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Re: AP physics

At 08:56 5/9/96 EDT, you wrote:
They will be taking hs calc next year, but the AP
Physics study will be sort of as independent study.
Any recommendations?

My own slant was that the idea is poor, and not likely
to lead to success. I want to suggest they cover something
for fun such as Spacetime Physics.

Any thoughts on that?
Don Boys, Physics

This was my first year of physics, and I am only a junior in HS, yet I took
the AP-B Physics Exam. It was all independent study (on top of the regular
Regents course), with help sessions during study halls and afterschool.
There were ten people involved in the class, each first year physics
students, but only two of us did the real work involved. It's very difficult
to get your friends motivated, and our physics teacher is very liberal about
an individual's personal priorities.

We used the Cutnell/Johnson Physics 3rd Edition book (blue and white with a
snowboarder on the cover; 1995, John Wiley and Sons, Inc.) I felt that the
book was a little too color-graphic intense, even bar magnet diagrams were
in full color. It's designed to look like a television program (I think for
obvious reasons.) The text contains a good selection of questions, from
plug-and-chugs to real toughies. But the majority of questions focused on
numerical values and not concepts, however I felt that this years exam was
based more on concepts than numerical values.

For practice examinations, I purchased a Barron's Review Book. Unknowingly
on Barron's part, it was modeled after the pre-1996 exams (vs. 1996 the
easier exam.) The content was considerably different from the 1996 test
questions (part 1), although I do expect this to change with the 1997
release. FYI, the number correct I was scoring was in the 45-50 range on
the multi-choice on the practice tests, and on the '96 exam I omitted 3 and
guessed (educated) on about 10 or so. The part 2's were considerably
different in their design (old vs. '96), but I didn't think that they were
blow-offs on either exam series. I didn't use the Barron's book for these
problems, but instead went through previous part 2 questions. But every
little bit helps.

cache u l8r
--Chris

:) Christopher M. Maj ++++ Imajn8r
:) cmaj@buffnet.net ++++ http://www.buffnet.net/~cmaj
:) "Capital is the fruit of Labor; and thus, it belongs to Labor."
-Abraham Lincoln