Robert Jansen - Barron’s SAT Subject Test Physics

AbouttheAuthorsRobert Jansen teaches Advanced Placement Physics at Aliso Niguel High School in AlisoViejo,California.HehastaughtAdvancedPlacementPhysicsBsince1998and the complete Advanced Placement Physics C course, including electricity and magnetism, since 2001. He holds a bachelors degree in psychobiology from the University of California, Los Angeles and a masters degree in education from Pepperdine University. He gravitated toward teaching physics due to the challenging materialandasustainedbeliefthatphysicsdoesnotneedtobemysteriousanddifficult, butrathercomprehensibleandachievable.Theresulthasbeenalargeandcompetitive physicsprogramwhereeachyearover220studentsparticipateintheAPPhysicsBand Ccourses.Theoverarchinggoalispreparednessandconfidenceforstudentswhowill bestudyingscienceduringtheirundergraduateyears. Greg Young has been teaching high school science for more than twenty years. He currently teaches Honors Physics and Chemistry at San Clemente High School in San Clemente,California.HeholdsabachelorsdegreeinbiochemistryfromtheUniversity ofCalifornia,SanDiegoandamastersdegreeinscienceeducationfromUSC.Having alwaysbeeninterestedinscienceandhowtomakeitrelevanttoothers,Gregsinterest in teaching is being able to create interactive lessons that engage students in their learning and form a relevant context for difficult concepts in physics and chemistry. Sciencemadeinterestingisscienceworthlearning.

Copyright2016,2013byBarronsEducationalSeries,Inc. Allrightsreserved. Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproducedordistributedinanyformor byanymeanswithoutthewrittenpermissionofthecopyrightowner. Allinquiriesshouldbeaddressedto: BarronsEducationalSeries,Inc. 250WirelessBoulevard Hauppauge,NewYork11788 www.barronseduc.com eISBN:978-1-4380-6856-5 Revisede-Bookpublication:September2016 CONTENTS WelcometoBarron'sSATPhysics,2ndEditione-Bookversion. Please note that since this is an e-Book illustrations, graphs, charts, tables, and equationsmayappeardifferentlydependingonwhichdeviceyouareusing.Please adjustyoursettingsaccordingly.

This e-Book also contains hundreds of hyperlinks that will help you navigate throughthecontent,bringyoutohelpfulresources,andallowyoutoclickbetween allquestionsandanswers. GoodluckonyourSATPhysicsexam! T heSATSubjectTestinPhysicsisdesignedtoassesstheoutcomeofcompletinga college-preparatory physics course in high school. Although state and course requirements for physics may vary, all college-preparatory physics courses should addresscertaincoretopicsandprinciples.TheSATSubjectTestinPhysicsfocuseson thiscommonground.Thegoalofthisbookistoreviewthemaintopicsandconcepts thatarelikelytoappearontheSATSubjectTestinPhysicsandhelpyoupreparefor theexam. The chapters are organized to maximize the effectiveness of your study time. Each chapterbeginswithasummaryofthetopicstobecovered,bulletedpointsofthemajor topics, and a list of new variables discussed in the chapter. QRcodesappearthroughoutthetext,nexttokeyexamples.EachQRcodelinkstoan onlinevideoexplanationoftheexampleproblemitisassociatedwith.Thefollowing QRcodeislinkedtothetableofcontentsforallofthevideosavailableforthistext. QRcodesappearthroughoutthetext,nexttokeyexamples.EachQRcodelinkstoan onlinevideoexplanationoftheexampleproblemitisassociatedwith.Thefollowing QRcodeislinkedtothetableofcontentsforallofthevideosavailableforthistext.

Theavailablevideosequencessolveselectedexampleproblemsinadynamicmanner. In addition to the chapters that review the exam content, the book includes four completepracticeexams.Thefirstpracticeexamshouldbeusedasadiagnostictestto assess your current level of understanding of the subject matter and to establish a baseline score to improve upon. Ideally, you should take this first diagnostic examinationusingthesameguidelinesasanactualSATSubjectTestinPhysics: Timelimitof1hourfor75multiple-choicequestions. NOcalculatorsallowed. Nophysicsformulasheetisallowed,andnonewillbeprovided. Subtractpointforeachincorrectanswer. Subtractpointforeachincorrectanswer.

Answersleftblankreceive0points. TableofContentsforVideoExampleProblems(Taporclickthebelow) A complete list of test-taking parameters and how to find your approximate raw score is provided near the end of this introduction. You should take the other three examinationsafteryouhavecompletedallorportionsofyourreview. Differentstudentswillapproachthisreviewinavarietyofways.Somemaychoose toworkmethodicallythrougheachchapter,whichwillrequirestartingwellbeforethe actual exam date and setting aside adequate review time. Students with limited time maydecidetoreadtheimportantIfYouSee...tipsinthemarginsandattemptthe end-of-chapterquestionstodetermineiftheyshouldstudyaparticularchapterindepth. Keep in mind that each chapter builds on the material from previous chapters.

Skimming the material too quickly, especially in chapters containing key foundational material,canresultinerrorsthroughouttheentireexam.Rememberthesehelpfultipsas youusethisreviewbook: Startreviewingthematerialwellbeforetheexamdate.Setasideanhourortwo eachdaytoreadthroughthechapters.Tryingtocraminalltheinformationatonce isnotaseffectiveasreviewingsmallerportionsovertime. Solvethepracticeproblemsasthoughtheyareanactualexam.Merelyreadingthe solutionswithoutactuallyattemptingtosolvetheproblemswillnothelpyouto understandthematerial. Beingabletovisualizetheeventsdescribedinanexamquestionisavaluable skillinphysics.Studentswhoconstructdiagramstorepresentthesituations describedinphysicsproblemstendtoearnbetterscoresontheexam. Somequestionsrequireyoutorecallfacts,andothersrequireyoutounderstand conceptsandprinciples.Manyinvolvetheuseorunderstandingofformulas withoutcomplicatedarithmeticalcalculations.Calculatorsare notallowedonthe examination,andalistofformulasis notprovided.Therefore,memorizingkey physicsformulasandhavingaworkingknowledgeofhowtomanipulatevariables arecrucialforsuccess. AcompleteoutlineofthecontentsoftheSATSubjectTestinPhysicscanbeobtained from the College Boards website at http://sat.collegeboard.org. The College Board, which writes and administers the examination, does not publish copies of former examinations.However,theydooffersamplequestionsontheirwebsite.

All questions are multiple-choice and have five answer choices. The practice tests and sample questions in this book reflect both the content and the question formats found on the SAT Subject Test in Physics. The exam tests students knowledge in 6 topics. The content and approximate percentage of the test devoted to that content is as follows: MechanicsApproximately40%(~30questions)Kinematics:mayincludevelocity,acceleration,motioninonedimension, projectilemotion,andgraphicalanalysis. Dynamics:mayincludeforce,Newtonslaws,staticequilibrium,vectors, circularmotion,centripetalforce,universalgravitation,Keplerslaws,and simpleharmonicmotionsuchaspendulumsandmassonaspring. ElectricityandMagnetismApproximately20%(~15questions)Electrostatics:mayincludeCoulombslaw,inducedcharge,electricfields, electricpotential,electricpotentialdifference,electricpotentialenergy,and parallelplatecapacitors.