recommended free online study materials for SAT physics subject test?

[AngieW in Texas]

These are the sites I have found so far. Do any of y'all have more sites to recommend?

 

http://www.free-test...com/sat-physics

http://www.erikthere...mulas-3-ref.pdf

http://www.erikthere...-formulas-3.pdf

http://www.sparknote...s/sat2/physics/

 

[Kathy in Richmond]

practice questions & practice problems from Giancoli Physics textbook website

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Try The Physics Classroom

 

[Twigs]

Angie, would you mind adding tags to this thread, such as Physics, Physics study materials, Physics SAT subject test. If I could add myself I would! Thanks. (and thanks for starting this thread!)

[AngieW in Texas]

I would be happy to add tags to it, but I don't know how. Can somebody please give me instructions?

 

I have another link too. The SAT Physics subject test is very much like the multiple choice section of the AP Physics B test, so those study materials can be quite helpful. The website below has some great links. I use Giancoli's and never realized that the companion website for the text has practice questions for the AP/SAT.

http://www.appracticeexams.com/ap-physics-b

 

The formula memorization section at the end of the 5 Steps to a 5 AP Physics test prep book (used for both B and C) is extremely helpful.

[Twigs]

I would be happy to add tags to it, but I don't know how. Can somebody please give me instructions?

 

I have another link too. The SAT Physics subject test is very much like the multiple choice section of the AP Physics B test, so those study materials can be quite helpful. The website below has some great links. I use Giancoli's and never realized that the companion website for the text has practice questions for the AP/SAT.

http://www.appractic...om/ap-physics-b

 

The formula memorization section at the end of the 5 Steps to a 5 AP Physics test prep book (used for both B and C) is extremely helpful.

 

From this thread The original poster can add a tag to the 1st post.

Underneath the Topic Title, is a field for "Topic Tags".

Just add the tags there.

As far as I know, only the original poster can add tags to the 1st post.

 

The original poster can later edit the original post and add additional tags. ¶ (Sorry, I'm not able to edit this what I pasted or add quotes, etc) ¶ Angie, you can go back to your 1st post, click on edit, and then add topic tags. Thanks!

[Twigs]

Thanks you, Angie!

[Candid]

http://ultimatesatverbal.blogspot.com/

 

http://blog.pwnthesat.com/ This one is really good!

[merylvdm]

My son took this test and got caught out as he was expecting to get formulas, but you don't. You have to go in knowing them all. I am sure this is well explained in the test prep and he just glossed over it, but I just thought I would mention it as if you don't know the formulas you aren't likely to do well.

[AngieW in Texas]

It is very important to have the formulas memorized. People get caught out by this on the AP test as well. On the AP test you get formulas for the free response section, but not for the multiple choice section. 5 Steps to a 5 has a nice list of the formulas to memorize.

[AngieW in Texas]

I hit the bonanza. This website has 4 practice tests with an answer key and explanations for the answers. It also has study materials.

http://papers.xtreme...Physics.pdf.pdf

 

I haven't gone through the study materials, but I have taken the first practice test. There were a few errors on that test you should be aware of:

#3-5 These all use the same picture. The letter directly across from the opening between the north and south magnets should be B for #3, but it is actually exactly in the middle between B and C, so that question can't be answered.

#32 The five answer choices should all be in units of ohms, not watts (explanation gives ohms as the units).

#48 Where the answer choices say "increases by", they should say "is multiplied by" or "increases by a factor of".

#72 The problem says that it is using a convex lens, but a double concave lens is pictured. Also, instead of "which positions best describes the locations of the image", it should say "which position is closest to the location of the image".

#60 The answer key says that the answer is choice C, but it is actually choice A and the explanation is for choice A even though the explanation lists C.

[Candid]

http://ultimatesatverbal.blogspot.com/

 

http://blog.pwnthesat.com/ This one is really good!

 

 

I realized that these weren't really what you were looking for, they are more generic SAT. Just write this post off as a dopey add on, sorry!

[regentrude]

Thanks. This is so helpful!

[regentrude]

I hit the bonanza. This website has 4 practice tests with an answer key and explanations for the answers. It also has study materials.

http://papers.xtreme...Physics.pdf.pdf

 

I haven't gone through the study materials, but I have taken the first practice test. There were a few errors on that test you should be aware of:

 

I have gone through the diagnostic test and have found several instances of extremely poor wording and actual mistakes that you should be aware of as well:

6. The question should read " the maximum velocity". The velocity of a pendulum is not constant and the original question makes no sense.

7. There is no such thing as a "negative vector". A vector can have negative components, and this depends on the coordinate system. The question means implicitly use a coordinate system with north=+y and east=+x and inquires about negative component.

 

14. This one is horrible. It says "the sky divers begin their free fall", but the intent of the problem is to think about air resistance. The term "free fall" is reserved for motion under the influence of gravity only, in absence of any other forces. The question should read "as the skydivers begin to fall...."

25. Magnitudes are, by definition, positive. Minor issue, since all options have the same sign.

 

29. Very bad problem. If you actually move from the center to the rim, the moment of inertia increases and the angular speed decreases by angular momentum conservation! So, the angular displacement would change. What they mean is: compare a point on the merry-go-round that is close to the center to a point that is at the rim. But YOU are not actually on the thing!

 

60. "Magnetic lines of force" do not exist. The problem would make sense if they called it "magnetic fields".

 

 

Angie, question for you:

in your experience, are the numerical problems on the actual SAT this bad? We found that the numbers in #42 and #20 are time consuming to compute without a calculator. Thanks!

[AngieW in Texas]

There were numerical problems on the chemistry SAT that bad, but not generally on the physics SAT. I ended up giving up on using Peterson's because the wording for so many of the problems was bad.

 

One resource that is great practice for the physics SAT (but NOT free) are the concept questions for each chapter on Giancoli's that are on the instructor resource dvds. The practice questions on the companion website are sometimes time-consuming without a calculator and cover a lot of the topics that aren't on the subject test or the AP test either.

 

The multiple choice questions for the AP Physics B test are generally a little more involved than the questions for the SAT subject test. Note that you are given 90 minutes to answer 70 multiple choice questions for the AP test, but only 60 minutes to answer 75 multiple choice questions for the subject test.

[regentrude]

There were numerical problems on the chemistry SAT that bad, but not generally on the physics SAT. I ended up giving up on using Peterson's because the wording for so many of the problems was bad.

 

One resource that is great practice for the physics SAT (but NOT free) are the concept questions for each chapter on Giancoli's that are on the instructor resource dvds. The practice questions on the companion website are sometimes time-consuming without a calculator and cover a lot of the topics that aren't on the subject test or the AP test either.

 

The multiple choice questions for the AP Physics B test are generally a little more involved than the questions for the SAT subject test. Note that you are given 90 minutes to answer 70 multiple choice questions for the AP test, but only 60 minutes to answer 75 multiple choice questions for the subject test.

 

Thanks, Angie, that is helpful information.