Should I take Algebra Based Physics or Calc Based Physics ?

[harrism]

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I like math quite a bit and have taken two semesters of Calc but some people told me sine the MCAT is based on non-calc based physics I should not take the Calc based series.

I have been told by one Med School Admissions Director that Calc based Physics is considered a premium class over non-Calc based Physics but that still doesnt solve my MCAT decisions.

Any suggestions ? Experiences ?

 

[superdevil]

I like math quite a bit and have taken two semesters of Calc but some people told me sine the MCAT is based on non-calc based physics I should not take the Calc based series.

I have been told by one Med School Admissions Director that Calc based Physics is considered a premium class over non-Calc based Physics but that still doesnt solve my MCAT decisions.

Any suggestions ? Experiences ?

if your question is "is there any calculus on the MCAT?", then your answer is "no". i fail to see how calc-based physics would help you prepare for the MCAT any better than algebra-based, but if you like math...

 

[Fermata]

Unless you have the burning desire to take calc-based I would encourage you to take algebra-based.

Some argue that calc-based *might* give you a slight edge on the MCAT(since you know why the formulas are what they are and where they come from) but I don't think it's worth the trouble.

 

[evajaclynn]

I like math quite a bit and have taken two semesters of Calc but some people told me sine the MCAT is based on non-calc based physics I should not take the Calc based series.

I have been told by one Med School Admissions Director that Calc based Physics is considered a premium class over non-Calc based Physics but that still doesnt solve my MCAT decisions.

Any suggestions ? Experiences ?

I was in advanced physics and it was pretty tough. I also like math, but this wasn't really the type of math that you do for fun! I would take algebra based physics insted of calc based if I could do it again. Unfortunately I didn't have that choice. If you take algebra based, you actually might come out of it with a better understanding of the material. In the end, the decision is up to you.

 

[liverotcod]

I love math too and too the calc-based. But because we spent so much time doing derivations in calc-based, we skipped a bunch of MCAT syllabus topics, which I then had to study on my own and was relatively weak on. For MCAT prep, algebra-based is best, IMHO. But the MCAT isn't everything - so I would take the calc-based over again and just do a better job prepping the things I missed.

 

[Fermata]

I love math too and too the calc-based. But because we spent so much time doing derivations in calc-based, we skipped a bunch of MCAT syllabus topics, which I then had to study on my own and was relatively weak on. For MCAT prep, algebra-based is best, IMHO. But the MCAT isn't everything - so I would take the calc-based over again and just do a better job prepping the things I missed.

PS 13 isn't weak, dude. 😀

 

[liverotcod]

PS 13 isn't weak, dude. 😀

Can't complain, but for example I had two stand alone pressure-at-the-bottom-of-a-cylinder problems that should have been piece of cake, but I had to derive the stupid equations on the spot. Then the whole passage on wave behavior in a lake. I suspect that all my wrong answers were in thoses 7 or 8 questions.

 

[Fermata]

Can't complain, but for example I had two stand alone pressure-at-the-bottom-of-a-cylinder problems that should have been piece of cake, but I had to derive the stupid equations on the spot. Then the whole passage on wave behavior in a lake. I suspect that all my wrong answers were in thoses 7 or 8 questions.

You're right. Having to explain that 39 in interviews is going to S.U.C.K. 😀

 

[iamgoaloriented]

Algebra based is defintiely better for purposes of MCAT. Being able to derive formulas won't matter much because you are given most of them anyway, and just having the Calc will allow you to do that if you sit down and think about it.

Only take calc based physics if you really like physics and want to study it more (or if you want to do the MIT Harvard thingy, and take up to Calc 4 / Dif Eq in that case). Some people have told me that calc based was less helpful for MCAT cos the physics you learn isnt the kind tailored to MCAT.

 

[exilio]

I wish I had the choice to take non-calc based physics. :/

 

[meads]

I took calc-based physics. My professor told me that I was in the wrong class and that I shouldn't be there.

I agree with what others have said - calc-based focuses so much on derivatives that you don't have enough time to cover all other topics that will be on the mcat. And it is harder - in the physics-clinics that we would have only calc-based physics students were ever there...algebra-based didn't need the extra help. If you are confident that you can manage an A in calc-based physics then go for it. However, specifically to the mcats, I didn't feel as if I had any advantage whatsoever having taken calc-based.

G'luck with your decision!

 

[liverotcod]

Theory: calc-based physics is an exercise in intellectual machismo. Discuss.

 

[ShyRem]

I have a totally different opinion. I took the calc-based physics... we covered everything the other class did, except we actually UNDERSTOOD it. No plug-n-chug, but actually WHY. For me, this was MUCH better. And, in fact, easier since I didn't memorize.

Folks in my class actually tutored the other class... almost all of us passed, and about 1/3 of the algebra-based class failed because they didn't understand why they were doing stuff. Calc-based class LOVED physics. Algebra-based class HATED physics. Your choice. You'll get out of whatever class what you put into it.

 

[liverotcod]

I have a totally different opinion. I took the calc-based physics... we covered everything the other class did, except we actually UNDERSTOOD it. No plug-n-chug, but actually WHY. For me, this was MUCH better. And, in fact, easier since I didn't memorize.

Folks in my class actually tutored the other class... almost all of us passed, and about 1/3 of the algebra-based class failed because they didn't understand why they were doing stuff. Calc-based class LOVED physics. Algebra-based class HATED physics. Your choice. You'll get out of whatever class what you put into it.

ShyRem, you're totally feeding my argument. "LOVED physics." Sheesh. Better stop shooting up them electrostatic steroids!

Just kidding of course, but I do think it's relatively unusual to cover the whole MCAT physics syllabus in a calc-based class. I seem to recall about three weeks on Maxwell's (admittedly cool) magnetic field equations when I could have been learning about sound waves in a cylinder.

 

[dmoney41]

I never took algebra based physics, so I'm curious as to why it's so much easier. I mean, I don't think I had to do integration or differentiation on exams, even in phys 2.

I mean, in alg phys do you not even have to combine equations or something? I'm confused.

 

[Daedalus]

I wish I had the choice to take non-calc based physics. :/

ditto - stupid UCLA 🙄 👎

 

[iamgoaloriented]

I never took algebra based physics, so I'm curious as to why it's so much easier. I mean, I don't think I had to do integration or differentiation on exams, even in phys 2.

I mean, in alg phys do you not even have to combine equations or something? I'm confused.

In some senses it actually isn't because to do a lot of things in physics you need calculus (e.g. work done in stetching a spring, unless you want to do something cheesy and use the potential energy change of the spring to find the answer, assuming no heat is lost, of course the formula for potential energy of spring is derived as you would do the problem in calc based physics but they just give the formula to you in algebra based).

I'm suprised that you didnt use integration more often because the case I just presented is one in which a simple integral can be used to solve a problem that you cannot deal with without calculus (unless using a cheesy move after being given a formula).

Anyway, more simply put, in algebra based physics you tend only to deal with situations where everything happens to work out easy or you are presented an ideal situation in which you can just plug and chug with a simple equation that they give you.

Either way, whether or not its easier, it is better to take algebra based physics for the mcat because the material presented on the mcat is presented in the same manner as is presented for algebra based physics courses.

 

[45408]

with some people's learning styles, they actually feel that the calc-based is harder, but normally, people feel that calc-based is harder. A B in calc-based would be worse than an A in algebra-based, so I'd go with algebra unless you needed the calc.

 

[dmoney41]

(e.g. work done in stetching a spring, unless you want to do something cheesy and use the potential energy change of the spring to find the answer, assuming no heat is lost, of course the formula for potential energy of spring is derived as you would do the problem in calc based physics but they just give the formula to you in algebra based).

I'm suprised that you didnt use integration more often because the case I just presented is one in which a simple integral can be used to solve a problem that you cannot deal with without calculus (unless using a cheesy move after being given a formula).

Well, of course W=int(F), but under what circumstances do you actually have to do it on the exam? For ours we always had a notecard for equations so I could just write the result of the indefinite integral or whatever; for the above example I'd have had F=kx and W=1/2kx^2 on there, because there's no sense wasting time integrating on the test. Though if worst came to worst I had the trusty TI-89.

 

[iamgoaloriented]

Well, of course W=int(F), but under what circumstances do you actually have to do it on the exam? For ours we always had a notecard for equations so I could just write the result of the indefinite integral or whatever; for the above example I'd have had F=kx and W=1/2kx^2 on there, because there's no sense wasting time integrating on the test. Though if worst came to worst I had the trusty TI-89.

The calc based physics I've done was actually from Calc and Astronomy classes I've taken, and I did have to do integrals on those tests, but I never actually took calc based physics so pehaps I am wrong in speculating. Just seems weird to me that you don't use calc more, although I have heard from others as well that you don't do much of it. Algebra based physics being better for mcat seems to be what 99% of people say, but whether or not its any easier I am not certain.

 

[lattimer13]

algebra baby...let me tell you something too...you use physics all the time in med school...same with ochem! 🙄

 

[Babooshka]

So, algebra based physics is where it's at, even for kids that wanna bust Hahvurd or YalE? Super elite schools don't have a preference for calc/algebra physics?

 

[45408]

So, algebra based physics is where it's at, even for kids that wanna bust Hahvurd or YalE? Super elite schools don't have a preference for calc/algebra physics?

correct