AP Physics C

[Blue Hen]

Planning for next year and I'd really like to hear from a BTDT mom whose child took the AP Physics 'C' test(s).

 

Could you share how your child prepared for the AP Physics C tests. Did dc take both the parts of the 'C' test? What texts did you use? Any online sources that were helpful? How intense was the prep?

 

Thanks,

Carole

[Kathy in Richmond]

Hi Carole,

 

I know we've talked about physics C already, but I'm not sure you're going to find too many others who have done these courses as homeschoolers...

 

My son took both C courses four years ago, and my daughter is wrapping up the courses now and taking the AP exams a week from Monday. Ds got 5's on both parts and dd expects similar results, too, judging from her test prep.

 

We used Volumes 1 and 2 of Resnick, Halliday, and Krane as our main text, and the Barrons AP Physics C review book- both are excellent choices.

 

I planned the course so that they would cover Mechanics from Sept. through Dec., and Electricity & Magnetism from Jan. through March. The most helpful document in planning for me was this

 

detailed syllabus from College Board

 

If you scroll down to towards the end, you'll find a chart of exactly what topics are covered on the B and C Physics exams. I was able to use this chart to coordinate with the textbook chapters ( the texts cover way more than the AP syllabus does). Ususally we covered a chapter a week.

 

Then, for each chapter covered, I chose about 10-12 exercises to work out. (Well, for my son I went a little overboard, and he had to do about 20 a week; he told me later it was overkill - so his sister has benefited from that, lol).

 

Then, in April we switched over to reviewing for the exam. My daughter is working through the Barron's book for practice problems. I purchased a released exam from College Board that she'll work through next week. If she needs more practice than that, the CB website has several old Free Response Questions with answer keys.

 

The other thing that helped me was joining the AP Physics teacher listserve run by College board, and folllowing the teacher's discussions throughout the year - helpful in seeing if we were on pace with other classes.

 

Was it intense? My ds and dd didn't think so. They might have averaged six hours or so a week during the year. But physics is their favorite science - they prefer reasoning to memorization, and they're the type that finds AP biology to be the most difficult science. Also, your ds has calculus this year and that will help a lot. If you had to learn the mathematics along with the physics, I think it would be a lot more difficult to complete in a year.

 

One other note - this has been the toughest AP exam for me to locate. Very few schools in Richmond offer the E&M portion, and they all turned me down initially when I was trying to find a seat for my son. Eventually one allowed him to sit for it since they had students signed up for the Mechanics portion. When that part ended, the proctor made the kids put their heads down on their desks while my son finished the E&M part - for a whole 90 minutes! He was so appalled that they did that, though the other kids seemed to enjoy having a break with nothing to do!

 

So start early calling around to schools!

 

hth,

 

~Kathy

[Catherine]

I will be using it in a year to plan for ds's physics course for his senior year.

 

Catherine

[Blue Hen]

Thank you. I so appreciate your response. I knew someone on the board had been through this before but I couldn't find the thread last night. Guess I'll be off to planning out the year :-))

 

Carole

[Piano&ViolinMom]

One other note - this has been the toughest AP exam for me to locate. Very few schools in Richmond offer the E&M portion, and they all turned me down initially when I was trying to find a seat for my son. Eventually one allowed him to sit for it since they had students signed up for the Mechanics portion. When that part ended, the proctor made the kids put their heads down on their desks while my son finished the E&M part - for a whole 90 minutes!

 

Wow, it's unbeliable!

[In The Great White North]

Kathy

 

Ds is interested in doing more physics next year. If I could, could I get a few more details?

 

What labs did you do? Were they in the textbooks or did you find them elsewhere? Are they necessary for the AP test?

 

What edition/date textbook did you use? I have an ancient edition (recommended on the Physics Forum, where they claimed the newer ones were dumbed down.) Would it be overkill? Do I need something more recent with an answer key? Or is there even an answer key?

 

Did you use any videos/lectures/etc online to accompany (I'm thinking hippocampus or MIT)?

 

What did they like best about it? What made it fun?

[Kathy in Richmond]

Hi Great White North,

The textbooks we used for Physics C (the calculus-based course) were
Volumes 1 and 2 of Resnick, Halliday, and Krane, 5th edition, 2002 copyright. There have been one or two newer editions since then (authors changed to Resnick, Halliday and Walker), but I can't see any reason to buy a newer set.

I also have copies of the original 1960 Halliday & Resnick volumes from my college days (eek!). We have compared them to our newer editions and with minor exceptions, the material presented is exactly the same in most cases (text & diagrams). The difference is that the newer volumes have way more exercises and problems. I personally don't see that as a bad development at all. One disadvantage is that the newer volumes are both larger and heavier! Also, the page layout seems busier in the newer editions (more columns, bigger pages); the older editions are easier on our eyes.

I've never had a solution manual or answer key other than the answers to the odd-numbered problems in the back of the textbook. However, today I stumbled upon this website:

Resnick, Halliday and Krane Solution Manual

which is an online solution manual for Volume 1 (Mechanics). The author, Paul Stanley, is a professor at Beloit College. I believe that he is the same Paul Stanley who authored the Student Solution Manual which you can purchase for these texts. I wish I'd known about this site - it's a winner! They appear to correlate with my 5th editions. I don't have any idea how to get solution manuals for the old 1960 books.

As for labs, they are not addressed in the texts at all. You can do well on the Physics C exams without lab experience. We are, however, choosing to do a home physics lab because I think it is important, and also, because it's just plain fun! To be honest, we're behind in doing our labs this year, but we look forward to completing them when the AP exams are finally done next week. We are using

Experiences in Physics by Julicher

If you click on "order forms" on the blue bar at the top of the screen, and continue clicking on "Castle Heights" and "physics", you will come to a very handy pdf order form listing all the lab equipment needed for these experiments organized by experiment number. I was able to use it to pick and choose what to buy, saving me some money since we have a lot of common equipment already at home.

Oh, and I found this experiment online which was fun

Measuring the Speed of Light with Marshmallows and a Microwave

We didn't add anything to the above to fill out the course - believe me, it's more than enough to get through in a year. But, on the other hand, we like science a lot here and tend to "add in " supplemental materials just as a matter of fun in our free time. My dh is a LOT more hands on than I am, and the kids have benefited immensely over the years watching and helping Dad rebuild car engines, take apart old computers, that sort of thing which lends naturally toward science/physics learning. On the other hand, I am much more book-minded :001_smile: and have collected some of these titles over the years which we have all enjoyed:

Thinking Physics - Lewis Carroll Epstein. I enjoyed this one in particular; it explains and motivates the physic concepts in a very challenging way. Since I am a mathematician by training, I tend to see everything in terms of equations and math; this book stretched me to think about what was happening underneath the equations.

Cartoon Guide to Physics - Larry Gonick. My dd, the big-picture right-brained learner, enjoyed reading this as an overview of the subject before diving into the details of Resnick & Halliday.

Books by Richard Feynman! - We own a lot of these volumes for fun reading over the years...

The Physics of StarTrek - Lawrence Krauss. Well, not for me, but the kids and dh are into it!

A Briefer History of Time - Stephen Hawking. My ds devoured this one when he was home for Christmas break.

And finally, fun websites:

Delores Gendes Physics pages - course pages of an amazing Physics B & C teacher. She has a wealth of links (physics animations, quests, tutorials, etc) which we've used that are wonderful for any physics student.

MIT open courseware for High School AP Physics and Walter Lewin's MIT lectures- we intended to use this site that you mentioned, but never really did (and my ds is an MIT student who thought that we should!). Just plain ran out of time, but wished we'd watched some of the lectures.

HTH & enjoy your physics adventures :D!

~Kathy

[In The Great White North]

Wow!

 

Thank you so much. This will make my life so much easier!

[Blue Hen]

Kathy,

 

THANK YOU, thank you, thank you! Wealth of information you have shared and it is greatly apprecitated. I'm getting excited to start Physics. Definitely my favorite science.

 

In your first note you mentioned:

 

 

I planned the course so that they would cover Mechanics from Sept. through Dec., and Electricity & Magnetism from Jan. through March. The most helpful document in planning for me was this

 

detailed syllabus from College Board

 

If you scroll down to towards the end, you'll find a chart of exactly what topics are covered on the B and C Physics exams. I was able to use this chart to coordinate with the textbook chapters ( the texts cover way more than the AP syllabus does). Ususally we covered a chapter a week.

HTH & enjoy your physics adventures :D!

 

~Kathy

Do you put together a syllabus that you could share with us?

 

And, if you had it to do over again, what would you do different?

 

Carole

[Kathy in Richmond]

Hi Carole & GWN,

 

Glad that this stuff helps! This is totally do-able at home and I love to see others get excited about it, too.

 

Sure, I'll share my syllabus, but I won't be able to get to it till later today or tomorrow - just need to find some time to type it out!

 

What would I do differently?

 

o My ds told me to assign fewer problems, so I did with dd - & it worked fine. No need for overkill.

 

o Make some time for some of the MIT OCW videos.

 

o Integrate some test prep throughout the course, instead of waiting for April. I think it would have been easier to be doing some problems from the Barron's review book all along.

 

~Kathy <--off to adjusting dance recital costumes for dd & baking cookies for a final exams care package for college-boy ds:001_smile:.

[Piano&ViolinMom]

One other note - this has been the toughest AP exam for me to locate. Very few schools in Richmond offer the E&M portion, and they all turned me down initially when I was trying to find a seat for my son. Eventually one allowed him to sit for it since they had students signed up for the Mechanics portion. When that part ended, the proctor made the kids put their heads down on their desks while my son finished the E&M part - for a whole 90 minutes! He was so appalled that they did that, though the other kids seemed to enjoy having a break with nothing to do!

 

Kathy, Thank you for sharing your valuable experience in AP tests. I am new to this high schooling stuff. My ds, a 9th grader, is new to homeschooling this year. He took AP Calculus test today, and will take AP Music Theory test next week. In case he would be involved in several APs next year, I wonder if we can use two schools to go through all AP tests if we do not find any schools to accomadate all APs in one school. Any experience or thought?

[Kathy in Richmond]

Here's my syllabus for AP Physics C this year, using the 5th edition of the Resnick, Halliday & Krane texts.

 

We tended to work harder at the beginning of the terms when we had more time, and then took a couple weeks off in the middle due to travel.

 

 

 

AP Physics C Class Assignments 2008-09

 

 

 

 

 

Resnick, Halliday & Krane; 5th Edition

 

 

 

 

Volume 1 – Mechanics

 

Summer work - Chapter 1: Measurement Exercises 7, 31, 33

 

Chapter 2: 1-D Motion Exercises 7, 15, 23, 31, 39, 43, 53, 55, 61

Problems 9, 15, 17, 25

 

Chapter 3: Force Exercises 7, 9, 19, 23, 25, 27, 30

Problems 3, 5, 7

 

9/1 Chapter 4: 2,3-D Motion Exercises 9, 15, 19, 33, 35, 39, 43

Problems 3, 7, 15, 21

 

9/8 Chapter 5: Newton’s Laws Exercises 3, 5, 13, 19, 23, 27, 35, 41

Problems 1, 5, 9

 

9/15 Chapter 6: Momentum Exercises 9, 13, 27, 33

Problems 7, 10, 13, 15, 19

 

9/22 Chapter 7: Systems of Particles Exercises 5, 7, 11, 15, 17, 19

Problems 1, 3, 5, 7, 9

 

9/29 Chapter 8: Rotational Kinematics Exercises: 9, 11, 17, 23, 27, 33

Problems: 3, 5, 9, 11, 13

 

10/6 Chapter 9: Rotational Dynamics Exercises: 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 39, 43

 

10/13 vacation week

 

10/20& 10/27 Chapter 10: Angular Momentum Exercises: 5, 7, 9, 15, 17, 23, 27

 

11/3 Chapter 11: Work & Kinetic Energy Exercises: 5, 19, 21, 23, 24, 33 ,37 ,43

 

11/10 Chapter 12: Potential Energy Exercises: 1, 11, 15, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31

 

11/17 catch –up week in other classes

11/24 vacation week

 

12/1 Chapter 13: Conservation of Energy Exercises: 1, 5, 9, 15, 17, 19, 21

 

12/8 Chapter 14: Gravitation Exercises: 11, 15, 21, 27, 35

 

12/15 Chapter 17: Oscillations Exercises: 9, 15, 21, 31, 37, 47, 53

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Volume 2 – Electricity & Magnetism

 

1/5 Chapter 25: Electrical Charge Exercises: 7, 11, 19, 21, 27, 29, 31

Chapter 26: Electrical Field Exercises: 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 20, 27, 37, 40

 

1/12 Chapter 27: Gauss’ Law Exercises: 3, 9, 15, 17, 19, 23, 27

Chapter 28: Electrical Potential Exercises: 5, 9, 13, 25, 29, 31, 37, 43

 

1/19 Chapter 29: Elec Properties of Materials Exercises: 5, 9, 15, 19, 23, 29, 31

 

1/26 Chapter 30: Capacitance Exercises: 3, 7, 13, 19, 23, 31, 35

 

2/2 Chapter 31: DC Circuits Exercises: 3, 7, 13, 17, 19, 23, 25, 35, 45, 49

 

2/9 & 2/16 travel weeks

 

2/23 Chapter 32: Magnetic Field Exercises: 3, 11, 13, 17, 25, 29, 33, 35

 

3/2 Chapter 33: Mag Field of a Current Exercises: 5, 11, 15, 17, 21, 27, 31, 33

 

3/9 Chapter 34: Faraday’s Law Exercises: 1, 9, 13, 17, 23, 25, 27, 29

 

3/16 & 3/23 Chapter 36:Inductance Exercises: 3, 7, 9, 15, 19, 21, 23, 27, 29,

35, 39, 43, 47, 51, 53, 55

 

April: Review Barron’s AP prep book

early May: Released exams practice

[Brenda in MA]

Kathy,

 

Thanks for sharing this. I've made note of it in case I need it in a few years for my younger son.

 

Brenda

[Blue Hen]

Thank you so much!

 

Carole

[Halftime Hope]

:the Giancoli SM does exist, at least for the 4th ed., in 3 volumes.

 

ISBN: 978-0-13227324-4 or the ten digit ISBN ends in -1

 

Maybe with the info there, author's name, etc. you can find the 3ed SM.

 

I can often find things on www.bestbookbuys.com by searching by author name, b/c it generates a list of all the author's books, not just the current one.

 

HTH

[Brigid in NC]

I don't think this has been posted yet -- here is a link to past Physics C tests and answers. My ds found this very helpful. There is also a drop down menu that lets you choose other AP tests, if you are interested in past tests/answers in other APs. Good luck!

~Brigid

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/physics_c/samp.html?physicsc

[Guest Psalm 34:3]

This information is so helpful. Thanks! My dd will take AP Physics C next year, and I am planning on using Fundamental Physics. I wanted to those of you who have BTDT, did you give your dc chapter tests, mid-terms or finals? If so, what did you use for tests and solutions?

Thanks

~ Debbie

[Brigid in NC]

This information is so helpful. Thanks! My dd will take AP Physics C next year, and I am planning on using Fundamental Physics. I wanted to those of you who have BTDT, did you give your dc chapter tests, mid-terms or finals? If so, what did you use for tests and solutions?

Thanks

~ Debbie

I can't help here. I can serve up others' tests, but sadly, my ds was looooong past me in science by Physics C. We went the dual enrollment route for advanced work, so I wasn't involved in the teaching/testing. My ds took the AP exam after his DE class as a "back up" for potential schools that would not give DE credit, but only AP. I'm sure others can help you with your question. ;-)

 

I do want to alert you that the Physics C exam is not widely administered. We had a hard time tracking down a local school that was administering it and would allow my ds to test there. We found only two schools within our local area, and both turned me down. After lots and lots of calls to schools all over, I called back and basically begged. And my ds was allowed to test at one of the schools. So you might want to begin researching schools in your area for the possibilities.

[Kathy in Richmond]

Hi Debbie,

 

No, I didn't give my kids any exams for Physics C. I worked through the course with them and checked over their problem sets, so I felt that I had an accurate idea of what they were learning w/o extra testing. The AP test at the end of the year served as their final exam. But I tended to be less school-y about home-based courses, thinking that my mommy grades weren't going to be taken very seriously anyway. I let the kids' outside evaluations make their case. :)

 

If you want to give exams, I'd check out the publisher's website for whatever texts you're using. They might offer materials free online, or they might offer a testing package for sale. Alternatively, you could just pull problems from the text you're using to write a test yourself. It would even be OK in my opinion to pull problems from old homework sets (you could just change the numbers if you wished). The whole point of examination is to make sure that the students are retaining the material long-term, so if they can re-work the problems successfully w/o looking back at their previous work, I'd say that they've succeeded.:001_smile:

 

One other way that you could test is to use FRQ questions from past AP Physics C exams from the College Board website (mechanics and electricity/magnetism). Full grading rubrics are included, and they're free. Not to mention that it's terrific prep for the real examination in May!

 

Also, I advise you to purchase an old AP Physics C released exam from the College Board. It's very good to have a copy of the full test for review purposes next spring. You'll definitely want to get some practice with the multiple choice portion of the test and also with timing issues. IMHO, only the 'real' released multiple choice sets are useful for this purpose. The various review guides are OK for practice, but tend to miss the mark of how the real test works -- good MC questions are extremely hard to write!