Category: ap physics 2 (Page 1 of 2)

Taking the AP Physics Exam at Home: Top 5 Tips

April 28, 2020 / dina

We are all facing challenges and new territory this year. For the first time, students will be taking a shortened AP exam from the comfort of their homes. Whether you are student preparing to take the AP Physics exam or a teacher guiding students, it is important that we think about how we can be ready.

I previously posted tips for the AP Physics 1 and 2 FRQs, but this post will be more targeted to the unique challenge of taking the exam at home.

Many college exams are open book / open note, so these tips may help you even if you aren’t taking the AP Physics exam this year!

1. Use Student-Created Notes

This will be the very first time that the AP Physics exam is open note! While some students may think this means the exam will be easy and they will be able to find the answers online, that is not the case. You can be sure that College Board will give scenarios that are still challenging and require critical thinking.

Remember that students can still use the AP equation sheet, but they can also use other materials. Class notes and student-created fact sheets will be much more beneficial than internet searches. Students should make sure that they are familiar with the notes they are using, so notes they have taken themselves is the best way to go.

2. Prepare Your Resources

Having a notebook full of class notes might be helpful, but it also might be time consuming to flip through a ton of material. Think smarter when preparing resources to help you.

Remember that resources are there to jog your memory or reinforce what you already know, not give the exact answer. Don’t waste time searching for answers. Here are a few things students can do to help prepare their resources:

Use tabs to mark sections / concepts in a notebook
Rewrite the equation sheet in a more user-friendly manner or how the equations were learned in class
Create one page concept “Cliff Notes” sheets
Create a FRQ checklist of top tips

My sample kinematics review sheet to help students prepare for the AP Physics exam — Here is a sample 1D kinematics “Cliff Notes” I created to help students. Top pitfalls or reminders is a great way to remember those common errors!

3. Have an Exam Day Plan

Students will have the option of typing responses or working on paper and submitting a photo. I recommend for AP Physics that students work on paper – this is more in line with what we have been practicing all year. Make sure your cell phone is charged and the camera works if you are using it to photograph your answers. Practice making sure your images come out clear.

College Board has indicated that they will have a tutorial video before the exam day on how the upload process works. Make sure to watch that and know exactly what you are doing.

4. Familiarize Yourself with the AP Physics Exam Format

College Board has all up to date exam information published here.

The 2020 AP Physics 1 and 2 exams will have two free response questions: one qualitative-quantitative translation and one paragraph length response. Students will have 25 minutes to respond to question 1 and 5 minutes to upload their response. Then, they will have 15 minutes for question 2 and 5 minutes of upload time.

AP Physics C will have the same timing, but slightly different question format. Question 1 will be the long-form question with an increased emphasis on analysis and explanations. Question 2 will be a shortened experimental design question.

Remember that not all of the content taught will be on the exam. Don’t focus on the wrong topics. For example, AP Physics 2 will not have any optics or modern physics.

5. Practice AP Physics Exam Day Conditions

At this point, students have reviewed and reviewed and hopefully have main idea down. Now, we need practice. However, not just any practice will suffice. Students need to practice in a timed setting where they cannot just look up the answer when they are stuck.

A sample of the resources available for the AP Physics exam on College Board's website — The AP Exam pages have previously released exam questions, along with scoring guides and sample responses. The sample responses and chief reader report always have great insight into what makes a good free response!

Here are some tips for practicing smarter:

Use previously released AP Physics exam questions
Set a timer when working on the problem
Do NOT look up the answer if you are stuck. Keep working and try writing something.
Use the scoring guide or a video, such as the ones College Board is producing, to score the FRQ.
Score yourself realistically – no “kinda” points

A review of Albert.io

July 15, 2019 / dina

I discovered the site Learnerator several years ago while looking for good AP style questions for my students. I was blown away by the attention to detail in the questions, and how closely they modeled the questions on the AP exam. But then, it went away. Learnerator became Albert.io, and the site moved to a paid model.

After a few years of begging my school to buy the license, we decided to purchase Albert.io for every AP class offered at our school. Many teachers didn’t really use it this past school year, but I found it one of the most beneficial tools for my students.

My students either loved or hated it. I think the hate stemmed from the difficulty of the questions, which, hello, is the point. The ones that embraced it really got a lot out of the platform.

Implementation

One of the frustrations students had with Albert.io this school year was its implementation. Many teachers assigned 100+ questions at a time. Albert’s questions are in depth, challenging, and require students to go back and review their reasoning for the answers. This simply does not work if students are assigned 150 questions to do in one week.

I implement Albert in two ways.

Albert.io as homework

First, I do use it as homework. When I assign Albert as homework in AP Physics, I usually assign 20 questions to do over a few days. We go over some of the top missed questions in class before the assignment is due. When I grade the assignment, I either grade it for completion or half completion, half correction.

Sample assignment data from albert.io in my AP Physics course — Here is an assignment summary from a homework assignment. I like being able to see the performance breakdown of each question.

Albert.io as extra practice

Second, I use it as supplementary problems. I create optional assignments, or students can work through at their own pace. Sometimes these count as extra credit, sometimes they are purely additional practice.

albert.io snapshot of student data — Here is a snapshot of my dashboard. I removed students’ names. I can see at a glance how each student is doing. This snapshot was taken during a week when I did not assign anything (just optional practice).

A student’s perspective

What really sets Albert.io apart is the results. They have results and testimonials on their website, but I want to share some personal data from my AP exam review period.

I’ve discussed my AP exam review style a little bit here. I like to give students choices in how they prepare for the National Exam. About two months before the AP Physics exam, I surveyed my students to help inform how to best conduct review. First, I asked them about how they prefer to review.

Student feedback on AP review — Actual results from my AP Physics students.

42.1% of students said they get the most out of review when they do practice problems with a group, and another 31.6% said when they take practice multiple choice (and free response) and make corrections on their answers. Both of these are possible with Albert.io, which is why I think this happened:

Student feedback on how albert.io is the most beneficial review tool we have used

Students overwhelmingly selected Albert.io as the most beneficial tool for review we used. Even though they complain about it at times, it really is the best review tool we have at our disposal. The style of questions for AP Physics 1 and 2 are the closest I have seen to the rigor of the AP exam.

If you or your school is able to purchase Albert.io, I highly recommend it. However, don’t overuse it and give students choices on how much they need to do. While I don’t have my pass rate data to share yet, I am excited to see if it made a real difference in exam results. If I am going off of what student’s said, they thought the exam was cake compared to the rigor they were used to on Albert. And that’s the best I can hope for.

5 Tips for New AP Physics Teachers

June 2, 2017 / dinacav

So you just found out you are teaching AP Physics for the first time? Or maybe you are a veteran teacher that needs some new resources? We have all been there. Beginning to teach a new subject can be difficult, especially if it is an AP course. Here are my tips for new AP Physics teachers.

What to do before the school year begins

1. Attend an AP Summer Institute

I attended the APSI at the University of South Florida the summer before I began teaching AP, and it was the single most valuable thing I did to prepare. The presenter gave us a wealth of resources, performed sample labs, and really delved in-depth into the expectations for the course and national exam. Hopefully, your school will pay for your attendance, because it is expensive. However, even if you have to pay out of pocket I would still recommend attending. The resources and knowledge you gain are far worth it – this is the number one thing all AP Physics teachers should do!

2. Join Pretty Good Physics

The previous AP teacher at my school told be about this site, and then I learned about it again at the APSI. It is a great place to find resources, share resources, and get ideas for your course.

There is a general wiki that has labs, activities, and various problem sets. This site is publicly view-able. There is also a secure site in which you must prove you are a teacher – secure includes test questions, FRQs, practice national exams, and so much more. I recommend joining both wikis.

Resources for AP Physics teachers during the school year

3. TIPERs are your best friend

TIPERs, or Tasks Inspired by Physics Education Research, are a life saver. I find that these exercises tend to be pretty close to what students encounter on the national exam, and they are also just great problems. My students get an FRQ every week, and many times that FRQ is actually a TIPER. There are so many to choose from.

TIPERs are a great resource for AP Physics teachers

One type of exercise is a ranking task, in which students analyze six or so different scenarios and have to organize them based on most velocity, most kinetic energy, etc. The national exam has included these types of questions, as evident by 2017 AP Physics 1 FRQ #1.

You can find the book on Amazon, but I recommend getting an electronic version.

Here is an article on College Board’s website on using TIPERs and similar ranking tasks in your classroom. They also included this sample ranking task on projectiles.

4. Use the released practice exams

The released exams are my exams. Make sure you get access to the AP Audit website and secure documents. These documents can be used for in-class use, but may not be posted online or provided for students to take home. This makes they excellent test questions – they are secure and have actually been on the national.

The first thing my students said to me after the national was that it was not any harder than what we did in class. Sure, it was hard, but they were adequately prepared. Released exams are your best resource for preparing your students.

5. Do all the labs

Seriously, all of them. Okay, maybe not all, but at least 1-2 a week. 25% of your class should be time spent in laboratory experiences. This may sound like a lot and you may say that you don’t have time, but it is absolutely necessary. I teach in a school with 50 minute class periods. It is possible.

It is important to vary between the types of labs students perform. You can do inquiry-based labs, traditional step-by-step labs, design challenges, virtual labs, create models, whatever – the point is that students need their hands on things for Physics to make sense. I posted about how I use labs in my AP Physics course to help with the experimental design FRQ – check it out here!

Data tracking for AP Physics

May 25, 2017 / dinacav

I previously shared that I started doing Multiple Choice Mondays and FRQ Fridays every week going into the AP exam. Here is a sample score tracking sheet my students used to track their progress. It was helpful and motivating for them to see their progress over time.

Score Tracker

5 Tips for tackling the AP Physics FRQs

May 16, 2017 / dinacav

The free-response questions on the AP Physics 1 and 2 exams can be daunting. Students tend to not be used to writing in science classes, and the AP Physics B exam had a lot more calculations and a lot fewer explanations. These FRQs require careful thought and deep knowledge of physics concepts. Here are my top tips for tackling the AP Physics FRQs.

1. Support your answer.

This is my biggest pet peeve with student responses. If a question says to refer to a graph or has to analyze a student’s statement or uses any sort of source, directly refer back to that source.

For example, question #2 on the 2016 AP Physics 1 exam was an experimental design question that referenced a student’s hypothesis. The experiment outlined should directly address this, not just generally discuss the overarching concept.

Make sure that explanations are not generally statements, but directly refer back to the question at hand.

2. Do not just write equations into words.

The qualitative/quantitative translation question will frequently include parts that say “explain without the use of equations.” This does not mean to write out “Well, force equals mass times acceleration…” Be sure to explain, and make reference to the law or principle you are explaining. The AP Physics FRQs are looking for students’ mastery of the content – not reciting equations.

2017 AP Physics 1 question #3 is a great example of qualitative/quantitative translation AP Physics FRQs. — 2017 AP Physics 1 FRQ #1 demonstrates how students need to be able to explain without using equations.

3. Know when to explain and when to not.

Sometimes, a question says things like “State…” or “Determine…” These types of questions are looking for an answer, not a long winded explanation. Read the first word of the question to clue in to what type of answer is needed. Take a look at this document to help with what different exam words mean.

4. Use the given symbols.

If a problem has you solve something symbolically, use the given symbols. For example, a question might read, “Solve for the acceleration in terms of m, θ, and physical constants.” This means your answer should not have tension, friction, normal force, or any other variables in it.

5. Be clear and concise.

Most answers are designed that a simple sentence or two can explain what you need, except of course the paragraph-length response. Even for the paragraph, however, it is important to get to the point. Writing a diatribe about an unrelated concept shows that you do not truly know the principle at hand. For example, I posted about the 2017 AP Physics 1 paragraph-length question here.