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Physics C: Mechanics Course Requirements
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The AP Program unequivocally supports the principle that each individual school must develop its own curriculum for courses labeled "AP." Rather than mandating any one curriculum for AP courses, the AP Course Audit instead provides each AP teacher with a set of expectations that college and secondary school faculty nationwide have established for college-level courses. AP teachers are encouraged to develop or maintain their own curriculum that either includes or exceeds each of these expectations; such courses will be authorized to use the "AP" designation. Credit for the success of AP courses belongs to the individual schools and teachers that create powerful, locally designed AP curricula.
The AP Physics C: Mechanics course should be designed by your school to provide students with a learning experience equivalent to that of a semester-long, calculus-based college course in physics that includes a laboratory component. Your course must be devoted to Newtonian mechanics. Introductory differential and integral calculus is used throughout the course and on the AP Physics C Exams.
Schools' AP Physics C courses are typically designed to be taken by students after the completion of a first-year high school physics course. Prior or concurrent course work in calculus is highly recommended and is necessary for success in Physics C. Graphing calculators are recommended (but not required) for use during the course and during the free-response section of the exam. Students are encouraged to keep copies of their laboratory work for use in determining college credit or placement.
All students who are willing to accept the challenge of a rigorous academic curriculum should be considered for admission to AP courses. The College Board encourages the elimination of barriers that restrict access to AP courses for students from ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in the AP Program. Schools should make every effort to ensure that their AP classes reflect the diversity of their student population.
High schools offering this exam must provide the exam administration resources described in the AP Coordinator's Manual.
AP Physics Curriculum Alignment
The AP Program has embarked on an ambitious effort, funded by the National Science Foundation, to align the AP Physics C: Mechanics course and exam with introductory college courses that research identifies as best facilitating deep learning. We anticipate that changes will be announced in 2007 but not implemented until, at earliest, the May 2010 AP Physics C: Mechanics Exam, providing several years for raising awareness and building an understanding of these changes before they are implemented.
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Requirements
To request authorization to label a course "AP," complete the following two steps:
- Complete and submit an AP Course Audit form, on which the teacher and principal attest that their course includes or exceeds the following curricular requirements delineated by college and university faculty.
- Submit an electronic copy of the course syllabus that demonstrates inclusion or improvement on the curricular requirements (see Syllabus Preparation Guidelines). If your course does not include one or more of the curricular requirements but merits designation as a college-level course, see Instructions for Submitting Materials for the process for describing alternate approaches to the course.
 Syllabus Preparation Guidelines
Instructions for Teachers
Instructions on how to submit AP Course Audit materials via the Web will be posted on AP Central and mailed to principals in January 2007.
Curricular Requirements
- The teacher has read the most recent AP Physics Course Description, available as a free download on the AP Physics C: Mechanics Course Home Page.
AP Physics C: Mechanics Course Home Page
- The course covers Newtonian mechanics in depth and provides instruction in each of the following six content areas outlined in the Course Description:
- Kinematics
- Newton's laws of motion
- Work, energy, and power
- Systems of particles, linear momentum
- Circular motion and rotation
- Oscillations and gravitation
- The course utilizes guided inquiry and student-centered learning to foster the development of critical thinking skills.
- Introductory differential and integral calculus is used throughout the course.
- The course includes a laboratory component comparable to a semester-long, college-level physics laboratory. Students spend a minimum of 20% of instructional time engaged in laboratory work. A hands-on laboratory component is required. Each student should complete a lab notebook or portfolio of lab reports. Note: Online course providers utilizing virtual labs (simulations rather than hands-on) should submit their laboratory materials for the audit. If these lab materials are determined to develop the skills and learning objectives of hands-on labs, then courses which use these labs may receive authorization to use the "AP" designation.*
Resource Requirements
- The school ensures that each student has a calculus based college-level physics textbook (supplemented when necessary to meet the curricular requirements) for individual use inside and outside of the classroom.
- The school ensures that students have access to scientific equipment and all necessary materials for students to conduct hands-on, college-level physics laboratory investigations as outlined in the teacher's course syllabus.
* This requirement was revised on July 13, 2006.
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