Contemplanda
Contemplanda course syllabus
AP® Physics 1: Algebra-Based
A Contemplanda online course.
This course follows the College Board's published AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based framework.
AP® Physics 1: Algebra-Based is an introductory college-level physics course. The College Board's framework covers kinematics; force and translational dynamics; work, energy, and power; linear momentum; torque and rotational dynamics; energy and momentum of rotating systems; oscillations; and fluids. Its main goal is a deep understanding of the foundational principles of classical mechanics, and students build that understanding by developing models of physical phenomena.
The College Board describes AP Physics 1 as the equivalent of the first course in an introductory college course sequence in algebra-based physics. Its framework asks students to reason about physical phenomena using science practices such as explaining relationships, applying and justifying the use of mathematical routines, designing experiments, analyzing data, and making connections across topics in the course.
The College Board's AP Physics 1 framework has eight units, arranged in a sequence frequently found in college courses and textbooks, and the AP Exam assesses all eight. The framework sets out what colleges and universities expect students to know and be able to do to qualify for college credit or placement.
Course at a glance
- Course title
- AP Physics 1
- Publisher
- Contemplanda
- Framework
- Follows the College Board's published AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based framework
- Structure
- 11 units over two semesters
- Lessons
- 66 lessons
- Credit
- Not awarded by Contemplanda
- Enrollment
- Through the student's school
- Course page
- www.contemplanda.com/courses/ap-physics-1
Credit and enrollment
Contemplanda does not award high school credit. A student who wants credit for the course should ask their own school whether it will accept it.
Under College Board rules, a course may carry the AP designation on a student's transcript only if it is authorized through the College Board's AP Course Audit.
Schools order course seats for their students by writing to info@contemplanda.com, and a student enrolls through their school.
Students enrolled through Contemplanda Direct sign in at direct.contemplanda.com. A student whose school delivers the course signs in on the school's own portal instead.
How the course works
- Each topic lesson combines one to two videos, written explanations with typeset mathematics, practice, and graded checks, and most lessons include graphs.
- After a wrong answer, the practice keeps drawing questions.
- Many questions have hints that open one step at a time. When a question has one, the next hint is offered after a wrong answer. An answer given after opening a hint counts in full toward the practice streak and the mastery levels, but the top level, mastered, also requires at least one graded question answered correctly without opening a hint.
- Answers take many forms: symbolic expressions written in terms of given quantities; free-body diagrams built; vectors drawn on a grid, added head to tail, and resolved into components; positions marked on motion diagrams; points and intervals marked on a graph; graphs sketched from a description or from another graph; straight lines fitted to data points; energy bar charts filled in; forces placed along a beam about a pivot; velocities after a collision predicted; fluid problems worked from a diagram; situations ranked by a physical quantity; explanations, derivations, and free-response checks completed from given choices; and multiple-choice and numeric answers.
- Most figures in the lessons are live graphs that the student can pan and zoom, and 15 of those graphs let the student change a parameter with a slider.
- Every topic lesson has a graded check whose questions are drawn for each student from a pool.
- Every figure has a written text description.
Recommended preparation
The College Board expects students to have completed Geometry and to be taking Algebra II, or an equivalent course, at the same time as AP Physics 1. The College Board's framework includes basic use of trigonometric functions, which students can learn either in that mathematics course or in AP Physics 1 itself.
Units and lessons
Every published lesson, by semester and unit.
Topic numbers are the College Board's: topic 6.3 is unit 6, topic 3.
Semester 1
College Board unit 1: Kinematics
Assessed on the AP Exam
Scalar and vector quantities, and vector sums in one dimension; displacement, average velocity, and average acceleration; how the position, velocity, and acceleration of an object are described with motion diagrams, graphs, equations, and narrative descriptions, including the kinematic equations for constant acceleration; reference frames, and the motion of objects as observers in different inertial reference frames measure it; and the perpendicular components of a vector and the motion of an object moving in two dimensions.
Kinematics
Topics 1.1 to 1.5- 11.1 Scalars and vectors in one dimension
- 21.2a Displacement, velocity, and acceleration: displacement and velocity
- 31.2b Displacement, velocity, and acceleration: acceleration
- 41.3a Representing motion: graphs of motion
- 51.3b Representing motion: equations of constant acceleration
- 61.4 Reference frames and relative motion
- 71.5 Vectors and motion in two dimensions
College Board unit 2: Force and Translational Dynamics
Assessed on the AP Exam
Systems and the location of a system's center of mass; forces as interactions between two objects or systems, and the diagrams that represent the forces exerted on an object or system; Newton's third law and paired forces; the conditions under which a system's velocity stays constant or changes, by Newton's first and second laws; the gravitational interaction, when the gravitational force can be treated as constant, apparent weight, and inertial and gravitational mass; kinetic and static friction; the force exerted by an ideal spring; and motion in a circular path, including circular orbits and Kepler's third law.
Force and translational dynamics
Topics 2.1 to 2.9- 12.1 Systems and center of mass
- 22.2 Forces and free-body diagrams
- 32.3 Newton's third law
- 42.4 Newton's first law
- 52.5 Newton's second law
- 62.6 Gravitational force
- 72.7 Kinetic and static friction
- 82.8 Spring forces
- 92.9 Circular motion
College Board unit 3: Work, Energy, and Power
Assessed on the AP Exam
Translational kinetic energy; the work done on an object or system by a force or a collection of forces; the potential energy of a system; the energies present in a system, conservation of mechanical energy, and how the choice of system determines whether the energy of that system changes; and power, the rate at which energy is transferred into or out of a system or converted from one type to another within it.
Work, energy, and power
Topics 3.1 to 3.5- 13.1 Translational kinetic energy
- 23.2 Work
- 33.3 Potential energy
- 43.4 Conservation of energy
- 53.5 Power
College Board unit 4: Linear Momentum
Assessed on the AP Exam
The linear momentum of an object or system; impulse, and the relationship between the impulse exerted on an object or system and its change in momentum; conservation of linear momentum, and how the choice of system determines whether the momentum of that system changes; and elastic and inelastic collisions, in which the total kinetic energy of the system stays the same or decreases.
Linear momentum
Topics 4.1 to 4.4- 14.1 Linear momentum
- 24.2 Change in momentum and impulse
- 34.3a Conservation of linear momentum: one dimension
- 44.3b Conservation of linear momentum: two dimensions
- 54.4a Elastic and inelastic collisions: inelastic collisions
- 64.4b Elastic and inelastic collisions: elastic collisions
- 7Free-response workshop: mathematical routines and qualitative-quantitative translation
Semester 2
College Board unit 5: Torque and Rotational Dynamics
Assessed on the AP Exam
Rotational kinematics, with angular displacement, angular velocity, and angular acceleration; how the linear motion of a point on a rotating rigid system corresponds to its rotational motion; the torques exerted on a rigid system; rotational inertia, including about an axis that does not pass through the system's center of mass; and the conditions under which a system's angular velocity stays constant or changes, by Newton's first and second laws in rotational form.
Torque and rotational dynamics
Topics 5.1 to 5.6- 15.1 Rotational kinematics
- 25.2 Connecting linear and rotational motion
- 35.3 Torque
- 45.4 Rotational inertia
- 55.5 Rotational equilibrium and Newton's first law in rotational form
- 65.6 Newton's second law in rotational form
College Board unit 6: Energy and Momentum of Rotating Systems
Assessed on the AP Exam
Rotational kinetic energy; the work done on a rigid system by a torque; angular momentum and angular impulse, and how an angular impulse changes the angular momentum of an object or rigid system; conservation of angular momentum, and how the choice of system determines whether its angular momentum changes; the kinetic energy and motion of a system that rolls with or without slipping; and the motion of two objects that interact only through gravitational forces, such as a satellite in orbit.
Energy and momentum of rotating systems
Topics 6.1 to 6.6. Also teaches topic 2.9.- 16.1 Rotational kinetic energy
- 26.2 Torque and work
- 36.3 Angular momentum and angular impulse
- 46.4 Conservation of angular momentum
- 56.5 Rolling
- 6Free-response workshop: translation between representations
- 76.6 Motion of orbiting satellites
College Board unit 7: Oscillations
Assessed on the AP Exam
Simple harmonic motion as a special case of periodic motion, produced by a restoring force proportional to an object's displacement from its equilibrium position; the frequency and period of an object in simple harmonic motion; its displacement, velocity, and acceleration, and the equations and graphs that represent them; and the mechanical energy of a simple harmonic oscillator.
Oscillations
Topics 7.1 to 7.4- 17.1 Defining simple harmonic motion (SHM)
- 27.2a Frequency and period of SHM: a mass on a spring
- 37.2b Frequency and period of SHM: the simple pendulum
- 47.3 Representing and analyzing SHM
- 5Free-response workshop: experimental design and analysis
- 67.4 Energy of simple harmonic oscillators
College Board unit 8: Fluids
Assessed on the AP Exam
The properties of fluids, including density, and the ideal fluid; the pressure exerted on a surface by a force and the pressure exerted by a fluid; the conditions under which a fluid's velocity changes, and the buoyant force a fluid exerts on an object; and fluid flow, described by conservation of mass for an incompressible fluid and, through Bernoulli's equation, by conservation of mechanical energy.
Fluids
Topics 8.1 to 8.4- 18.1 Internal structure and density
- 28.2 Pressure
- 38.3 Fluids and Newton's laws
- 4Free-response practice set: all four question types
- 58.4 Fluids and conservation laws
AP practice exam 1
- Practice exam 1, part 1: multiple choice
- Practice exam 1, part 2: multiple choice
- Practice exam 1, part 3: free response
- Practice exam 1, part 4: free response
- Practice exam 1, part 5: scoring and corrections
AP practice exam 2
- Practice exam 2, part 1: multiple choice
- Practice exam 2, part 2: multiple choice
- Practice exam 2, part 3: free response
- Practice exam 2, part 4: free response
- Practice exam 2, part 5: scoring and corrections
Circuits (enrichment)
Outside the College Board framework and not on the AP Exam.
It is not graded: none of its four lessons has a graded check.
- Current and resistance
- Series circuits
- Parallel circuits
- Power and brightness
Science practices
The College Board names three science practices for AP Physics 1, which students develop during the course and which form the basis of many tasks on the AP Exam. The multiple-choice section assesses Practices 2 and 3, and the free-response section assesses all three.
1Creating Representations
Creating representations that depict physical phenomena.
- 1.A
- Create diagrams, tables, charts, or schematics to represent physical situations.
- 1.B
- Create quantitative graphs with appropriate scales and units, including plotting data.
- 1.C
- Create qualitative sketches of graphs that represent features of a model or the behavior of a physical system.
2Mathematical Routines
Conducting analyses to derive, calculate, estimate, or predict.
- 2.A
- Derive a symbolic expression from known quantities by selecting and following a logical mathematical pathway.
- 2.B
- Calculate or estimate an unknown quantity with units from known quantities, by selecting and following a logical computational pathway.
- 2.C
- Compare physical quantities between two or more scenarios or at different times and locations in a single scenario.
- 2.D
- Predict new values or factors of change of physical quantities using functional dependence between variables.
3Scientific Questioning and Argumentation
Describing experimental procedures, analyzing data, and supporting claims.
- 3.A
- Create experimental procedures that are appropriate for a given scientific question.
- 3.B
- Apply an appropriate law, definition, theoretical relationship, or model to make a claim.
- 3.C
- Justify or support a claim using evidence from experimental data, physical representations, or physical principles or laws.
Assessment
Each topic lesson includes graded checks.
Graded questions are scored automatically, and all graded work counts toward the student's mastery record, which shows each skill as attempted, familiar, proficient, or mastered.
Contemplanda publishes no grade weighting for this course. A school that decides to grant credit for it also decides how the work counts toward a grade.
Academic integrity
Work in the course must be the student's own.
Answer keys for graded questions are never sent to the student's device.
Calculator
The College Board's framework asks students to conduct analyses to derive, calculate, estimate, or predict, and a four-function, scientific, or graphing calculator is allowed on both sections of the AP Physics 1 Exam. Students also have an equation sheet on the exam, the AP Physics 1 Table of Information: Equations, which the course and exam description includes.
During the school year, the College Board's course and exam description suggests activities in which students graph a function on a graphing calculator or on paper. Students may also use the web or app version of the Desmos graphing calculator during the year, but on the AP Exam the Desmos calculator must be the one built into the testing app.
A student preparing for the AP Exam should practice with a calculator of a kind allowed on it, such as the Desmos scientific calculator built into the exam's testing app.
The AP Exam
The AP Physics 1 Exam assesses all eight units and all three science practices. It lasts 3 hours and has two sections.
Section I: Multiple-choice questions
- Questions
- 42
- Time
- 85 minutes
- Share of score
- 50%
- Calculator
- Four-function, scientific, or graphing calculator allowed
Section II: Free-response questions
- Questions
- 4
- Time
- 95 minutes
- Share of score
- 50%
- Calculator
- Four-function, scientific, or graphing calculator allowed
Under the College Board's calculator policy, the Desmos scientific and graphing calculators are both built into the testing app, and students may also bring up to two permitted handheld calculators.
The free-response section has one question of each of four types, in this order: Mathematical Routines, worth 10 points; Translation Between Representations, worth 12 points; Experimental Design and Analysis, worth 10 points; and Qualitative/Quantitative Translation, worth 8 points.
Students answer the multiple-choice questions and read the free-response questions in the College Board's digital testing app, and they handwrite their free-response answers in a paper booklet.
Scores are reported on a scale of 1 to 5.
This is the exam format in effect from the May 2027 exam, as set out in the College Board's course and exam description for fall 2024 and its clarifications and corrections.
The AP Exam is given in schools in May.
A student who takes the AP Exam at a school other than the one where they take the course, or who takes the exam without taking the course, gets a join code from the AP coordinator at the school where they will test and joins an exam-only section there.
Materials and technology
- Where the course runs
- In a web browser, through Contemplanda Direct or inside a school's own platform
- AP Exam calculator
- Four-function, scientific, or graphing calculator allowed
- Textbook
- None required. The course's own lessons are the text.
- Course framework
- apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-physics-1