APFIVE AP Physics 2 Exam Info
Download PDFThe AP Physics 2 Exam will test your understanding of the scientific concepts covered in the course units, including your ability to use algebra when solving problems related to quantum, atomic, and nuclear physics.
This is a hybrid digital exam. You’ll complete multiple-choice questions and view free-response questions in the Bluebook testing app. You’ll handwrite your free-response answers in paper exam booklets.
Calculators are permitted for this exam. See AP Exams Calculator Policy for the list of calculators approved for this course.
Reference materials, such as equations sheets and reference tables, are available for this course. Go to Reference Information for Specific AP Exams to find reference materials for AP Physics 2: Algebra-Based and exam day details.
AP Physics 2: Algebra-Based Exam
This is the regularly scheduled date for the AP Physics 2: Algebra-Based Exam.
Exam Components
Section 1: Multiple Choice
Questions are either discrete questions or question sets, in which students are provided with a stimulus or a set of data and a series of related questions.
Section 2: Free Response
This section contains 4 free-response questions, one of each of the following types:
- Mathematical routines
- Translation between representations
- Experimental design
- Qualitative/quantitative translation
Skills You'll Learn
Creating representations that depict physical phenomena
Conducting analyses to derive, calculate, estimate, or predict
Describing experimental procedures, analyzing data, and supporting claims
Units
Unit 9 – Thermodynamics
You’ll study heat, temperature, and thermal energy in contexts such as heat engines, heat pumps, and refrigerators.
Topics may include:
- Thermodynamic systems
- Pressure, thermal equilibrium, and the Ideal Gas Law
- Thermodynamics and forces
- Heat and energy transfer
- Thermodynamics and collisions
- Probability, thermal equilibrium, and entropy
On The Exam
15%–18% of exam score
Unit 10 – Electric Force, Field, and Potential
You’ll begin your study of electromagnetism by getting familiar with fundamental concepts such as electric charge and electric forces.
Topics may include:
- Electric systems and charge
- Charge distribution: Friction, conduction, and induction
- Electric permittivity
- Electric forces and free-body diagrams
- Gravitational and electromagnetic forces
- Electric charges and fields
- Electric flux
- Conservation of electric energy
On The Exam
15%–18% of exam score
Unit 11 – Electric Circuits
You’ll continue to examine the behavior of charged particles to learn about the components of a circuit, the path that an electric current travels on.
Topics may include:
- Definition and conservation of electric charge
- Resistivity and resistance
- Resistance and capacitance
- Kirchhoff’s loop rule
- Kirchhoff’s junction rule and the conservation of electric charge
On The Exam
15%–18% of exam score
Unit 12 – Magnetism and Electromagnetism
You’ll build on your knowledge of electrostatic forces and fields to explore the relationships between moving electric charges—electric currents—and the magnetic forces and fields they generate.
Topics may include:
- Magnetic systems
- Magnetic permeability and magnetic dipole moment
- Vector and scalar fields
- Monopole and dipole fields
- Magnetic fields and forces
- Forces review
- Magnetic flux
On The Exam
12%–15% of exam score
Unit 13 – Geometric Optics
You’ll be introduced to the different ways of thinking about how light interacts with materials, and how images are formed by mirrors and lenses.
Topics may include:
- Refraction, reflection, and absorption
- Images from lenses and mirrors
On The Exam
12%–15% of exam score
Unit 14 – Waves, Sound, and Physical Optics
You’ll be introduced to the study of waves, including ways to quantify a wave, such as amplitude, wavelength, period, frequency, and wave speed, and how light can be modeled as a wave.
Topics may include:
- Periodic waves
- Electromagnetic waves
- Sound
- Doppler Effect
- Interference and diffraction
On The Exam
12%–15% of exam score
Unit 15 – Modern Physics
You’ll be introduced to the concepts of modern physics and learn how these new models can resolve the conflicts and questions that Newtonian physics could not answer.
Topics may include:
- Radioactive decay
- Energy in modern physics (energy in radioactive decay and E = mc2)
- Mass–energy equivalence
- Blackbody radiation
- Properties of waves and particles
- Photoelectric effect
On The Exam
12%–15% of exam score