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Re: AP Physics B Exam

I read with interest your comments on the Physics B exam.

Since no caclulators were allowed on Part I, you should have been instructed
to expect interger, or "easy fraction" type numeric answers.

At 06:34 PM 5/7/96 -0400, you wrote:
I'm junior in high school who follows this list, and I would just like to
give my comments on the Advanced Placement Physics B exam yesterday.

The section I multi-choice was _much_ easier than the practice tests that I
had been taking from the Barron's Review Book. The numbers came out to
integers almost every time, probably due to the exclusion of calculators on
this part. I omitted 3 questions, and felt very confidant of the rest of my
answers.

the short answer questions test if you know the FORM of the formula - what
will happen if you increase one variable or decrease another. You do not
have to know the EXACT formula, but you DO have to know what affects what,
and in which direction. At least that is what I have been told, and how I
intend to teach AP Physics next year (if I cannot avoid it!) I have not
seen the short answer questions this year - any further comments would be
appreciated

In contrast with the many theories on 'crib sheets', the only formula that I
needed to look up (on section II) was the period of oscillation of a spring.
The formula sheet was not provided on section I, even though this section
did require knowledge of a _lot_ of formulas. This was confusing to me, I
thought that the whole point of the sheet was for students to not have to
memorize the formulas, but it was still necessary. Then again, the whole
idea of assessing one's knowledge on a multi-choice test perplexes me.

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



Richard M. Langer Gateway High School,
Physics Teacher 5101 McRee Ave.
rlanger@dtd1.slps.k12.mo.us St. Louis, MO 63110