Do you think we’ll need less than 71 points for a 5 this year? If so what do you think the point curve will be for a 5?
Too lazy to see if anyone has already posted a link to the published FRQs, so here it is:
https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap16_frq_physics_1.pdf
I know I did really really bad in the FRQ section but here were my responses more or less:
FRQ 1:
a)
i: Force of gravity downwards. Force of friction opposite to the motion of the wheel at the point of contact with the incline plane. Normal force at the center directed perpendicular to the plane (were we suppose to place the normal force at the point of contact as well. I got confused).
ii: The force of gravity. The component that affects the wheel parallel to the allows the wheel to accelerate linearly and thus angularly since it is rolling.
b) I put cosine instead of sine in my final answer.
c)
i: The block went faster. I forgot my explanation but I think I mentioned something about how gravity affected the block where as the gravity and friction affected the wheel.
ii: The allocation of energy for the wheel vs block was different with kinetic energy etc.
FRQ 2:
i: Distance and time to find speed. (I also added that the student could indirectly find momentum, but I don’t know why I put this)
ii: Meter stick, timer, and some type of launcher (I should have done the experiment vertically instead of horizontally)
iii: Launch the ball at a wall and measure the distance and time it takes. Calculate this velocity. Also have another timer to measure how long the ball takes to move FROM the wall back to the launcher’s distance to calculate second velocity. Compare velocities.
b) Velocity will be compared on x and y axis. If the velocities are equal, it is perfectly elastic.
c)
i:
EDIT: I wasn’t able to properly display the graph so I’ll try to give you my best depiction of it through words.
Imagine there are two intervals on a graph of velocity 1 vs velocity 2. The first interval contained the line y = x while the second line, attached to the first, contained the log function-ish. That is more or less how it looked like.
ii:Energy of conservation. If elastic, the kinetic energy of the ball is conserved and thus the velocities before and after should be conserved. It is not for high collisions because some of that energy is produced as heat, so the velocity is less.
FRQ 3:
a)
i: Somewhat oscillating curve with maxes at the specified locations.
ii: Straight line between the oscillations.
b) Less than. Can someone provide reasoning because I forgot my own.
c) Greater than. More force of gravity is allocated into accelerating the cart and thus increasing the velocity over the interval of distance.
d)
i: Yes. Directly proportional.
ii: As distance increases, velocity approaches zero which is clearly not the case.
FRQ 4:
a) A = D which are greater than C = D.
b)Decrease. More resistance is added due to deletion of parallel resistor.
c) Increase. The parallel resistor halved the prospective current. So a deletion of the resistor increased the current.
FRQ 5:
a) Since the cord is a thick rope, mass is not negligible. P is higher up than Q so it has more tension.
b) Frequency of the oscillator is the same. The bigger wavelength in P provides a bigger speed unlike Q. v = wavelength * freq.
Thank you to whoever replies. I’m just really bad at physics but I thought it would be cool to see how I do. I sort of regret it.
Has anyone who has taken the 2014 and 2015 FRQ section thought the 2016 ones were significantly harder? I thought they were.
Dan Fullerton of AP Physics Essentials posted his solutions to the 2016 FRQs on YouTube!
Took Form A Make-Up exam. I feel like pouring a bucket of water on me. Gonna make sure that it’s at a low enough velocity so the water falls on me. (anyone who took the exam today would get that joke)
Also. THANK GOD NO ELECTROSTATICS ON THE FREE RESPONSE. Lots of oscillations, energy, and kinematics stuff which was weird.
@ObitoSigma same! I think I got like 35/50 on the MCQ at best and the FRQ sigh the FRQ…I don’t even know anymore: .4 for GPE and .8 for Total elastic energy? My FBD had tension and gravity in the same direction.
Lol no electrostatics but it still made my brain that dust particle floating in the air… 
I think I got a 4 at best but honestly who knows? I feel like that exam was hard—and I wanted to cry.
I got 0.8 for both. I calculated both the same way. That was the only time I did calculations on the exam. Not sure if right though. Also, don’t you mean centripetal force, not tension?
Also, it seems like the #5 free response is always about waves. The 2015 #5 was on waves; the 2016 normal #5 was on waves; and now the make-up 2016 #5 was on waves. Our question was oddly easier than the others. All you had to do was look at the speed=frequency*wavelength formula, and you practically have 7 easy points.
Centripetal force is not on an FBD…
@ObitoSigma predicted score on MC and FRQ? I think I got like 33ish/50 on the MCQ and like 29ish on the FRQ but could be higher or lower idk…so 4 or 5 according to last year’s curve. It should be a little lower right?
@ObitoSigma Will AP graders grade extra paper used? For question 1 part C I realized I went on a tangent on i.) because I described the motion in terms of both force and energy conservation instead of what was just asked. I decided to just keep my work for 1c i.) on the answer booklet and asked for extra white paper. On the white paper I included what was exactly wanted for 1c i.) and answered ii.) as well (without puttting the answer for ii. on the answer booklet - just on the white paper). The person in charge of AP proctoring said he filed a report and stapled the white paper to the question section and my Physics test will be graded in a separate pile since I used extra paper
But the question that I used extra paper on, I only had the answer on the extra paper, not on the actual answer booklet. I never specified the answer was on the extra paper either. The answer section for that question is just blank and on the extra paper I have the question labeled and the ansewer I have. Do you think itll still be graded or theyll just skip it? Will they take off points for including more than what is expected for the answer even though the included stuff is physically correct?
Well, 4.3% 5s this year and 1 perfect score. I’m screwed. Not including international students
4s- 13.6%; 3s- 21.3%; 2s-30.7%; 1s-30.1%
That’s really harsh. Im surprised. I thought it would be at least 5% for 5s.
@silverhawk5 No joke! I can’t believe that Collegeboard decided not to curve this year’s test! Don’t they know how hard the exam is to make the cutoffs so extreme? You know there’s a problem when over 60% of exam takers fail two years in a row!
@SAT4Breakfast The AP graders should be human, so I’m sure that you have nothing to worry about. From the way you’re describing it, as long as you labeled what you were answering on the extra paper, they will understand and grade accordingly.
Except the problem is not with the test. I’m not sure that the teachers are understanding that this exam is more theoretical than the old Physics B exam. And with twice as many people taking the test compared to the old exam, there are clearly kids taking this class who shouldn’t be.
@ObitoSigma I agree with @skieurope , since AP Physics split up into 1&2 many schools have removed the Physics 1 Honors class and made AP Physics 1 mandatory for Honors students. (This has happened with many schools around my area) Also, keep in mind that these are college level courses, so AP cannot give the credit if the student doesn’t actually know the material. AP has never actually curved exams anyways. I’m not 100% sure about this, but I’ve read somewhere that CB determines the cut offs for AP pass scores based off of how college students would score.
@silverhawk5 I pray you’re kidding!! I thought they would allow more 5s after the disaster last year. I figured they’d adjust to make the number of 5s more 'normal" oh gosh this is brutal
@blink24 unfortunately those are the cutoffs. Lowest of all physics courses too.
I guess we’ll just have to pray and hope for the best. 
What percent correct do you think we’ll need for a 5?