I have been teaching the AP C class for many years, the B for one. This year
has shown me that the B is harder to do as a first yearcourse than the C is.
I have had many students who have done the C both ways and the greatest
predictor of success is math skills and dilligence, not a prior Physics
class. To cover the B curriculum in any depth in one year is a gargantuan
task ( for me) even when the students have had one year before and happen to
remember most of it.
As for you brushing up on the calc? Do problems that require the calc from
the examples of a good text. I still like Halliday and Resnick and (now)
Walker. The first year I taught hie class ( 12 years out of college) the
class joke was" what is red and sits behind a desk?" The answer was Fox
trying to do calculus. However I managed to forge a partnership with my first
ten and we learned a lot together. No fives that first year but they all did
qualify (3+).