I agree with Raymond's assessment of this year's "B" exam. It demanded
more of an understanding of the topics being tested than in previous
years. I have been teaching AP Physics B for 9 years and am considering
possibly starting a section of the calculus based version in the near
future but need some advise. My plan is to, with the help of other
teachers and counselors, identify students that would be able to forgo
the first level of physics (Academic) and go straight into physics B as
Juniors. As seniors, they would be taking the C ver sion. I anticipate
that the physics"C" class would not exceed 10 students per year. In
past years, we have had one or two student per year prepare for the
calculus version independently. (some help from myself and the calculus
teacher)My question(s) are: What should I place the most emphasis on
when deciding on which students should be skipping Academic Physics?
(SAT, Chem grades?) What should I do to brush up on calculus based
physics? Thanks in advance, Roger P. Menard