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The Advanced Placement Physics course at Polytechnic is a demanding curriculum designed specifically to introduce students to a more advanced study of physics, and to prepare them for taking the College Board's AP Physics C exam. Physics is truly the most fundamental of all sciences and one of the most enjoyable (and challenging!) to study. In this class, you will receive a strong college-level foundation in physics which will emphasize analytical approaches that will allow you to solve a variety of high-level problems, some requiring Calculus. As the instructor of this course, it is my great pleasure and honor to assist you along this path. It won't always be easy, but it is my sincere hope that you will find the journey rewarding.
Course Objectives
This course is designed to provide the student with a college-level, Calculus-based introduction to the study of physics. At the completion of the course, all AP Physics students will be well-prepared to take the College Board's Advanced Placement Physics C Mechanics and Electricity and Magnetism examinations.
Course Requirements
The time you spend on this course will consist of participating in classroom lectures/discussions, participating in demonstrations, doing homework problems, performing weekly labs and activities, and taking tests, all of which are designed to prepare you for the AP exam. It is understood that you will bring to class a well-organized notebook, pencils, pens, and a "scientific" calculator, i.e., one that performs sin, cos, tan, exponential notation, exponents, and log functions. You are expected to know how to operate your calculator correctly, including interpreting answers in degrees or radians, using scientific notation, and interpreting the correct number of significant figures.
Your grade will be based on a weighted percentage, according to the following scale:
| A | 93% and above |
| A- | 90-92.9% |
| B+ | 87-89.9% |
| B | 83-86.9% |
| B- | 80-82.9% |
| C+ | 77-79.9% |
| C | 73-76.9% |
| C- | 70-72.9% |
| D+ | 67-69.9% |
| D | 63-66.9% |
| D- | 60-62.9% |
| F | less than 60% |
Assignments used to determine each student's grade will include tests (~65% of the total grade), labs (~20%), and homework, quizzes, and miscellaneous other activities as assigned (~15%). The tests in this course are necessarily difficult, so there will also be an optional extra credit assignment offered each semester to help you earn additional points towards improving your grade.
A summary of each student's grade will usually be available online. This is not an official record of students' progress, but may be used as a rough guide of one's progress in the course as well as a reminder of possible missing assignments.
You will have assigned homework in this class most nights, usually consisting of 30-40 minutes spent solving 3-5 homework problems of varying difficulty. The noted Nobel laureate Richard Feynman cautioned that "You do not know anything until you have practiced," and we take his warning to heart: Do Your Homework. There's no better way to gauge your progress in the class. Getting an answer to a problem is not nearly as important as understanding the path to solving the problem. You are expected to engage your mind in the mental gymnastics associated with problem solving, as opposed to simply watching the instructor solve problems in class (although that is of some value) or looking at provided solutions.
In other words, it is important to understand that there is a big difference between an "answer" (the numerical result at the end of a problem) and a "solution" (the procedure by which one arrives at an answer). In physics, answers count for very little—solutions are everything. Your answer to a problem will be identified by a value and a unit with a box drawn around it, but the solution leading up to that answer is where you will demonstrate your understanding and earn your points.
Homework assignments will be collected most days in class, with a small number of points awarded for completing—or at least attempting to complete—the work. For most of the homework problems assigned, online solutions will be available (these can be found in the appropriate bailiwicks under class pdf's on the course Website). These are meant to be used as a means of checking work you've done, or looking for hints on problem-solving strategies. They should not be blindly copied and turned in as your own work.
Minor note concerning homework solutions: You will have two sets of solutions available to you during the year. Mr. White's solutions are relatively succinct and generally present the material as you would present it on a test. If you know what you are doing, have figured a problem out on your own and just want to check to see if you are correct, or if you are short on time and want a quick, to-the-point look at a problem's solution, his will probably be the best bet. Mr. Fletcher's solutions come with commentary. They even occasionally discusses why people make the mistakes they often do on a problem, and why the solutions shake out as they do. If you have the time, are unsure of what you are doing or are trying to reverse engineer a problem because you are clueless as to how the physics works, his solutions will probably be best. Your choice. Both are good depending upon your needs.
Missing a homework assignment once every few weeks or turning an assignment in a day late isn't typically a cause for concern. Habitually missing assignments or falling behind in doing homework will be disastrous in terms of your ability to keep up with the demands of the course. There are systems in place to remind you of your responsibilities here.
For more important information about homework, please see Homework in the AP Physics C Course.
Labs are an important part of the course curriculum. They will give you practical, hands-on experience collecting and analyzing data, and reinforce the learning that goes on in the classroom. For more detailed information, please see The Lab Experience. (Note that labs will be found under Labs on the class Website.)
There are many reasons that a teacher may have for testing students. In this Advanced Placement class, each test will:
Chapter tests will be administered approximately every 1-3 weeks, covering 1-3 chapters' worth of material. Most tests will be worth 100 points and consist of two parts: 3-6 Multiple-Choice (MC) questions and 2-4 longer Free-Response (FR) questions. Questions will consist mostly of questions based on the current unit of study, but necessarily may include topics from previous units. Both MC and FR questions may include selections taken from actual AP tests.
Preparation for taking a chapter test should include:
In order to focus on the pertinent material, you should take advantage of the review materials available to you, in the textbook and occasionally on this website. Review materials are not to be turned in; they are simply to assist you in your test preparation. Successful completion of the review problems, while commendable, is obviously not a guarantee of a successful test performance.
Students who show up to school on a test day are expected to take the test that day. In the event that you miss a test due to an excused absence, you may make up the test the first day you return to class. If your circumstance requires other arrangements, contact the instructor.
The instructor will not normally answer questions the day of a test. Translation: don't wait until the last minute to prepare for your tests.
Assignments are due on the assigned date—late work is typically not accepted. (Some assignments may be accepted late with reduced credit, although this is not something you want to make a habit of.) If you have an excused absence on the day an assignment is due, the work is due on the day you return to class, including test makeups, lab reports, and projects. For unexcused absences and tardies, you may not make up missed work. While many students are accustomed to turning in late work, your ongoing progress in the course requires that assignments be turned in on time. Please do whatever is necessary to ensure that your work is turned in on the day it is due.
The Advanced Placement Test in Physics will be given at the end of the school year. It will consist of two separate hour-and-a-half tests, one on Mechanics and one on Electricity and Magnetism (EM). Although the 2020 school year was different due to the covid pandemic, you can expect that each of these test will consist of two parts, a multiple-choice and a free response section. The multiple-choice section of each AP Physics C exam will consist of 35 questions which must be answered in 45 minutes. The free-response section of both AP Physics C exams will consist of three "free response" questions, each worth 15 points, which will also be allocated 45 minutes for completion. You may use a calculator and the College Board sanctioned, formula "cheat sheet" provided with the test on the entirety of both exams. All students enrolled in AP Physics are required to both AP Physics C exams.
We will spend a considerable amount of time in class preparing and practicing for these tests. Based on the results of your AP examination, your university may grant credit and/or advanced placement in your college program. All students, whether they receive university credit or not, will find themselves better prepared for serious academic work at the university level as a result of taking this class.
The URL for the class Website is a somewhat ungainly http://faculty.polytechnic.org/physics/3%20A.P.%20PHYSICS%202009-2010/0.%20Master%20files%20copy/a.p.index.htm, where all the "%20" markings are DreamWeaver's way of identifying spaces (I wasn't too bright when I first named the site, but now that there is so much stuff attached to it, changing it would be a logistical nightmare). Assuming you can't just click on the link above, the easiest way to get to the site is to go to faculty.polytechnic.org/physics and click on AP Physics as found in the left-hand column. In any case, that page will be a valuable source of information throughout the school year. It will provide you with:
I can't over-emphasize how important the Website is to what happens in the course—that fact will become self-evident in the first few days of school.
In addition to assisting students with learning material, teachers are often responsible for assessing their progress. In order to do this, students may be given a number of different types of assignments: homework, quizzes, tests, in-class activities, laboratory experiments to conduct, research papers, individual and group projects, presentations, etc.
It is understood that for some of these assignments, students may collaborate with one another. Lab partners may perform an experiment as a group and share data. A student team may design and present a project together. Students might want to consult with each other to find out how to solve a homework problem. In these cases, collaboration is accepted and even encouraged.
However, in other cases, the teacher may want to assess an individual to see how they have progressed in the mastery of the material. This kind of assessment, usually in the form of a quiz or test, must to be performed without assistance from any other source or student.
There are many ways that a student may cheat, but they all fall into one of three categories:
a.) Cheating on homework: The solutions to the homework problems are available in pdf form on the class Web site, so cheating on homework really doesn't exist. There is stupid, though. The whole idea with the homework is to give you a chance to make your brain work analytically. That is what you are going to have to do without props during a test, so that is what you need to get good at. Once you have seen the solution to a problem, it is useless to you because when you look at it a second time, it is the memory side of your brain that takes over, not the analytical side. Looking at the solutions before you've figure things out on your own (i.e., what would otherwise be called cheating or, at the very least, fudging), in other words, is not a very bright way to approach things at the outset (though taking more than 10 or so minutes on any one problem is probably more time than you have available, so there may be a trade-off here). It pretty much defeats the purpose of the homework altogether.
b.) Cheating on labs: Any question you would feel comfortable asking me (which is something you should come in and do if you get stuck) is OK to ask a friend or parent or the gods. If you are sitting with a group of fellow physics folks on the senior patio and everyone is doing their own write-up, and someone asks, "What was your force value for number 3," and little Josie says, "3.23 newtons," and big Jimmie says, "3.17 newtons," and middling Johnny says, "3.28 newtons," and non-descript Jill says, "4,382 newtons," clearly Jill is in trouble and needs to ask for help. Giving her that help verbally is OK (in fact, she will be expected to identify the fact that she got help on the cover of her lab--see The Lab Experience for clarity on this). WHAT ISN'T OK is someone giving her their write-up to "look at." Even if all she does is take the look, then write down what she saw from memory, that is tantamount to copying (it's just a clever version of it). THAT, I CONSIDER, IS CHEATING. Never, under any circumstance, give your lab write-up to someone else to look at. You can TALK about what you've done to your heart's content, because at least there is thinking going on with that. With straight copying (or the modified version I alluded to above), there is no analytical thinking happening and that is not acceptable.
c.) Cheating on 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 a school where the simple minded can rationalize doing the same and the honest become 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!
SPECIFIC EXPECTATIONS AND CONSEQUENCES CONCERNING CHEATING AT POLY
Expectations
Consequences
If you fail to meet these expectations there will be consequences for you, depending on the severity of your failure. These consequences will almost certainly include a zero on the assignment and notification of the incident to parents, deans, and the Upper School Director.
Learning to solve physics problems can be difficult and frustrating, and you are encouraged to find study partners, share phone numbers, and exchange Instant Message names and e-mail addresses early on in the course. Although we will be proceeding at a fairly rapid pace through the material, I will attempt to schedule as much time as possible in class for us to work together on solving problems. In addition, I usually schedule review sessions a day or two before each test, and there will in most cases be a Chipotle Night a few nights before a test. This will be an optional opportunity to meet with other students in the class to study, do review problems, and go over any difficulties you are having with the material.
For additional ideas on how to get help in the course, please see the Frequently Asked Questions section of the website.
Due to the intensive nature of this course, most students have difficulties at some point. At such times, you are strongly encouraged to contact me as soon as possible so that we can discuss your situation and figure out a way to deal with it. Likewise, parents or guardians who wish to discuss the course or who have concerns regarding their student's progress are encouraged to contact me, by e-mail (cfletcher@polytechnic.org) or by phone, at 626-396-6682.
For other info on how to reach me, please see the Frequently Asked Questions.