Does your school have reading time?

[dark_drake]

I'm automagically exempt from Special Ed by taking two AP programming courses as a sophomore? You seem pretty misinformed, to say the absolute least.

If a special kid was in normal AP Government, AP Calculus, and Concurrent English courses, what business does he have being considered special?  It seems as though he can function just as well as everyone else; therefore, he is not special.

[Sidoh]

There are two AP classes offered to sophomores and I'm taking both, though. I've never seen an LD kid take an AP class, which is what pisses me off - people mix EBD (the angry kids) up with LD (the stupid kids).

It doesn't matter.  AP Calculus far transcends almost every other AP class offered.

Learning Disabled != Stupid.  There's a huge difference.  Stupidity is the absence of intelligence or the stubborness to ignore known consequences.  Learning Disabled is some sort of mental incapacity that makes learning one or more subjects difficult.  I've known kids that have a really hard time reading/spelling, but excel in math.

[Newby]

Heh. I'm doing ap calculus next year. :P

[dark_drake]

Heh. I'm doing ap calculus next year. :P

The only advice I have to give is the same advice I was given:

Learn the material without your calculator first.  Understand the ins and outs of everything you learn before you pick up that calculator and let it do everything for you.

It may be a bit more challenging and take a little longer to do your assignments, but knowing all the applications of the derivative and integral make the AP exam so much easier.

[Sidoh]

Our exam was a joke in terms of difficulty (my school doesn't have AP).

The hardest questions were proving that the area of a sphere is (4/3)*pi*r^3 and the energy it takes to lift a rope off of a cliff given its density and length.

[Rule]

There are two AP classes offered to sophomores and I'm taking both, though. I've never seen an LD kid take an AP class, which is what pisses me off - people mix EBD (the angry kids) up with LD (the stupid kids).

It doesn't matter.  AP Calculus far transcends almost every other AP class offered.

I wouldn't agree with that.  To me AP Calculus was probably the easiest AP.  It completely depends on your strengths and how the material is taught;  for example, I would have found AP Biology considerably more difficult.  To many in AP Calculus BC, AP Comp Sci AB or AP Physics C would have seemed more intimidating or difficult.

I would say AP Calculus BC is the most useful course in the AP curriculum (and will help one most in university),  although that's a pretty subjective opinion.

[dark_drake]

With any luck, the school district will toss this program out.  Everyone is sick and tired of reading 20 minutes a day from books no one really cares about.

I just feel it was really dumb to force the entire school to do it.  If the school district wanted to improve reading skills, why didn't they just have the English courses assign more books to read?

[Sidoh]

I wouldn't agree with that.  To me AP Calculus was probably the easiest AP.  It completely depends on your strengths and how the material is taught;  for example, I would have found AP Biology considerably more difficult.  To many in AP Calculus BC, AP Comp Sci AB or AP Physics C would have seemed more intimidating or difficult.

I would say AP Calculus BC is the most useful course in the AP curriculum (and will help one most in university),  although that's a pretty subjective opinion.

Physics is applied calculus.  I don't see how you could find it more difficult.

[Rule]

I wouldn't agree with that.  To me AP Calculus was probably the easiest AP.  It completely depends on your strengths and how the material is taught;  for example, I would have found AP Biology considerably more difficult.  To many in AP Calculus BC, AP Comp Sci AB or AP Physics C would have seemed more intimidating or difficult.

I would say AP Calculus BC is the most useful course in the AP curriculum (and will help one most in university),  although that's a pretty subjective opinion.

Physics is applied calculus.  I don't see how you could find it more difficult.

Well, take it from someone who works professionally in mathematical physics that I find physics considerably more difficult.  There's a lot more to remember, and often there are a lot of tricks, special insights and approximations that are valued in physical problems and aren't really considered in mathematics.

Then again, it depends how your mind works.  Like I said, AP Calculus BC was my easiest AP.

[Sidoh]

Well, take it from someone who works professionally in mathematical physics that I find physics considerably more difficult.  There's a lot more to remember, and often there are a lot of tricks, special insights and approximations that are valued in physical problems and aren't really considered in mathematics.

Then again, it depends how your mind works.  Like I said, AP Calculus BC was my easiest AP.

What do you mean by "working professionally?"  I think it's almost necessary that you provide details when you make those sorts of claims ... :P

That's true, but after taking a year of calculus-based physics, I haven't found a single section difficult once I made an effort to practice the material.  We've done conservation laws, newtonian physics, relativity and electromagnetism.  We took the final today.  I didn't have trouble with a single problem.

I suppose the same is true of Calculus, but unlike Physics, you're almost without fail learning new concepts.  Sure, integrals and derivatives become intuitive after practice, but until you've used them, they're sort of exotic compared to other things you've learned in high school.

[Rule]

Well, take it from someone who works professionally in mathematical physics that I find physics considerably more difficult.  There's a lot more to remember, and often there are a lot of tricks, special insights and approximations that are valued in physical problems and aren't really considered in mathematics.

Then again, it depends how your mind works.  Like I said, AP Calculus BC was my easiest AP.

What do you mean by "working professionally?"  I think it's almost necessary that you provide details when you make those sorts of claims ... :P

I study modern differential geometry with applications to general relativity and computational physics.  Most of my work involves determining finite difference schemes to solve and visualize the solutions to time dependent systems of partial differential equations that are analytically insoluable.  One application, for example, is in modelling a binary black hole merger.

Calculus is like a mother tongue :P.  Seriously though, I think physics in general is a lot harder than math, but some people would disagree with me.  I just think there's a lot more to consider in physics.

[Sidoh]

I study modern differential geometry with applications to general relativity and computational physics.  Most of my work involves determining finite difference schemes to solve and visualize the solutions to time dependent systems of partial differential equations that are analytically insoluable.  One application, for example, is in modelling a binary black hole merger.

Cool.  That's neat.

However, insoluble means something cannot be dissovled. :P

Calculus is like a mother tongue :P.  Seriously though, I think physics in general is a lot harder than math, but some people would disagree with me.  I just think there's a lot more to consider in physics.

I suppose so.  I think both of them take a lot more intellectual capacity than other AP cources, though. :P

[Rule]

However, insoluble means something cannot be dissovled. :P

Hmm,insoluable is jargon we use sometimes for "cannot be resolved."  But I just tried looking it up on dictionary.com, and it's not there.  That's pretty weird :x.  I've seen it written in books on chaos theory.

It may also surprise some people (who've known me for awhile, like iago) to know that my primary language is not english  ;D.

[Sidoh]

Hmm,insoluable is jargon we use sometimes for "cannot be resolved."  But I just tried looking it up on dictionary.com, and it's not there.  That's pretty weird :x.  I've seen it written in books on chaos theory.

Yeah.  It's not a real word. ;p

I know what you meant, but I didn't think the word you used was correct.  I made the word itallic because it was misspelled, hehe.

It may also surprise some people (who've known me for awhile, like iago) to know that my primary language is not english  ;D.

Right.  It's Calculus. :P

[Rule]

Well, if we must be pedantic,  8)  :

I made the word itallic because it was misspelled, hehe.

italic


;)