Last year the College Board  announced that they are changing the Algebra Based AP Physics B course for the 2014-2015 school year and are replacing it with 2 new full year courses, Algebra based AP Physics 1 and 2, that place more emphasis on concepts and hands on activities rather than calculations.

Ms. Yau Jong Twu, AP Physics 1 teacher said, “At this point it only feels how different things are, but I am anxious to know how well the students get the material. I’m hoping that the different style helps the students to learn better as it takes time to get used to the material.”

Current AP Physics 1 student, junior Mitchell Moore, mentions “I’m not a big physics person. I was nervous about physics, but now I’m pleasantly surprised with it.”

Other students like junior Bruno To express no change in feelings. “I expect it to be hard and it is still hard and challenging. It’s really rigorous.” Bruno says. “The pacing is decent, but still it’s quick. It keeps on going.” He adds.

Ms. Twu says when she was designing the pacing and writing the schedule for AP Physics 1, “It feels that its not as hectic, but still rather hectic.”

Dr. Laurent Rigal, another AP Physics 1 teacher mentions “It’s a good thing that way more students are exposed [to physics] earlier in high school”.

Last year, there were about 126 juniors and about 5 seniors who took AP Physics B course a total of about 131 students and 5 AP Physics B sections.

This year, there are a total of about 182 students , of which there are about 47 sophomores, 120 juniors, and 15 seniors with 7 sections of AP Physics 1.

Despite the fact that sophomores can now take Physics 1, it has not affected other popular courses they take.

According to social studies teacher Mr. Kenneth Robertson,  the enrollment numbers for AP Government, another class that students can start taking their Sophomore year, remained the same. “No affect, I have the same number of students”, Mr. Robertson mentions.

Mr. Sean Brady, who teaches Microbiology and Physiology a semester science course which sophomores, juniors and seniors can take, said the course has not really been affected as well. This year there are 3 sections with a total of 99 students and last year there were 4 sections with the total of 104 students. “So class sizes changed, but the enrollment is fairly the same.” Mr. Brady says. “Its just that class sizes were smaller.”

AP Biology was also not affected. “There might have been a few less sophomores taking AP Bio” Ms. Peggy Brosnan mentions, “But it was not as significant as Genetics, we still have the same amount of classes so its not as noticeable.  AP Bio is mostly sophomores and seniors”

However Genetics, a science course which is offered to sophomores, juniors and seniors, has been affected. This year the enrollment of genetics, specifically juniors in the course was significant. “The enrollment of genetics went from 5 classes to 4,”  says Ms.  Brosnan who teaches Genetics, AP Biology and Research Practicum (Forestry). This was due to the fact that genetics is an elective course while AP Physics 1 is not. Ms. Brosnan mentions how “Everybody who wanted to take it [Genetics], could fit it in later, so eventually, they would be put into Genetics at some point.”

S/T Physics, a science class that science and technology juniors take has been affected by the change as well.

Ms. Twu says, “A lot of students who would not have taken S/T Physics, did.”

Last year there was only 5 sections of S/T Physics with about 20-30 students in each class. This year there are 6 S/T Physics classes with the class size ranging from 16-30 students, according to Dr. Victor Tebid who teaches the course.

“We lost 1 period of S/T students in AP Physics 1” Ms. Twu mentions.

Also, this year the AP Exams will change as a result. There will be two separate exams for AP Physics 1 and 2, but a major change would be that there are going to be questions relating to the labs. Ms. Twu says that “The lab questions we try to match up with the exams.”

“The structure change allows more time to do labs.” Dr. Rigal mentions. “It’s less calculations and more conceptional.”

Ms. Twu shares similar thought. “I like it,” she says. “The students learn about the process and you get the time to go over the lab before and after the lab complete..”

AP Physics 1 Students, like junior Brakenette Nelson, are liking the new labs and hands on activities.

“I got an answer correct. I understood what was going on because I did a similar thing on a lab” Nelson says,”Labs help me learn what is going on, I’m a visual learner.

Another junior Peter Lyn, shares a similar thought, “I think it [the labs] help with the learning process”

Kierra Smith, a junior says that “Instead of reading, you get to see it in front of you and it makes it easier to remember to understand.”