Oh My Gosh…
Just when you think you've seen everything amazing on the internet, you see something amazinger!
Enjoy!
The Time Has Come…
Well folks,
The time is here...
The AP Test is upon us.
Get a good nights sleep.
Study.
Be confident that you can do well!
You've got enough in your head to pass...the trick is pulling all that stuff out of your head at the last minute.
If you need any last minute pep talks (and don't mind a little PG-13 language), go to Google and search for "Patton movie speech". Replace all references to a certain early 1900's Germain fascist movements with "The AP Physics Test". I'm not going to link to it because Patton was a little "colorful" with his language, but it'll get your blood pumping. An alternative strategy would be to watch 300 and picture the Persians as the AP Physics Test.
I'm at school during 2nd period, playing spider solitare. If you need any help, feel free to drop by.
Seniors - if you have a Physics book and haven't turned it in yet, turn it in or give it to one of the Juniors at the test tomorrow.
The test is at 11:40 at Dallas Bay Baptist.
GOOD LUCK!!!
AP Test Help
Two resources that'll be helpful in preparing for the test:
All of the AP Free Response Questions have come from this site. The AP people provide not only the entire free reponse section, but also the complete answers. Pick a problem, spend 15 minutes working on it, then check and see how many points you would have gotten. It is critical to figure out what they typically look for in a problem...this can only be done by looking at a few of them.
Neha pointed out a good site that has some flashcards with the physics equations on them. I haven't looked over them too closely so I can't tell you if they might be missing a few but it looked pretty good at a quick glance. You can even make your own cards to help you out. Go here for the site.
I know we have several people in class who have adopted the attitude that they can't do the work and that they will fail the test. Fear not, you have been given all the tools. The trick is to figure out how to put all those tools together into a package that works. Don't go into the test with a defeated attitude. Imagine that you are going to get a 5 and try your hardest. I have no idea what the problems are but I know that you know enough to at least pass. Shoot for a 5!
I was talking with an older friend of mine the other day about some "real life" stuff and it was amazing how well the skills learned in AP Physics translate to the real world. You might not need to calculate torque in your job, but you will need to solve problems that seem complicated.
You have done a great job this year and you are well prepared...you can do it!
Homework – 5.4.10
The homework for today is to complete the questions I gave you today in class.
The answers are below (I hope I've used the correct key this time...I haven't done a good job of that lately...):
1-5 DDBED, 6-10 AADDA, 11-15 ADBDD, 16-20 EEBDE, 21-25 CCEBD, 26-30 ECCBC, 31-35 AEECE
Comment on this post with the numbers of questions you don't understand...this will help us use our time wisely tomorrow.
If you are taking the AP Calc test - GOOD LUCK!
The last week…
This is our last week before the AP Test. No pressure, but this is the most important thing you will ever do!
I will not be in class on Monday...the plan is for you to take a Practice AP Test. Take 45 minutes to take the test on Scantrons. After the test, check your answers...feel free to talk about the answers among yourself. After that, I have 3 AP Free Response Questions. Have those done for homework. Remember, you only have 45 minutes to do the three problems. You might want to limit yourself to 45 minutes to see what it feels like.
Tuesday will be the last day we are all together. We will be talking about how to identify which type of problem we need to do (conservation of energy/momentum, kinematics, torque, etc...).
One suggestion that I might give would be to make flash cards for each of the equations we have (you don't have to limit yourself to the equations on the equation sheet). On one side you could write (for example) "Torque and force equation", on the other you could write "τ=rFsinθ, θ is the angle from the force to the radius, ignore if perpendicular force" This will help you remember the equations for the multiple choice section and save time on free response (you shouldn't be looking at that equation sheet too often).
See you Tuesday!
4.27.10
Today we hurriedly covered equations for the position, velocity, and acceleration of an object at any one time undergoing Simple Harmonic Motion. We also talked about equations to find the period of a mass on a spring and a pendulum. We went quite fast and all of this is important for you to know (there will be probably ~5 mulitple choice questions covering this information). I wish we had more time, but we just don't.
To help you with this, your homework is to do the "Monterey" videos at this website. Watch the videos, answer the questions. Remember, they go fast, you can always stop the video and walk step by step through their solutions using the buttons at the top. Don't stress too much over the last sections which can sometimes contain pretty tough information that isn't worth stressing over.
The video we watched at the end of class today was one of the MIT lectures from Dr. Walter Lewin. You can download all of them from iTunes by clicking this link or you can go to the course website here, where you see all kinds of course material. We watched the end of lecture 10 today. Some of what he said didn't make much sense because we started at the end of the lecture. If you watch all the way through, it should be a little clearer.
There are a lot of great resources on the web to help you with this Physics. I know a lot of you haven't been very good about doing your homework. If you don't do some work at home, the $86 for the AP Test will be wasted. If you bust your behind, you can pass this test. It looks really good on a college application to say you've passed AP Physics-C...it's a tough class!
Cheat Much?
Check out this link for a new way to try to cheat. Don't try it in Physics or on my AP Test.
Help with SHM/Oscillations
We're going over a very big chapter in basically two days. Not ideal, but we just can't spend more time on it. Last year, all three of the free response questions were about these topics, I'm sort of betting they won't do that again.
This is chapter 12 in the book. While the book is good, we have a much better resource for getting help on these topics. Go to this website! It's got an incredible collection of resources that do an incredible job of explaining these topics using animations, problems, and pictures. Be sure to click on the videos labeled "Monterey". They are short videos that do a VERY good job of explaining the topics. We don't have enough time to cover all of this in class so you are responsible for getting the information yourself.
We will talk about generic simple harmonic motion Monday and get more specific (mass on spring, pendulum) on Tuesday.
Big Update!!!
I haven't posted anything to this page for a while. We have two weeks until the AP Test and we aren't finished with content yet. We will be finishing up all the content this week and practicing taking tests next week. Remember, the test is being held at Dallas Bay Baptist (click the link for a map) on Monday, May 10th. Make sure the be there no later than 11:45.
Here is a tentative schedule for the next two weeks:
- Monday, April 26
- Review the practice test we took on Friday
- Start talking about Simple Harmonic Motion/Oscillators
- Hooke's Law
- Do a few practice problems about SHM.
- Tuesday, April 27
- Review SHM and look at pendulum problems (guaranteed to be on the AP Test!)
- Mass on Spring Problems
- Wednesday, April 28
- Review some miscellaneous Physics topics that fell through the cracks.
- Thursday, April 29
- No class (juniors and seniors will be at the Senior Celebration)
- Friday, April 30
- Seniors gone
- We will look at strategies for determining when to use which technique.
- Go over equations (try to categorize them and tell when they can be used, etc...)
- Review uses of calculus on the AP Test and give some examples of how it can be used.
- Saturday, May 1
- Prom...make sure you bring some Physics notes to study while your date is in the bathroom/talking with friends/dancing with someone else because you are too focused on Physics.
- Monday, May 3
- I will not be here this day.
- I will have some review over the first 9-weeks information (1/2-D Motion, Forces, Energy, etc...)
- Tuesday, May 4
- 2nd Nine Weeks Review
- Wednesday, May 5
- AP Calculus Test
- Practice Multiple Choice Test and Free Response Questions
- Thursday, May 6
- AP English Lit Test
- Practice Multiple Choice Test and Free Response Questions
- Friday, May 7
- AP US and Euro History Tests.
- Review whatever needs review
- Motivational pep talk
- Seniors Last Day of High School EVER!!!
- Very few people will be here.
After the AP test, we'll play it by ear, talking about whatever you want to do. We can get into some EMag info, waves, nuclear, quantum, whatever you want.
We've got a lot to do and not enough time to do it (that's sort of the story of life). I have high hopes for this class on the test. Don't give up!
Update – 4.16.10
Two things:
First, don't forget to do your extra credit stuff if you want to do the extra credit. It should be a pretty nice weekend so go downtown and enjoy yourself. While you are there, you should get a delicious ice cream cone from the Ice Cream Show!
Second, I want everyone to attempt the AP Review this weekend. There are four questions straight off of AP tests about rotational dynamics. I can't attach a copy of the questions to the website (AP people wouldn't like that), but if you email me I can send you the document if you didn't pick it up). Please don't spend more than an hour to an hour and a half on this. It is crucial that everybody completes this worksheet because we are going to use it on Monday to look at how they will grade your test. If you don't do the work before-hand, Monday will be a waste of time for you (we are doing other stuff, but still...). Plus, this is graded.
Enjoy your weekend!