How critical is Physics I for Physics II?

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CareerNumTwo

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Does algebra-based Physics II require a great deal of Physics I knowledge?

Need advice...

I plan to apply next cycle and take Physics afterwards next academic year. From all the threads I just read through, the consensus seems to be that D-schools "don't care about physics." I took calc-based Physics I 14 years ago (that calculation made me feel old...) and I passed. If I could get away without retaking it and just dive into Physics II at a CC, that would be fantastic. However, I don't want to shoot myself in the foot by making Physics II that much harder...

help?

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Does algebra-based Physics II require a great deal of Physics I knowledge?

Need advice...

I plan to apply next cycle and take Physics afterwards next academic year. From all the threads I just read through, the consensus seems to be that D-schools "don't care about physics." I took calc-based Physics I 14 years ago (that calculation made me feel old...) and I passed. If I could get away without retaking it and just dive into Physics II at a CC, that would be fantastic. However, I don't want to shoot myself in the foot by making Physics II that much harder...

help?

I wish I could help you, but courses are different in every school. Why don't you e-mail your Phys II prof and ask him/her what pre-existing physics concepts they expect you to have?

At my school, you did NOT need Physics I to do well in Physics II.

Worst case scenario, just pick up a quick Physics guide (Physics for Dummies, etc) and get yourself caught up on the basics before jumping into II. Not a big deal.
 
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For my physics courses, I literally remembered nothing from Physics I and it wasn't even remotely helpful for Physics II. PI for us was kinematics and PII was magnetism and electricity. If anything, our Physics II professor asked us if we remembered concept XYZ from Physics I and if not much of the class responded, he would briefly touch upon that topic to refresh our memory and then teach the assignment. Some concepts from Physics I could be seen in Physics II but imo you'll be fine
 
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I took calc-based physics and what I can add is that in physics I we used vectors, but in physics II vectors also showed up regularly too. I don't known if all schools are this way so I would definitely ask the professor before the class begins.
 
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A lot of times, for physics II, you are not expected to have physics I be second nature to you, but I would not recommend taking physics II before I, or even taking the two concurrently. At my institution, physics II does expect you to go in already knowing vectors, kinematics, forces, uniform circular motion, energy conservation, etc. They may briefly review those concepts as they are needed, so being a bit fuzzy on those concepts would not be a problem, but they would not go over them in enough depth for you to be learning them for the first time.
 
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