AP Physics

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There are four Advanced Placement (AP) Physics courses administered by the College Board as part of its Advanced Placement program: the algebra-based Physics 1 and Physics 2 and the calculus-based Physics C: Mechanics and Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism. All are intended to be at the college level. Each AP Physics course has an exam for which high-performing students may receive credit toward their college coursework.^[1]

AP courses were first administered by the College Board in the 1955–1956 school year, with AP Physics being one of the ten courses. As college and university physics courses use different levels of mathematics, in 1969, the single AP Physics course was split into AP Physics B and AP Physics C. AP Physics B served as an algebra-based course for life science and medical students, whereas AP Physics C served as a calculus-based course for physical science and engineering students. AP Physics A, which would have served as a concept-based course with little to no mathematics, was also planned, but it was never materialized, as credit would not be offered for a college-level physics course without mathematics.^[2][3]

AP Physics B and AP Physics C both covered five major content areas: mechanics, fluids and thermal physics, electricity and magnetism, waves and optics, and atomic and nuclear physics. After just four years of being administered, in 1973, AP Physics C was further split into mechanics- and electricity and magnetism-based courses, leaving out the other content areas entirely.

Before 2006, students who took the AP Physics C exam paid only once and were given the choice of taking either one or two parts of the exam. Since then, the exam was split into two, with the mechanics exam administered right before the electricity and magnetism exam. After AP Physics B was discontinued in 2014, the calculator policy for all AP Physics exams was also changed so that calculators are now permitted on both the multiple-choice and free-response sections, as they were previously permitted on only the latter.

In 2014, AP Physics B was discontinued after a study by the National Research Council concluded that the course covered very important topics in physics in a shallow depth, with an emphasis on computation over conceptual understanding.^[4] To solve this problem, AP Physics B was subsequently split into AP Physics 1 and AP Physics 2, which are meant to be taken back-to-back in the span of two years instead of just one in order to give students enough time to understand the concepts at an appropriate depth. AP Physics 1 covered mechanics (including rotational mechanics, which were not covered in AP Physics B), some electricity, and waves, whereas AP Physics 2 covered the other content areas.

Until 2020, AP Physics 1 covered topics in electricity (including Coulomb's Law and resistive DC circuits), mechanical waves, and sound. These units were removed because they are included in AP Physics 2.^[5]

In February 2024, the College Board made revisions to the four AP Physics courses and exams that took effect from the 2024–2025 school year onwards. For the C-level physics courses, these changes were related to the number of questions and time allotted on the exams, while the B-level physics courses had their curricula changed. The unit covering fluids was moved from being the first unit of AP Physics 2 to being the last unit of AP Physics 1, which gave space in the AP Physics 2 curriculum for College Board to add more topics regarding waves and modern physics. For all four exams, the same format is now used, with 80 minutes for 40 multiple-choice questions and 100 minutes for 4 free-response questions (mathematical routines, translation between representations, experimental design and analysis, and qualitative/quantitative translation), totaling 180 minutes (3 hours).^[6] Previously, the AP Physics C exams were the shortest AP exams with 90 minutes each, which was why they could be taken back-to-back in the same window, but with the revisions now doubling the duration of those exams, taking them in the same window is no longer possible.

AP Physics 1 and AP Physics 2 were introduced in 2015, replacing AP Physics B.^[7] The courses were designed to emphasize critical thinking and reasoning as well as learning through inquiry.^[8] They are algebra-based and do not require any calculus knowledge.^[5]

AP Physics 1 covers Newtonian mechanics, analytical mechanics, and fluid mechanics, including:^[9]

• Unit 1: Kinematics
• Unit 2: Force and Translational Dynamics
• Unit 3: Work, Energy and Power
• Unit 4: Linear Momentum
• Unit 5: Torque and Rotational Dynamics
• Unit 6: Energy and Momentum of Rotating Systems
• Unit 7: Oscillations
• Unit 8: Fluids

AP Physics 2 covers thermodynamics, electromagnetism, waves and modern physics, including:^[10]

• Unit 9: Thermodynamics
• Unit 10: Electric Force, Field, and Potential
• Unit 11: Electric Circuits
• Unit 12: Magnetism and Electromagnetism
• Unit 13: Geometric Optics
• Unit 14: Waves, Sound, and Physical Optics
• Unit 15: Modern Physics

From 1969 to 1972, AP Physics C was a single course with a single exam that covered all standard introductory university physics topics, including mechanics, fluids, electricity and magnetism, optics, and modern physics.^[11] In 1973, the College Board split the course into AP Physics C: Mechanics and AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism. The exam was also split into two separate tests, each equivalent to a semester-length calculus-based college course.^[12][13] Until 2006, both exams could be taken for a single fee; since then, a separate fee is charged for each exam.

The two Physics C courses can be combined to create a year-long Physics C course that prepares students for both exams.

AP Physics C: Mechanics covers Newtonian mechanics and analytical mechanics, including:^[12]

• Unit 1: Kinematics
• Unit 2: Force and Translational Dynamics
• Unit 3: Work, Energy, and Power
• Unit 4: Linear Momentum
• Unit 5: Torque and Rotational Dynamics
• Unit 6: Energy and Momentum of Rotating Systems
• Unit 7: Oscillations

AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism covers electricity and magnetism, including:^[13]

• Unit 8: Electric Charges, Fields and Gauss's Law
• Unit 9: Electric Potential
• Unit 10: Conductors and Capacitors
• Unit 11: Electric Circuits
• Unit 12: Magnetic Fields and Electromagnetism
• Unit 13: Electromagnetic Induction

AP Physics B was divided into five different sections:^[2]

• Unit 1: Newtonian Mechanics
• Unit 2: Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Physics
• Unit 3: Electricity and Magnetism
• Unit 4: Waves and Optics
• Unit 5: Atomic and Nuclear Physics

Designed concurrently with AP Physics B and AP Physics C, AP Physics A was supposed to be a conceptual version of AP Physics B, employing little to no mathematics. AP Physics A never proceeded past the development stage, as colleges would not offer credit for the course.