Physics C is a REALLY important measure of how you will handle college courses.