AP Physics C

Your Course

in a Nutshell

Welcome AP Physics students!

Hello physics students! My name is Kelly Hicks and I am very excited to be your physics teacher for the 2024-25 school year. This is my first year at St. Andrew’s. Prior to moving to St. Andrew’s, I taught at Germantown High School for 13 years. Before that, I was a mechanical engineer primarily working in the aerospace field.

From the Course and Exam Description for AP Physics C: Mechanics published by College Board. 

The AP Physics C: Mechanics course outlined in this framework reflects a commitment to what physics teachers, professors, and researchers have agreed is the main goal of a college-level physics course: to help students develop a deep understanding of the foundational principles that shape classical mechanics. By confronting complex physical situations or scenarios, the course is designed to enable students to develop the ability to reason about physical phenomena using important science practices, such as explaining relationships, applying and justifying the use of mathematical routines, designing experiments, analyzing data, and making connections across multiple topics within the course.

Remember that all of your grades for assignments, quizzes, tests, etc. can be found in MySA. This website is just for you to access content for the course.

Your Course Content by Unit

Unit 1: Kinematics

(10-15%AP Exam Weighting)

1.1 Scalars and Vectors

1.2 Displacement, Velocity and Acceleration

1.3 Representing Motion

1.4 Reference Frames and Relative Motion

1.5 Motion in Two or Three Dimensions

Unit 2: Forces and Translational Dynamics

(20-25% AP Exam Weighting)

2.1 Systems and Center of Mass

2.2 Forces and Free Body DIagrams

2.3 Newton’s Third Law

2.4 Newton’s First Law

2.5 Newton’s Second Law

2.6 Gravitational Force

2.7 Kinetic and Static Friction

2.8 Spring Forces

2.9 Resistive Forces

2.10 Circular Motion

Unit 3: Work, Energy and Power

(15-25% AP Exam Weighting)

3.1 Translational Kinetic Energy

3.2 Work

3.3 Potential Energy

3.4 Conservation of Energy

3.5 Power