Course

This examination is equivalent to a one-semester, calculus-based, college-level physics course, especially appropriate for students planning to specialize in physical science or engineering. The course explores kinematics, Newton's laws of motion, work, energy, and power, systems of particles and linear momentum, circular motion and rotation, and oscillations and gravitation. Introductory differential and integral calculus are used throughout the course. Includes a hands-on laboratory component comparable to a semester-long introductory college-level physics laboratory. Students should spend a minimum of 20 percent of instructional time engaged in hands-on laboratory work. Students ask questions, make observations and predictions, design experiments, analyze data, and construct arguments in a collaborative setting, where they direct and monitor their progress. Each student should complete a lab notebook or portfolio of lab reports. The AP Physics C: Mechanics Exam includes questions posed in a laboratory or experimental setting. Questions assess understanding of content as well as experimental skills. The exam may also include questions that overlap several major topical areas or questions on miscellaneous topics such as identifying vectors and scalars, vector mathematics, or graphing functions. Students can use a calculator on the entire AP Physics C: Mechanics and AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism Exams, including the multiple-choice and free-response sections. Scientific or graphing calculators, including the approved graphing calculators listed at www.collegeboard.org/ap/calculators, may be used, provided they have no unapproved features or capabilities.