Embedded Files
Susquehanna Valley Physics is looking forward to its second year of offering online, synchronous AP Physics C courses. We are also offering AP Physics 1 (an excellent option for students seeking a rigorous, first course in physics...see FAQ page).
For the 2026-2027 school year, we will be offering three different AP Physics C course options:
Option 1: Fast-Paced Dual Course: This option is an online, synchronous, advanced physics course that will follow the AP Physics C Mechanics course outline for 16 weeks in the fall semester and the AP Physics C Electricity & Magnetism course outline for 16 weeks in the spring semester. Students selecting this course must be able to commit significant amounts of time to the course (see prerequisites page). Students may also elect to take just one of the two semesters of this fast-paced option. Both AP® Physics C Mechanics and Electricity & Magnetism have been authorized by the College Board. The course structure will consist of hour-long synchronous sessions meeting each Wednesday and Friday at 2:00 pm ET via Zoom. These interactive sessions will use a combination of PowerPoint slides, active pen whiteboard, Poll Everywhere questions, and video demonstrations to review physics concepts from students' past course work and introduce students to calculus-based physics reasoning and problem-solving (see FAQ page for lesson excerpts). Special attention will be given to addressing common student misconceptions. Throughout the course, released AP multiple-choice and free-response problems from AP Classroom will be used to help students develop conceptual thinking and analytical problem-solving skills. A major goal of the course is to develop a deep understanding of the physics concepts that can be applied to any physics problem.
Laboratory activities will be completed at home on a weekly basis throughout the course, using commonly available equipment, video analysis, smartphone sensors, and online simulations. An office hour session will be held at a mutually agreeable time each week to give students an opportunity to ask questions about homework and/or laboratory work. Moodle will be used to post course content and distribute/collect assigned work.
Graded work will consist of weekly scanned and submitted homework and laboratory work and 3-4 major exams per semester. Exams will consist of multiple-choice questions administered online via AP Classroom (students must install a provided lockdown browser) and free-response questions taken via paper/pencil and scanned and returned for grading. Parents will be given a five-day window to administer and proctor each exam.
All class sessions will be recorded and posted on Moodle so that students may review the content as needed. Students who wish to take the course asynchronously (due to time zone differences or conflicts with other classes) may due so by utilizing the recorded videos.
Option 2: Full-Year Mechanics: This option is similar to option 1, except that the entire year (16 weeks in the fall and 16 weeks in the spring) will be devoted to studying AP Physics C Mechanics. The course structure will consist of hour-long synchronous sessions meeting each Wednesday and Friday at 4:00 pm ET via Zoom. The slower pace of the course will allow for homework and laboratory work to be completed on a bi-weekly basis. Once again, there will be 3-4 major exams per semester, but each exam will cover less material than in the fast-paced option.
Option 3: Parent-Graded Course: This lower-cost option provides students and parents with access to course materials without submitting student work to Susquehanna Valley Physics or receiving feedback of any kind (no course grade). Access will be granted to recorded synchronous class videos from both AP Physics C Mechanics and AP Physics C Electricity & Magnetism for an entire year after they're posted (mechanics videos will post during the fall semester and electricity & magnetism videos will post during the spring semester). Students and parents will also be given a schedule of homework assignments and laboratory work (including laboratory handouts with specific instructions) as well as access to AP Classroom, where they will be able to complete course progress checks at their leisure. Parents may proctor exams posted to AP Classroom and use the College Board's scoring guides to grade student work. An office hour session will be held at a mutually agreeable time each week to give students an opportunity to ask questions about homework and/or laboratory work.
New: For the 2026-2027 school year, we will be offering two different AP Physics 1 course options:
Option 1: AP Physics 1: This option is an online, synchronous, introductory physics course that will follow the AP Physics 1 course outline for 16 weeks in the fall semester and 16 weeks in the spring semester. This AP® Physics 1 course has been authorized by the College Board. The course structure will consist of hour-long synchronous sessions meeting each Monday and Thursday at 4:00 pm ET via Zoom. These interactive sessions will use a combination of PowerPoint slides, active pen whiteboard, Poll Everywhere questions, and video demonstrations to introduce students to mechanics and fluids (see FAQ page for lesson excerpts from AP Physics C class). Special attention will be given to addressing common student misconceptions. Throughout the course, released AP multiple-choice and free-response problems from AP Classroom will be used to help students develop conceptual thinking and analytical problem-solving skills. A major goal of the course is to develop a deep understanding of the physics concepts that can be applied to any physics problem.
Laboratory activities will be completed at home on a bi-weekly basis throughout the course, using commonly available equipment, video analysis, smartphone sensors, and online simulations. An office hour session will be held at a mutually agreeable time each week to give students an opportunity to ask questions about homework and/or laboratory work. Moodle will be used to post course content and distribute/collect assigned work.
Graded work will consist of weekly scanned and submitted homework and laboratory work and 3-4 major exams per semester. Exams will consist of multiple-choice questions administered online via AP Classroom (students must install a provided lockdown browser) and free-response questions taken via paper/pencil and scanned and returned for grading. Parents will be given a five-day window to administer and proctor each exam.
All class sessions will be recorded and posted on Moodle so that students may review the content as needed. Students who wish to take the course asynchronously (due to time zone differences or conflicts with other classes) may due so by utilizing the recorded videos.
Option 2: Parent-Graded Course: This lower-cost option provides students and parents with access to course materials without submitting student work to Susquehanna Valley Physics or receiving feedback of any kind (no course grade). Access will be granted to recorded synchronous class videos from AP Physics 1 for an entire year after they're posted (videos will begin posting during the fall semester). Students and parents will also be given a schedule of homework assignments and laboratory work (including laboratory handouts with specific instructions) as well as access to AP Classroom, where they will be able to complete course progress checks at their leisure. Parents may proctor exams posted to AP Classroom and use the College Board's scoring guides to grade student work. An office hour session will be held at a mutually agreeable time each week to give students an opportunity to ask questions about homework and/or laboratory work.
Required Course Materials:
AP Physics C: Each student will need to purchase a copy of the course textbook, Fundamentals of Physics, 10th ed. (Halliday, Resnick, and Walker), ISBN 978-1118230718. This can be purchased used online as a loose-leaf binder version for under $100. Students electing option 2 need only purchase Volume 1 of this text. Students will need a scientific calculator. Students will also need to purchase some simple laboratory supplies, the cost of which will not exceed $200 (option 1) or $160 (option 2). Many of these items (meterstick, mass set, ring stand, clamp) may be things that you've already purchased for previous courses.
AP Physics 1: Each student will need to purchase a copy of the course textbook, College Physics, 10th ed. (Serway and Vuille), ISBN 978-1-285-73702-7. This can be purchased used online for under $50. Students will need a scientific calculator. Students will also need to purchase some simple laboratory supplies, the cost of which will not exceed $200. Many of these items (meterstick, mass set, ring stand, clamp) may be things that you've already purchased for previous courses.
Cost:
AP Physics C: Course tuition is $850 for the entire 32-week course (2.0 credits) for Option 1, or $475 for either of the individual semesters (Mechanics or Electricity & Magnetism, 1.0 credit each). For Option 2, course tuition is $850 for the entire 32-week course (1.0 credit). All prices include the cost of provided video analysis software to be used in the lab. Students who register by March 1 will receive a discount of $50 off of the full-year course or $25 off either of the semester courses. A non-refundable $100 deposit is due at the time of registration with the balance due by July 1. A full refund (minus the deposit) will be given until September 4, 2026. A 50% refund (minus the deposit) will be given until October 2, 2026. Option 1 students who drop the electricity & magnetism portion of the course by January 8, 2027 will receive a refund of $300. (Seats fill on a first-come, first served basis, with a cap of 16. A minimum of 5 students will be needed for each course to run.)
Course tuition for Option 3 (Parent-Graded Course) is $400. This includes the cost of provided video analysis software to be used in the lab. A non-refundable $100 deposit is due at the time of registration with the balance due by July 1. Students who register by March 1 will receive a $50 discount. No refund is available after full payment has been received.
AP Physics 1: Course tuition is $850 for the entire 32-week course (1.0 credit). This includes the cost of provided video analysis software to be used in the lab. Students who register by March 1 will receive a discount of $50 off. A non-refundable $100 deposit is due at the time of registration with the balance due by July 1. A full refund (minus the deposit) will be given until September 4, 2026. A 50% refund (minus the deposit) will be given until October 2, 2026. Seats fill on a first-come, first served basis, with a cap of 16. A minimum of 5 students will be needed for the course to run.
Course tuition for Option 2 (Parent-Graded Course) is $400. This includes the cost of provided video analysis software to be used in the lab. A non-refundable $100 deposit is due at the time of registration with the balance due by July 1. Students who register by March 1 will receive a $50 discount. No refund is available after full payment has been received.
About the Instructor
Mark Ilyes earned a Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics from Grove City College and a Master of Education in Mathematics from Millersville University. He holds a Pennsylvania physics teaching certificate and taught physics (including AP Physics 1, 2, C Mechanics, and C Electricity & Magnetism) for 35 years. At Dallastown Area High School (a public school located in south-central Pennsylvania), he taught AP Physics C Mechanics and Electricity & Magnetism for 17 years and AP Physics 1 since its inception. He currently serves as an adjunct physics instructor at York College of Pennsylvania, and he's also taught physics classes at Penn State York as well as fast-paced high school physics for the Johns Hopkins CTY program. He founded Susquehanna Valley Physics in 2025 to share his passion for physics with the home-school community through online classes and tutoring. During his first year of teaching AP Physics C online, approximately 70% of his students who took the AP exams earned scores of 4 or 5. He has co-authored four articles that have been published in The Physics Teacher, and he enjoys teaching and sharing his love of physics with students of all ages! He and his wife are the parents of four children (a violin professor, a mechanical engineer, a boiler maker, and a nursing student attending Messiah University). In his spare time, he enjoys camping and hiking, especially in state and national parks! He also enjoys spending time with his wife, children, and grandchild.
AP® is a registered trademark of the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and do not endorse, Susquehanna Valley Physics.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse