How Your Grade Is Built
80% of your grade splits between Summative and Formative work — 72% and 8% respectively. The remaining 20% is the trimester Final Exam, scored separately on top of everything else. The Final Exam mirrors AP exam format.
Exit checks and practice sets are formative. They are low-stakes by design — this is where you are allowed to be wrong on the way to understanding. Attempt everything, ask questions, and revise.
Unit tests, AP FRQs, and Progress Checks are all summative. These are the moments where you show what you actually walked away with — graded to AP standards.
How Points Work
An Exit Check is the baseline point value — the smallest graded unit in the course. Everything else is set relative to it:
Short end-of-lesson check. Graded on completion and genuine effort — this is where the practice happens.
1×Problem set aligned to the deep dive. Same baseline value as an Exit Check — formative, low-stakes, and revisable.
1×AP-style multiple choice and free response for the unit. Mirrors the format and rigor of the actual exam.
2×Scored using College Board rubrics. The highest-weight assignment in the course — because these are the skills that earn 4s and 5s.
3×AP Classroom Progress Check, completed after each unit. Counted summatively because it is AP exam practice on official College Board material.
2×Course Structure — 2 Trimesters, 8 Units
The course follows the College Board AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based CED. Units 1–3 run in Trimester 1. Units 4–8 plus review run in Trimester 2. Each trimester ends with an AP-style comprehensive exam.
AI Use and Academic Integrity
I use AI. I used it to build this website, generate lesson images, produce the AI podcast for each lesson, and format content consistently across 8 units. So I would be naive to think you won't use it on your own work — and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.
But here is the line: using AI to help you understand something is smart. Using AI to produce work that you submit as your own understanding — without actually developing that understanding — is plagiarism. That line holds whether the source is ChatGPT, a classmate, or a textbook solution manual.
The practical test is simple: can you explain it? If you submit something and cannot walk me through your reasoning when I ask — out loud, in your own words — that is evidence the work is not yours. It will be treated as academic dishonesty and handled according to school policy.
Course Policies
Exit checks and practice sets can be revised and resubmitted before the unit closes. Unit tests and FRQs may not be retaken, but written justification of errors can recover partial credit — see Mr. Iserloth for details.
Work submitted within one week of a deadline is accepted for full credit. After one week, a 10% deduction applies per additional week late. Work not submitted before the unit closes receives no credit.
AP Classroom Progress Checks are graded summatively. They must be completed individually and without assistance — they are College Board assessments and are treated as such. Collaboration on a Progress Check is academic dishonesty.
Any session involving equipment, data collection, or physical materials is governed by the lab safety agreement on file. Violations result in removal from the activity and a zero for that session.
About the AP Exam
The AP Physics 1 Exam is administered in May. It consists of multiple-choice questions and four free-response questions covering Mathematical Routines, Translation Between Representations, Experimental Design and Analysis, and Qualitative/Quantitative Translation. The exam is 3 hours long.
A formula sheet is provided on the exam — the same one linked on the course homepage. You are not expected to memorize equations. You are expected to understand what every variable means, when each equation applies, and how to derive relationships from it under exam conditions.