COURSE OBJECTIVES: This second year physics course is designed to offer students interested in physics the opportunity to take the Physics A.P. examination and to pursue more advanced topics. Following the Advanced Placement guidelines, the course is designed after an introductory college physics course, using a college-level text. Many colleges use the grade assigned on the A.P. Examination as a basis for placement and credit decisions.

The Physics B Examination, for which students will be encouraged to prepare (instead of the Physics C), tests mastery of topics in mechanics, electricity and magnetism, kinetic theory and thermodynamics, fluids, waves and optics, and modern physics.

During the course, students should develop the ability to:
• Read, understand, and interpret physical information--verbal, mathematical, and graphical.
• Use the computer as a tool to gather data, simulate difficult experiments, or graph and analyze data.
• Explain the sequence of steps in the analysis of a particular physical phenomenon or problem.
• Use basic mathematical reasoning--arithmetic, algebraic, geometric, trigonometric, or calculus, where appropriate--in a physical situation or problem.

TEACHING METHODS: Class time will be used to discuss concepts, work the most difficult of the assigned problems as a group, perform experiments and demonstrations, view selected tapes from "The Mechanical Universe", and take sample A.P. tests.

EXPECTATIONS: Homework assignments consist of reading in the text, problem-solving, working on group experiments, and completing lab reports. During most of first semester, A.P. Physics will review topics covered during the first year course but will emphasize the most difficult level of problems. In the second semester, the course covers more advanced topics in optics, electricity, magnetism, and modern physics theory.

EVALUATION: Each week, students will take portions of actual A.P. tests from previous years selected to coincide with topics being reviewed. Grades will be averaged from test scores (70%), grades on class lab reports (20%), homework (10%), and the semester final exam (in the first semester only). Since all tests are timed on the A.P. format, scores will be assigned to tests according to an A.P. scale. Students are allowed to keep a file of quizzes to review for the A.P. exam. Students will take the A.P. Exam in May, so the second semester exam is waived; however, each student will, instead, give a class presentation on a selected topic during the last week of the course (as time allows).

TEXT and RESOURCES:
Fundamental of Physics, 6th ed., {required text}
Halliday, Resnick, and Walker [Wiley & Sons, 2001]
Physics, Giancoli
{reference text, from first year course}
Theory and Problems of College Physics, 8th ed.
{optional for review and practice}
Frederick J. Bueche [McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1997]
AP Physics: An Apex Learning Guide, 1st ed.
{optional for review and practice}
C. Wells [Simon and Schuster, 2002]

Websites:
www.wiley.com
{source for selected problem solutions}
www.collegeboard.com
{source for information on AP exam and sample tests}
www.pembrokehill.org
{posted assignments and course overview}