The class that studies the notion of roller coaster is experiencing its own twists, turns and ups and downs. Many juniors have suffered through AP level physics courses without receiving the AP credit. After several years of complaints from upset students, College Board has decided to give students the opportunity to complete the class with a GPA boost.

Last year, many students complained that the honors physics class was as hard as an AP class, and that they deserved more than the .5 GPA boost associated with an honors class. This year College Board and schools across the country worked to divide the class into multiple levels to accommodate the different levels of math proficiency among students.  The class has been split into three levels of AP classes: AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2, and AP Physics C along with a level of honors and a level of regular.

“The reason there are more levels of physics is it usually depends on what math you are in,” said Keay.

William Keay is one of the Physics teachers who has had to change the curriculum to accommodate the redesigned AP test. The new AP class is similar to last year’s honors class in respect to the material. One of the most important changes to the class is having to prepare the students for an AP exam.

“This year we have a little bit more of a time constraint, last year we were able to work around the snow days a little bit better,” said Keay.

Because it is the first year of this class, there have been some problems getting students prepared. The College Board has only released one practice test and 25 practice problems. Keay and other physics teachers are trying to find questions written by the exam’s authors but there is so little material available they have had to be creative when finding ways to help their students.

“The physics knowledge is not the problem here. We all know that doing well on a test is not about do you know the material, it is do you know that type of question,” said Keay.

Even though all these changes bring some major challenges, this new division of classes allows students to excel at their own level. They are able to challenge themselves without having to decide between two extremes like last year. Many students are now finding a passion and love for physics thanks to the changes this year.

“Whenever I solve a problem and it takes a really long time, but you get it right and there is this feeling like ‘I understand physics,” said junior Hannah Kiene.