A.P. PHYSICS

ABOUT THE TEXT:

Your formal textbook, used primarily for reference, will be an on-line, open-source text from Rice University's OpenStax program. As was pointed out in the Summer Assignment, the first semester will use University Physics Volume 1 and the second semester will use University Physics Volume 2.

Minor Note: With the exception of the Summer Session material, the problems assigned on the daily calendar during the year will not be associated with the OpenStax texts. They can be found in files located in the folders that are devoted to each chapter found in the CLASS PDFs folder on the course's Web site (these are the same folders in which the solutions to the problems are found).

You will also have access to the book Fletch wrote (see below under "Supplementary Reading").

ABOUT THE CLASS:

Everything you need to know about the class was covered in my version of the Class Policies section of the Summer Assignment. If you did not read that section or if you need a review it, feel free to revisit that page.

ABOUT HOMEWORK:

School policy maintains that AP courses have no more than 180 minutes of homework per six-day rotation. The problem with putting a limit on time in a class like this is that everyone works at their own pace--a lab write-up that takes you thirty minutes may take someone else an hour-and-a-half. In addition to that, most good students don't like to leave an assignment until they feel they've mastered it which is not something you can always accomplish quickly in a class like physics. Adding to all of this is the fact that there is an AP test at the end of the course. That means we have a considerable amont of material to cover in not a lot of time (though I must say we have been doing the job successfully for the forty-five years I've been at Poly, so it is not an impossible task). Mr. White and I have cut down on the amount of homework being given considerably over the last several years, but students still feel pressed. No matter how you deal with this, know that you will not be penalized if you work to the 45 minute mark and stop (turning in what you've done). The downside of that approach is that you will miss out on having contact with some of the problems we have assigned. If this was thirty years ago, I would suggest you look at each problem listed, fight with each until you have answers, then go to the written solutions provided to see if you did, indeed, do the problem right. With the time restriction we are now laboring under, my new suggestion is that you look at each problem, take a few minutes to map out in your mind HOW you would do the problem, then go to the solutions. It is not ideal as there are all sorts of pitfalls you can encounter when actually plodding through the math (all of which are educational), but under the circumstances it is the best I can suggest . . . unless, of course, you just decide to do the problems time be damned which some people do. In any case, if you are not sure how to proceed with all of this, come talk to me.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING:

In 1993, I wrote a Calculus driven, C-level, AP Physics text called Physics With Calculus that is still being used in select schools across the nation, by home school students, by independent study students and by innumerable first-year high school physics teachers using the book as a guide to teaching the course for the first time. Poly has provided me with a URL (http://faculty.polytechnic.org/cfletcher/) where I've placed all the books I've written. You can download any part of that physics text from that site. Although I have no stake in your taking me up on that offer, I suspect you will find that doing so will be particularly useful if you are looking for a quick way to understand the physics and/or are confused about what we are doing in the class.

DEADLINES:

On the assumption that students don't abuse the privilege, I am more than willing to give extensions to students with legitimate reasons for their request. Not surprisingly, sickness is a legitimate absences and is automatic grounds for an extension.

CHEATING ON HOMEWORK, LABS, TESTS AND MAKE-UP TESTS:

In a nutshell, it is not acceptable for a student to gain an unfair advantage over his or her classmates in any respect other than through sheer personal brilliance and/or tenacious, hard work. There are many reasons why people are tempted to cheat. No matter the reason, if caught, and sooner or later you will be caught if you choose to take that path, cheating puts your grade in jeopardy, your standing at this school in jeopardy, and ultimately the possible acceptance by the college of your choice in jeopardy. All this, not to mention the injustice you do to your classmates as you step nearer to or, in some cases, over them in an attempt to appear more knowledgeable than they when, in fact, you aren't.

When just one student cheats, he or she generates a cancerous environment in which the simple minded can rationalize doing the same and the honest become angrier and angrier and more frustrated as the injustices build.

Cheating is monumentally selfish.

Cheating is destructive not only to the cheat but also to those on the periphery.

Cheating is not acceptable. Do not do it!

Parting Shot:

Physics is not for the intellectually timid.  It is not a memory driven endeavor.  It is a thinking endeavor.  The first semester material will be more grounded in everyday experience whereas the second semester material will be considerably more abstract. Both are doable. Both have the potential of being hard. 

My friendly suggestions to you are:

1.) DON'T GET BEHIND.  If you do, chances are you may never catch up.

2.) Make every class period count. If you "get it" during class, it will mean less time required of you outside of class.

3.) If you find yourself confused, find someone you trust and ask questions. That should be me (and I will be more than happy to help), but if not me, Mr. White will do or a parent or one of your brilliant classmates. But as one of the "Suggestions from the Class of 2015" said, "Ignoring physics doesn't make it go away," so if you find yourself gasping for air, don't give up. That is the time to double down in the effort department. 

Having said all that, I should add that what you are about to run into is something that hundreds, nay thousands of Poly students have dealt with successfully over the years. In fact, not a single student in the forty years I’ve taught here has succumbed as a consequence of taking AP physics (this, always a good sign). You can do this. You just have to keep your head up and keep plugging.

Oh, and I'll be there to help.

Bottom line:

Enjoy what's coming. After all, life could be worse . . . (you could be a physics teacher!).