"Tapering" for the AP exam, and BOUX day link

Today was Boux Day in my AP classes.  Click on the link to see the classic Jacobs Physics post from a couple of years ago describing the final in-class activity before the AP exam.

I take a different approach to last-minute AP prep than most... I require that there be no studying after 5:00 Sunday evening for the Monday exam.  On Monday morning, students are exempt from class due to their afternoon exam; so we have a pool party. 

Could I instead have students study their arses off all weekend?  Sure.  At this point, though, academic burnout becomes a major concern.  My guys have been involved in numerous other AP exams all week.  Teachers for the other upcoming AP exams have been pounding the review both in- and out- of class.  The students' brains are hurting.

I've found considerable success by pushing my review time earlier in the school year.  Even though I do not do a complete and wonderful job of covering the last topics, I make sure to start true AP review in early April.  We did our last practice AP test around April 22.  Since then, we've been correcting that practice test, and doing a couple of review problems per day in class. 

Think of the last couple of weeks before the exam as a swimmer or marathoner "tapering" before an important race.  My students have built their endurance, they know their fundamentals.  The last-minute review time is NOT for learning new stuff that wasn't covered earlier in the year, or that was forgotten.  No, this time is for reminders of things that students already know.  Look at the "Boux Day" post for examples. 

Most importantly, my students head to the AP physics exam confident and relaxed.  Sure, I have a few students who could actually use a more intense practice session right before the test.  But the positive mood of the class, the feeling that everyone is as prepared as they're gonna be, and the knowledge that there's nothing more to do but perform is, to me, better than any number of finished review packets. 

Gauge your students' moods on Tuesday after the AP exam is over.  Ideally, they are either confident or fatalistic.  Either "Oh, yeah, most of those were straightforward," or, "Well, I knew how to do 1 and 5, but I confused myself on 2 and 6.  Can you use W=Fx to find the work done by an electric field?"  What you don't want to see is indignation ("I only got part (a), because the rest of that problem was so unfair!"), sour grapes ("I didn't know anything, but no one should be expected to do problems this hard"), or panic ("It was so tough that I froze up.  I only answered two of the free response questions!").

If you see reactions that you don't like on Tuesday, consider your overall approach to next school year.  I *do* get those untoward reactions from my students... but on our first test in October.  By May, it's quiet confidence that we want to see -- even if that confidence is a student knowing his limitations and pledging to get right the problems he knows how to do.

Good luck on Monday.  Feel free to email success stories.

GCJ

BOUX day

Every baseball announcer has a catch phrase; similarly, every physics teacher has some personal or instructional quirk that identifies and (hopefully) endears him or her to the class.

My own catch phrase is “BOUX!” This comes from an old Dave Barry column, in which he describes the difference between New York Mets fans (who say “Boo! You stupid bum!”) and Montreal Expos fans (who say “Boux! Voux dumme bumme!”) Or something like that.

Throughout the year, I write “Boux!” on papers that demonstrate major fundamental errors. For example, saying that a box must move to the right because it experiences a net force to the right – Boux! Saying that the acceleration of a ball is zero at the peak of its flight because its velocity is zero – Boux!

On the last day of class, I open a blank page in Microsoft word with the word “Boux!” at the top. The class is encouraged to shout out mistakes they might make that would earn a “Boux!”. This exercise serves several purposes. It is cathartic, in that the class sees that EVERYONE, even the smartest student, has at one time or another earned a boux. Furthermore, as students begin to think about the three hour exam coming up on Monday, they remind themselves of mistakes that they can easily avoid. My hope is that if someone begins, say, to use conservation of kinetic energy in a collision problem, that person might stop himself, saying “oh, wait, Mr. Jacobs would sure say “Boux!” to that, ha ha.”

The whole exercise is generally lighthearted and fun… and it produces an interesting study guide. Here’s a list of the class’s “Boux!” list from last year. Enjoy! And good luck on Monday.

1. Adding electric fields without considering direction

2. Putting centripetal force on a FBD

3. Mg always points down, not at an angle

4. Acceleration does not equal zero at the top of a ball’s flight

5. Units (or numerical values) on variable problems; no units on a numerical problem.

6. Adding voltages with directions

7. Putting a sign on the charge when calculating electric field

8. Using a point charge equation when a field was produced by the Almighty Bob

9. Putting anything other than a force on a FBD

10. One rope = one tension (Jacobs Law of tensions)

11. Object distances are never negative

12. Assuming equilibrium for an Fnet problem when a is not zero

13. Mixing up sin and cos when breaking vectors into components

14. Putting both components and a force itself on a FBD

15. Leaving a free response problem completely blank

16. Saying F=ma when only FNET = ma

17. Setting a random voltage = IR

18. Assuming that if heat is added, temperature goes up

19. Assuming KE is conserved in a collision

20. Using left hand for a right hand rule

21. Drawing rays that refract through a mirror or that reflect off of a lens

22. Using kinematics when acceleration is not constant.

23. Fishing for equations

24. Putting acceleration anywhere but toward the center in circular motion

25. A normal force does NOT necessarily equal mg!

26. Putting Fn not perpendicular to the surface

27. Measuring an optics angle not from the normal

GCJ