Although by no means an exhaustive list, these 10 quick tips may help you secure that extra point or two on your upcoming Regents Physics exam.
- Mass and inertia are the same thing.
- To find the resultant, line your vectors up tip-to-tail, and draw a line from the starting point of the first vector to the ending point of the last vector.
- Any object moving in a circular path is accelerating toward the center of the circle.
- Acceleration of an object is equal to the net force on the object divided by the object’s mass.
- The normal force always points at an angle of 90° from the surface.
- Opposite charges and magnetic poles attract, likes repel.
- Gravitational forces and electrostatic forces both follow an inverse square law relationship, where the strength of the force is related to one divided by the square of the distance between the charges/masses.
- The force of gravity on an object, commonly referred to as weight, is equal to mg, where g is the gravitational field strength (also referred to as the acceleration due to gravity).
- The mass-energy equivalence can be calculated using E=mc^2. If a mass is given in universal mass units, however, you can do a straight unit conversion using 1u = 931 MeV.
- Protons and neutrons fall into the category of baryons, which are hadrons. Smaller particles, such as electrons, fall into the category of leptons. Mesons are rare, weird particles you probably haven’t heard of.
Most importantly, use your reference table. When in doubt, write down the information you’re asked to find, what you’re given, and use your reference table to help you narrow down what you should be doing. In the free response part of the test, make sure to show your work in detail with a formula, substitution with units, and an answer with units.
Find these and many more tips for success at APlusPhysics.com.
Dan,
I don’t mean this to sound nearly as snarky as it will undoubtedly come off, but doesn’t it make you feel a little bit unsatisfied to have to say things like points 9 and 10, which there’s almost no way for a first year student to understand with any amount of depth? I mean you might as well say for number 10:
zapfs and droq’s are frutmas, which are squidos. Smaller particles, such as reqils fall into the category of squadoz.
It reminds me Feynman’s great interview on the difference between knowing something and knowing the name of something.
Is there any effort to reform the Regents exam away from questions that test mindless memorization like this?
Again, I know that you don’t teach this way, but it seems to me that putting content like this on the exam, especially without expecting any depth of understanding (like how the heck we know the difference in mass between protons and electrons), is begging for most teachers to simply repeat statement 10 over and over until kids memorize it.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. I am completely baffled why, in a first-year introductory physics course, the mandated NY Regents curriculum includes the Standard Model of Particle Physics. And I have other concerns with the curriculum as well.
We focus all year on standard metric units, then when we get to modern physics, after teaching the students to use E=mc^2, we throw in the concept of universal mass units, and using the provided formula sheet, find the energy equivalence by doing a unit conversion. Yes, it can get you the right answer, but it does nothing for what should be our real goal… student understanding. The provided reference table (formula sheet) even tells students about current and voltage relationships separately for serial and parallel circuits — they don’t even have to understand circuits, but can read formulas right off the table.
Throughout the year I do my best to go beyond the state curriculum and focus more on big-picture concepts and deeper understandings rather than choosing the best answer or solving for a meaningless number. Once we get to our last few weeks of school, however, we have to focus on obtaining the highest scores possible (for a variety of reasons that are undergoing intense debate here in NY), so as we go into review mode, I start teaching to the test in an effort to get every one of my students the highest score possible (following a discussion with the kids about why we’re doing what we’re doing.)
Even more troubling, but certainly true, I had a student at the end of last year who explained to our entire class “look guys, you don’t have to understand physics to pass the exam, you just have to know how to use your reference table.” And he was right. I don’t fault the test writers, it’s very hard to write a test that tests understanding rather than computational skills, especially when a six-page formula sheet for the exam is standard, and they are under extreme budget pressures, and have many, many, many years of similar past exams upon which they’re expected to base future test questions.
The state has been going through some financial difficulties, highlighted in the educational arena, and rumors abound that the Regents Exams may be on their last legs… this is flanked by recent actions that may allow up to 40% of annual teacher evaluations to be based on student scores on these standardized tests.
In short, you’re absolutely right, questions such as these (as well as other topics) become almost rote memorization rather than practical knowledge. I’m looking forward to seeing what changes are coming, but apprehensive we’re going the wrong way. In either case, I will teach for understanding throughout a majority of the year, but won’t allow my students standardized exam scores to suffer for it, even if it means going against my better judgment and teaching to the test.
Thanks for the great feedback!!!
Dan,
Are all schools required to take the regents? I remember seeing something about how Frank was able to exempt his school from it—is that something that is possible for other schools to do?
State school are not required to take the Regents, but our district requires it. I’m hoping that with the AP-B split we can migrate our Regents Physics into AP-1 and call it a win-win situation.
More details on my thoughts on the NY Regents… http://aplusphysics.com/flux/physics-news/three-wishes-for-standardized-exams-in-2011/
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My son needs to pass this classs or the high school wont allow him to graduate. Which makes no sense since he has fulfilled all new york state requirement.
Can’t say as I can be of much help here, as I’m not aware of the various high schools’ graduation requirements.