Physics

Standardized Tests

The best way to achieve recognition from a college admission office for work done in this course is to take a universally recognized and standardized test. The two major examinations are the SAT II Physics test and the Advanced Placement Physics test; some colleges may require the ACT instead of the SAT. Which one you take depends on your level of preparation, your academic goals, and the policy of the colleges to which you may want to apply. In most cases, the SAT is used as part of your college admission packet, and should be taken at the end of your Junior year or the beginning of your Senior year. It may be taken as late as the end of your senior year if your goal is to establish placement in a physical science curriculum sequence. The AP exam is used to determine placement and establish grounds for granting college credit, and is often taken as late as May of your senior year.

SAT II PHYSICS Examination

The College Board Online Website has information for parents and students on the PSAT/NMSQT, SAT, AP, and CLEP examinations, test dates, how to sign up to take the exams (which you may do over the web), etc.

The SAT II Physics test is used to assess whether you have mastered the content of a typical high school one-year introductory physics course. If you are interested in majoring in engineering, electronics, physical sciences, or astronomy, you need to enter college with such a course behind you. Many college admissions offices also look for experience in a laboratory science course, and expect you to have taken one, regardless of your intended college major. Fulfilling this requirement now may free you to take other classes in college, especially if you are not interested in a science major.

Check the College Board SAT site for dates and fees. If you are taking the physics course this year as a junior and need the SAT II for admission consideration, you should plan to take the exam in May or June, or next fall. I recommend that you plan to take the June exam, since it occurs after the completion of our course and before you've forgotten the details. We will have a special review session for the exam during the week before the exam.

The Scholars Online is very rigorous compared to the standard high school physics course. We use a college-level physics majors text which contains more material than a typical high school text or a non-majors physics introductory text. The online quiz questions are phrased like or based on similar questions from past published SAT II Physics exams. Consequently, completing this course satisfactorily should prepare you adequately for the SAT II Physics exams.

If you prefer to take the May examination, please let me know as soon as possible. We will schedule a special review session in April to tutor you on topics which the Scholars Online course may not cover until after the test date.

Physics Advanced Placement Test

The Advanced Placement program provides high school students the chance to do college-level study and receive credit for their work from many colleges and universities. Colleges in other countries recognize the AP examination as an indicator of advanced work beyond high school, and some US and Canadian colleges will award you sophomore standing if you meet their requirements through outstanding AP exam performance, thus saving you tuition payments. Several scholarships are awarded on the basis of AP scores. Check the College Board Advanced Placement website for more information on the AP program.

Be forewarned, though: a number of US colleges and universities will not grant you college credit for AP work, regardless of your score on the exam, and some departments refuse credit while others at the same college may grant credit. Be sure to verify the AP credit policy in physics at each of the colleges that interest you; do not automatically assume that a particular college department will grant you college credit for this course on the basis of your AP score.

Typically, the phsics AP course is taken after completion of a standard high school level chemistry course; often after the completion of introductory physics as well, and assumes that you have completed second year algebra. Two physics examinations are offered. The Physics B AP examination assumes that you have studied physics using an algebra-based text written for science majors (our Giancoli Physics is such a text). The guidelines suggest at least 4 50-minute lecture sessions (total 200 minutes) and 1 90-minute lab session per week for an entire school year, with 5 hours of outside work per week (for homework, reading the text, studying for exams, etc.). We will meet for 240 minutes per week in discussion sections (2 90-minute regular sessions and one 60-minute AP specific session). You will spend additional time outside of the chat sessions performing your lab exercises.

We are also limited in what we can do for experiments, since we do not have access to the equipment and materials available in a well-equipped college physics lab, but the AP guidelines are designed to allow for a wide range of resource limitations and financial situations. Many college physics departments will request your lab notebooks so that they can review your actual lab work before granting you credit for freshman physics, even if you receive high marks on the exam. I will work with you to try to establish credibility for any lab work you undertake, but you should be aware that this is a serious limitation.

Obviously, to prepare for the AP Physics exam, you will need to do work beyond that required to simply pass the Scholars Online course and prepare for the SAT II Physics exam. You will need to write a lot of essays, do all--or at least most-- of the homework and workbook exercises, and all of the online quizzes, attend monthly review sessions in addition to regular class periods, and perform physics labs which may require the purchase of extra lab equipment and materials. This is a considerable commitment on your time [5-10 hours a week in addition to the work required to pass the Scholars Online physics course], so think carefully about how much you want to do this! Be sure to visit the College Board AP Physics site and look at the course outline and sample questions for the exam before you decide.

If you do want to take the AP exam, be sure to let me know as soon as possible....because we'll have a lot of work to do, and you will need to complete some work early! I especially recommend that you consider taking Phyics Lite during the summer in preparation for the rigors of the academic year course.

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This course is offered through Scholars Online, a non-profit organization supporting classical Christian education through Internet-based courses. Permission to copy course content (lessons and labs) for personal study is granted to students currently enrolled in this course for the Academic Year 2007/2008 or Summer 2007. Reproduction for any other purpose, without the express written consent of the author, is prohibited.