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30 June, 2006 16:07
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The Tractricious tube
sculpture at
Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois.
The 16 story High Rise (Robert Wilson
Hall) and the hyperbolic
obelisk in the
Reflecting Pool at Fermilab, Batavia,
Illinois.
The Broken Symmetry Arch at
the West
entrance of Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois.
,
Welcome to AP Physics!
Mr. Ed Pascuzzi
The Physics Teacher
Glen Cove High School, Glen Cove, NY 11542
Drop me a Note!
*****************************************************
What is
AP Physics B
all about?
"Can I take the course, and can I
benefit from it?"
AP Physics B is a full year, 7.5 period
per week course that is equivalent to a full year of non-calculus based college
physics. The course is intended for those students who have successfully completed
Regents Physics (or its equivalent) with a course grade of at least 85 or better (truly
suggested grade is 90) and wish to intellectually challenge themselves with stimulating
physical problems. At Glen Cove High School, AP Physics B will address the needs of the
following
categories of college-bound students;
* Students interested in majoring in the fields of Biology,
Pre-Med (DDS
or MD), Nursing, Physical Therapy,
Sports Medicine or any other related medical
field who
want to exempt themselves from their college's Physics
requirement, without being exposed to the rigors of a
200+ person lecture hall and its associated inaccessible
lecturers. In high school, extra help is readily
available.
*
Students interested in majoring in Computer Science,
Engineering (including Electrical, Mechanical, Civil,
Aerospace and so on) who wish to be better prepared
when the time comes for them to take their college's
calculus-based introductory Physics course. At Glen
Cove, students will be covering a vast majority of this
course material without the worry of calculus to assist
in their problem solving efforts.
* Students studying fields of a non-scientific or
technical
nature who simply enjoy discovering the beauty of nature
and what physics is all about, who enjoyed Regents
Physics and are willing to do homework and who enjoy
an intellectual challenge.
The course from September to mid-May is geared toward preparing
the student to succeed when he or she takes the AP exam
on May 9, 2005.
For this purpose, I use class
discussions, demonstrations, reviews of physics
principles, sample problems and
quizzes, all
with a tremendous emphasis on
teaching students to solve
complex problems in mechanics, energy, electricity,
magnetism, thermodynamics and
relativity. Student's quarterly grades will be
composed primarily of homework (~ 30%) and
quizzes (~70%) with at least
one "free" week just prior to the
start of AP exams in May to be allotted for
reviews and a practice exam.
Following the completion
of the AP exam
schedule, students will be engaged in
a variety of advanced physics experiments.
As students begin to search for colleges, it is very
important that
everyone
realize that different universities view AP credit in different
ways, so it is essential
that the degree of credit granted to
the
student based on a particular AP grade
be clearly understood at the outset.
For example, a student attending a SUNY
college may be exempt from Freshman Physics
with an AP B grade of 4, whereas
a student attending MIT or Caltech
may receive no exemption, irrespective of the
AP B grade. Thus, it is essential to
be aware of the policies of your college(s) of
choice regarding AP
grades and course exemptions.
Lastly, it is very important to realize that AP Physics is
clearly one of, if the not
the most difficult college level courses offered for
pre-collegiate students. Thus,
if you expect to do well, you must have a very strong
work ethic, and must be careful
not to spread yourself too liberally
when it comes to extracurricular activities (i.e.
Masquers, Sports, Law Club, etc.) else it
may prove disastrous. Remember that it
is better to have not taken an AP course,
than to have taken it half-heartedly only
to receive an AP score of 1 or
2. Realize the implications of this on your transcripts,
and also realize that
you are not permitted to drop a course after 5 weeks from
the first day
of school have passed.
The text we are using is Physics 4th edition by Cutnell
& Johnson, John Wiley
& Sons. Should
you have any questions, please don't
hesitate to (contact me) or
call the
Science department at 516-759-7284.
