This year's AP Physics 2 exam is on May 7th, Thursday
The AP Physics 2 program began in 2015 - 2016 with the Fantastic Four, immediately after the testing phase of AP Physics 2 in 2014 - 2015. The program focuses on scientific analytical skills and an extremely diverse set of physics topics that enhance the understanding of physics and non-physics sciences. The program accepts students who have previously taken a Physics 1 course and can be considered to be a "continuation" of physics study.
The program has seen explosive growth in recent years with a variety of students that focus on physics connected study as well as challenging themselves to develop critical thinking and analytical skills that enhance their education.
The program typically consists of a mix of sophomores new to AP and some AP veteran seniors. AP scores and the population of each respective class are listed below. We commend the students at Westwood for having considerable growth in the short time that both the exam and the program has been around. We look forward to many more successful years of learning!
Currently Westwood ONLY offers AP Physics 2 as a second year course
The algebra-based physics courses typically align with non-physics majors such as exercise science, medical, pharmacy for example.
AP Physics 1 centers around traditionally studied topics such as:
Kinematics
Dynamics
Circular Motion and Gravitation
Conservation of Momentum and Energy
Rotational Motion
Fluid Mechanics
AP Physics 2 centers around non-traditional but highly diverse topics such as:
Thermodynamics
Static Electricity
DC and RC Circuits
Magnetism
Optics
Mechanical and Electromagnetic Waves
Modern Physics
These two exams typically correlate to the first and second semester of introductory algebra-based physics courses offered at the college level.
Currently Westwood offers AP Physics 2 available to all students who have taken 1 year of physics. It is possible to take any of the exams without taking the class, but it is not recommended without proper training and extensive independent study. If you are interested in taking one of the AP exams outside of AP Physics 2, please consult Mr. Chen for advice.
Westwood has an outstanding AP Physics 2 program whose scores regularly beat the NJ state and Global average. Below for full transparency are the statistics of all the classes that have taken the AP exam since the program started in 2015 - 2016 year.
In addition 2025 - 2026 is the pilot year for the new AP Physics C : Mechanics course that is exclusively available for seniors who are concurrently taking calculus.