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2022 AP Physics 2 Exam Guide

7 min readdecember 6, 2021

A Q

A Q

A Q

A Q

Your Guide to the 2024 AP Physics 2 Exam

We know that studying for your AP exams can be stressful, but Fiveable has your back! We created a study plan to help you crush your AP Physics 2 exam. This guide will continue to update with information about the 2024 exams, as well as helpful resources to help you do your best on test day. Unlock Cram Mode for access to our cram events—students who have successfully passed their AP exams will answer your questions and guide your last-minute studying LIVE! And don't miss out on unlimited access to our database of thousands of practice questions. FYI, something cool is coming your way Fall 2023! 👀

Format of the 2024 AP Physics 2 Exam

Going into test day, this is the exam format to expect:

  • Section 1: Multiple Choice (50% of score)

    • 50 questions in 1 hour and 30 minutes

  • Section 2: Free Response (50% of score)

    • 4 questions in 1 hour and 30 minutes

      • Experimental Design (1 question)

      • Qualitative/Quantitative Translation (1 question)

      • Short Answer (2 questions)

When is the 2024 AP Physics 2 Exam and How Do I Take It?


How Should I Prepare for the Exam?

  • First, download the AP Physics 2 Cheatsheet PDF - a single sheet that covers everything you need to know at a high level. Take note of your strengths and weaknesses!

  • We've put together the study plan found below to help you study between now and May. This will cover all of the units and essay types to prepare you for your exam. Pay special attention to the units that you need the most improvement in.

  • Study, practice, and review for test day with other students during our live cram sessions via Cram Mode. Cram live streams will teach, review, and practice important topics from AP courses, college admission tests, and college admission topics. These streams are hosted by experienced students who know what you need to succeed.

Pre-Work: Set Up Your Study Environment

Before you begin studying, take some time to get organized.

🖥 Create a study space.

Make sure you have a designated place at home to study. Somewhere you can keep all of your materials, where you can focus on learning, and where you are comfortable. Spend some time prepping the space with everything you need and you can even let others in the family know that this is your study space. 

📚 Organize your study materials.

Get your notebook, textbook, prep books, or whatever other physical materials you have. Also create a space for you to keep track of review. Start a new section in your notebook to take notes or start a Google Doc to keep track of your notes. Get yourself set up!

📅 Plan designated times for studying.

The hardest part about studying from home is sticking to a routine. Decide on one hour every day that you can dedicate to studying. This can be any time of the day, whatever works best for you. Set a timer on your phone for that time and really try to stick to it. The routine will help you stay on track.

🏆 Decide on an accountability plan.

How will you hold yourself accountable to this study plan? You may or may not have a teacher or rules set up to help you stay on track, so you need to set some for yourself. First set your goal. This could be studying for x number of hours or getting through a unit. Then, create a reward for yourself. If you reach your goal, then x. This will help stay focused!

🤝 Get support from your peers. 

There are thousands of students all over the world who are preparing for their AP exams just like you! Join Rooms 🤝 to chat, ask questions, and meet other students who are also studying for the spring exams. You can even build study groups and review material together! 


2024 AP Physics 2 Study Plan

💧 Unit 1: Fluids

The very first unit of AP Physics 2 begins with a look at fluids. In the first-year physics course, we mostly looked into the kinematics, dynamics, and interactions of solids. We often ignored the internal aspects of the system and considered the object as ideal and non-deformable. We begin this course by looking at fluids, which consist of gases and liquids, and their interactions🌪️

📚Definitely read these study guides:

🔥 Unit 2: Thermodynamics

Now we turn our attention towards energy ✨You are probably already familiar with many types of energies like kinetic, potential, and gravitational. In this unit, we will introduce the idea of thermal energy. We will learn about heat, , and volume. Gases will finally get a chance to shine, and solids and liquids will get some rest. Without thermodynamics, we would not have refrigerators or air conditioners. So, it is safe to say that it is a very important topic to study🤓

📚Definitely read these study guides:

⚡️ Unit 3: Electric Force, Field, and Potential

In a general physics course, there are 2 broad topics that you cover: Mechanics️ and Electromagnetism. In between, or in other classes, you might also learn about thermodynamics, fluids, sound, waves, optics, modern physics, etc. In AP Physics 2, you're supposed to learn a lot about electromagnetism 🔋 along with fluids, thermodynamics, optics, and modern physics. Electromagnetism is an incredibly important topic in Physics. That's why we will break it down and learn about it in 3 units: electricity, circuits, and magnetism.

📚Definitely read these study guides:

💡 Unit 4: Electric Circuits

is a property of matter that causes it to feel a force in an electromagnetic field. The must be conserved. The entire topic of current and circuits is based upon the principle of conservation of charge. We learned about the charge and its conservation in the last unit. In this unit, we will focus more on current and how it relates to conservation of charge. There are 2 other important quantities used along with voltage to describe the features of a circuit: current and

📚Definitely read these study guides:

🧲 Unit 5: Magnetism and

Welcome to Unit 5! Here we'll take a look at how magnets work, as well as investigate the relationship between electricity and magnetism. This topic is the foundation of most of our modern world. It allows us to create electricity, use electric motors, and make speakers, computers, and cell phones all work.

📚Definitely read these study guides:

🔍 Unit 6: Geometric and Physical Optics

Waves! If you’ve taken AP Physics 1, chances are that you’re pretty familiar with the subject. In Physics 2, Unit 6 focuses on , primarily light (which, yes, is technically considered both a wave and a particle). For this unit, we’ll mainly explore the different ways light can be thought about and modeled.

📚Definitely read these study guides:

⚛️ Unit 7: Quantum, Atomic, and Nuclear Physics

You made it to the very last unit of AP Physics 2. Congrats!

 📚Definitely read these study guides:

Check this out!

The Ultimate AP Physics 2 Exam Guide

Key Terms to Review (34)

Absorption

: Absorption refers to the process in which energy (such as light or sound) is taken in and converted into another form, usually heat. When an object absorbs light, it does not reflect or transmit it.

Buoyancy

: Buoyancy refers to the upward force exerted on an object submerged or floating in a fluid (liquid or gas). It depends on the density of the fluid and the volume of the object.

Capacitance

: Capacitance is the ability of a capacitor to store electrical energy in an electric field. It is defined as the ratio of stored charge on each plate to the potential difference across them.

Conservation of electric charge

: Conservation of electric charge is a fundamental principle in physics that states that electric charge cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be transferred from one object to another. In other words, the total amount of positive and negative charges remains constant within an isolated system.

Conservation of energy in fluid flow

: Conservation of energy in fluid flow states that within a closed system, the total mechanical energy (kinetic energy + potential energy) remains constant as long as there are no external forces acting on it.

Conservation of mass flow rate in fluids

: Conservation of mass flow rate in fluids refers to the principle that states that mass cannot be created or destroyed within a fluid flowing through any given point in space. This means that for an ideal fluid, the mass flow rate entering and exiting any control volume must be equal.

Density

: Density refers to how much mass is packed into a given volume. It is the measure of how compact or crowded the particles in a substance are.

Diffraction Grating

: A diffraction grating is a device that consists of a large number of equally spaced parallel slits or lines, which can diffract light into its component wavelengths.

Electric Charge

: Electric charge refers to the fundamental property of matter that causes it to experience a force when placed in an electromagnetic field. It can be positive or negative.

Electric Forces

: Electric forces refer to the attractive or repulsive interactions between charged particles. These forces can be either attractive (opposite charges) or repulsive (like charges).

Electric Permittivity

: Electric permittivity is a measure of how easily an electric field can pass through a material. It quantifies the ability of a material to store electrical energy in an electric field.

Electromagnetic Induction

: Electromagnetic induction is the process of generating an electric current in a conductor by changing the magnetic field around it. It involves the interaction between electricity and magnetism.

Electromagnetic Waves

: Electromagnetic waves are transverse waves consisting of oscillating electric and magnetic fields that propagate through space at the speed of light.

Entropy

: Entropy is a thermodynamic property that measures the degree of disorder or randomness in a system. It quantifies how spread out or dispersed the energy and particles are within a system.

Fluid Systems

: Fluid systems refer to a collection of interconnected components that work together to transport and control the flow of fluids, such as liquids or gases. These systems can be found in various applications, including hydraulic systems, plumbing networks, and even the circulatory system in our bodies.

Heat Transfer

: Heat transfer refers to how thermal energy moves from one object or substance to another due to differences in temperature. It can occur through conduction, convection, or radiation.

Ideal Gas Law

: The ideal gas law describes the behavior of an ideal gas under various conditions by relating its pressure (P), volume (V), temperature (T), and the number of gas molecules (n). It states that the product of pressure and volume is directly proportional to the product of the number of gas molecules and temperature.

Interference pattern

: An interference pattern refers to the pattern of light or wave interference that occurs when two or more waves overlap. It is characterized by alternating bright and dark regions where constructive and destructive interference take place.

Internal Energy

: Internal energy refers to the total amount of kinetic and potential energies possessed by all molecules within a substance. It includes both microscopic motion (kinetic) and forces between molecules (potential).

Lenses and Mirrors

: Lenses and mirrors are optical devices used for manipulating and focusing light. Lenses are transparent objects made from materials with specific refractive properties, while mirrors have reflective surfaces that can produce virtual images.

Magnetic Dipole Moment

: The magnetic dipole moment is a measure of the strength and orientation of a magnet or current loop in a magnetic field. It represents the product of the magnitude of either pole (north or south) and the distance between them.

Magnetic Flux

: Magnetic flux refers to the measure of the total magnetic field passing through a given area. It depends on the strength of the magnetic field, the angle between the magnetic field and the area, and the size of the area.

Magnetic Permeability

: Magnetic permeability is a measure of how easily a material can be magnetized by an external magnetic field. It quantifies the ability of a material to allow magnetic lines of force to pass through it.

Mass-Energy Equivalence

: Mass-energy equivalence is the concept that mass and energy are interchangeable, as described by Einstein's famous equation E=mc². It states that a small amount of mass can be converted into a large amount of energy, and vice versa.

Photoelectric Effect

: The photoelectric effect is the phenomenon where electrons are emitted from a material when it absorbs photons (light particles) with sufficient energy. It demonstrates that light behaves as both a particle and a wave.

Pressure

: Pressure refers to the force applied per unit area. It measures how much force is distributed over a given surface area.

Radioactive Decay

: Radioactive decay is the process by which unstable atomic nuclei release energy or particles to become more stable. It involves the spontaneous transformation of one element into another through emission of radiation.

Reflection

: Reflection is the bouncing back of light rays from a surface when they encounter it. It follows the law of reflection which states that the angle at which an incoming ray strikes a surface is equal to the angle at which the reflected ray leaves the surface.

Refraction

: Refraction is the bending of light as it passes from one medium to another, caused by a change in its speed. It occurs because light waves travel at different speeds in different materials.

Resistance

: Resistance is a measure of how much an object or material opposes the flow of electric current. It determines how difficult it is for electrons to move through a circuit.

Resistivity

: Resistivity is a measure of how strongly a material opposes the flow of electric current. It quantifies the resistance per unit length and cross-sectional area of a material.

Thermal Conductivity

: Thermal conductivity refers to how well a material conducts or transfers heat. It measures how quickly thermal energy can move through a substance.

Thermodynamic Systems

: A thermodynamic system refers to a specific region or object under study that is separated from its surroundings by boundaries. It can be an open system, closed system, or isolated system.

Wave Functions

: Wave functions are mathematical descriptions that represent the behavior of particles, such as electrons, in quantum mechanics. They provide information about the probability distribution of finding a particle in different states.

2022 AP Physics 2 Exam Guide

7 min readdecember 6, 2021

A Q

A Q

A Q

A Q

Your Guide to the 2024 AP Physics 2 Exam

We know that studying for your AP exams can be stressful, but Fiveable has your back! We created a study plan to help you crush your AP Physics 2 exam. This guide will continue to update with information about the 2024 exams, as well as helpful resources to help you do your best on test day. Unlock Cram Mode for access to our cram events—students who have successfully passed their AP exams will answer your questions and guide your last-minute studying LIVE! And don't miss out on unlimited access to our database of thousands of practice questions. FYI, something cool is coming your way Fall 2023! 👀

Format of the 2024 AP Physics 2 Exam

Going into test day, this is the exam format to expect:

  • Section 1: Multiple Choice (50% of score)

    • 50 questions in 1 hour and 30 minutes

  • Section 2: Free Response (50% of score)

    • 4 questions in 1 hour and 30 minutes

      • Experimental Design (1 question)

      • Qualitative/Quantitative Translation (1 question)

      • Short Answer (2 questions)

When is the 2024 AP Physics 2 Exam and How Do I Take It?


How Should I Prepare for the Exam?

  • First, download the AP Physics 2 Cheatsheet PDF - a single sheet that covers everything you need to know at a high level. Take note of your strengths and weaknesses!

  • We've put together the study plan found below to help you study between now and May. This will cover all of the units and essay types to prepare you for your exam. Pay special attention to the units that you need the most improvement in.

  • Study, practice, and review for test day with other students during our live cram sessions via Cram Mode. Cram live streams will teach, review, and practice important topics from AP courses, college admission tests, and college admission topics. These streams are hosted by experienced students who know what you need to succeed.

Pre-Work: Set Up Your Study Environment

Before you begin studying, take some time to get organized.

🖥 Create a study space.

Make sure you have a designated place at home to study. Somewhere you can keep all of your materials, where you can focus on learning, and where you are comfortable. Spend some time prepping the space with everything you need and you can even let others in the family know that this is your study space. 

📚 Organize your study materials.

Get your notebook, textbook, prep books, or whatever other physical materials you have. Also create a space for you to keep track of review. Start a new section in your notebook to take notes or start a Google Doc to keep track of your notes. Get yourself set up!

📅 Plan designated times for studying.

The hardest part about studying from home is sticking to a routine. Decide on one hour every day that you can dedicate to studying. This can be any time of the day, whatever works best for you. Set a timer on your phone for that time and really try to stick to it. The routine will help you stay on track.

🏆 Decide on an accountability plan.

How will you hold yourself accountable to this study plan? You may or may not have a teacher or rules set up to help you stay on track, so you need to set some for yourself. First set your goal. This could be studying for x number of hours or getting through a unit. Then, create a reward for yourself. If you reach your goal, then x. This will help stay focused!

🤝 Get support from your peers. 

There are thousands of students all over the world who are preparing for their AP exams just like you! Join Rooms 🤝 to chat, ask questions, and meet other students who are also studying for the spring exams. You can even build study groups and review material together! 


2024 AP Physics 2 Study Plan

💧 Unit 1: Fluids

The very first unit of AP Physics 2 begins with a look at fluids. In the first-year physics course, we mostly looked into the kinematics, dynamics, and interactions of solids. We often ignored the internal aspects of the system and considered the object as ideal and non-deformable. We begin this course by looking at fluids, which consist of gases and liquids, and their interactions🌪️

📚Definitely read these study guides:

🔥 Unit 2: Thermodynamics

Now we turn our attention towards energy ✨You are probably already familiar with many types of energies like kinetic, potential, and gravitational. In this unit, we will introduce the idea of thermal energy. We will learn about heat, , and volume. Gases will finally get a chance to shine, and solids and liquids will get some rest. Without thermodynamics, we would not have refrigerators or air conditioners. So, it is safe to say that it is a very important topic to study🤓

📚Definitely read these study guides:

⚡️ Unit 3: Electric Force, Field, and Potential

In a general physics course, there are 2 broad topics that you cover: Mechanics️ and Electromagnetism. In between, or in other classes, you might also learn about thermodynamics, fluids, sound, waves, optics, modern physics, etc. In AP Physics 2, you're supposed to learn a lot about electromagnetism 🔋 along with fluids, thermodynamics, optics, and modern physics. Electromagnetism is an incredibly important topic in Physics. That's why we will break it down and learn about it in 3 units: electricity, circuits, and magnetism.

📚Definitely read these study guides:

💡 Unit 4: Electric Circuits

is a property of matter that causes it to feel a force in an electromagnetic field. The must be conserved. The entire topic of current and circuits is based upon the principle of conservation of charge. We learned about the charge and its conservation in the last unit. In this unit, we will focus more on current and how it relates to conservation of charge. There are 2 other important quantities used along with voltage to describe the features of a circuit: current and

📚Definitely read these study guides:

🧲 Unit 5: Magnetism and

Welcome to Unit 5! Here we'll take a look at how magnets work, as well as investigate the relationship between electricity and magnetism. This topic is the foundation of most of our modern world. It allows us to create electricity, use electric motors, and make speakers, computers, and cell phones all work.

📚Definitely read these study guides:

🔍 Unit 6: Geometric and Physical Optics

Waves! If you’ve taken AP Physics 1, chances are that you’re pretty familiar with the subject. In Physics 2, Unit 6 focuses on , primarily light (which, yes, is technically considered both a wave and a particle). For this unit, we’ll mainly explore the different ways light can be thought about and modeled.

📚Definitely read these study guides:

⚛️ Unit 7: Quantum, Atomic, and Nuclear Physics

You made it to the very last unit of AP Physics 2. Congrats!

 📚Definitely read these study guides:

Check this out!

The Ultimate AP Physics 2 Exam Guide

Key Terms to Review (34)

Absorption

: Absorption refers to the process in which energy (such as light or sound) is taken in and converted into another form, usually heat. When an object absorbs light, it does not reflect or transmit it.

Buoyancy

: Buoyancy refers to the upward force exerted on an object submerged or floating in a fluid (liquid or gas). It depends on the density of the fluid and the volume of the object.

Capacitance

: Capacitance is the ability of a capacitor to store electrical energy in an electric field. It is defined as the ratio of stored charge on each plate to the potential difference across them.

Conservation of electric charge

: Conservation of electric charge is a fundamental principle in physics that states that electric charge cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be transferred from one object to another. In other words, the total amount of positive and negative charges remains constant within an isolated system.

Conservation of energy in fluid flow

: Conservation of energy in fluid flow states that within a closed system, the total mechanical energy (kinetic energy + potential energy) remains constant as long as there are no external forces acting on it.

Conservation of mass flow rate in fluids

: Conservation of mass flow rate in fluids refers to the principle that states that mass cannot be created or destroyed within a fluid flowing through any given point in space. This means that for an ideal fluid, the mass flow rate entering and exiting any control volume must be equal.

Density

: Density refers to how much mass is packed into a given volume. It is the measure of how compact or crowded the particles in a substance are.

Diffraction Grating

: A diffraction grating is a device that consists of a large number of equally spaced parallel slits or lines, which can diffract light into its component wavelengths.

Electric Charge

: Electric charge refers to the fundamental property of matter that causes it to experience a force when placed in an electromagnetic field. It can be positive or negative.

Electric Forces

: Electric forces refer to the attractive or repulsive interactions between charged particles. These forces can be either attractive (opposite charges) or repulsive (like charges).

Electric Permittivity

: Electric permittivity is a measure of how easily an electric field can pass through a material. It quantifies the ability of a material to store electrical energy in an electric field.

Electromagnetic Induction

: Electromagnetic induction is the process of generating an electric current in a conductor by changing the magnetic field around it. It involves the interaction between electricity and magnetism.

Electromagnetic Waves

: Electromagnetic waves are transverse waves consisting of oscillating electric and magnetic fields that propagate through space at the speed of light.

Entropy

: Entropy is a thermodynamic property that measures the degree of disorder or randomness in a system. It quantifies how spread out or dispersed the energy and particles are within a system.

Fluid Systems

: Fluid systems refer to a collection of interconnected components that work together to transport and control the flow of fluids, such as liquids or gases. These systems can be found in various applications, including hydraulic systems, plumbing networks, and even the circulatory system in our bodies.

Heat Transfer

: Heat transfer refers to how thermal energy moves from one object or substance to another due to differences in temperature. It can occur through conduction, convection, or radiation.

Ideal Gas Law

: The ideal gas law describes the behavior of an ideal gas under various conditions by relating its pressure (P), volume (V), temperature (T), and the number of gas molecules (n). It states that the product of pressure and volume is directly proportional to the product of the number of gas molecules and temperature.

Interference pattern

: An interference pattern refers to the pattern of light or wave interference that occurs when two or more waves overlap. It is characterized by alternating bright and dark regions where constructive and destructive interference take place.

Internal Energy

: Internal energy refers to the total amount of kinetic and potential energies possessed by all molecules within a substance. It includes both microscopic motion (kinetic) and forces between molecules (potential).

Lenses and Mirrors

: Lenses and mirrors are optical devices used for manipulating and focusing light. Lenses are transparent objects made from materials with specific refractive properties, while mirrors have reflective surfaces that can produce virtual images.

Magnetic Dipole Moment

: The magnetic dipole moment is a measure of the strength and orientation of a magnet or current loop in a magnetic field. It represents the product of the magnitude of either pole (north or south) and the distance between them.

Magnetic Flux

: Magnetic flux refers to the measure of the total magnetic field passing through a given area. It depends on the strength of the magnetic field, the angle between the magnetic field and the area, and the size of the area.

Magnetic Permeability

: Magnetic permeability is a measure of how easily a material can be magnetized by an external magnetic field. It quantifies the ability of a material to allow magnetic lines of force to pass through it.

Mass-Energy Equivalence

: Mass-energy equivalence is the concept that mass and energy are interchangeable, as described by Einstein's famous equation E=mc². It states that a small amount of mass can be converted into a large amount of energy, and vice versa.

Photoelectric Effect

: The photoelectric effect is the phenomenon where electrons are emitted from a material when it absorbs photons (light particles) with sufficient energy. It demonstrates that light behaves as both a particle and a wave.

Pressure

: Pressure refers to the force applied per unit area. It measures how much force is distributed over a given surface area.

Radioactive Decay

: Radioactive decay is the process by which unstable atomic nuclei release energy or particles to become more stable. It involves the spontaneous transformation of one element into another through emission of radiation.

Reflection

: Reflection is the bouncing back of light rays from a surface when they encounter it. It follows the law of reflection which states that the angle at which an incoming ray strikes a surface is equal to the angle at which the reflected ray leaves the surface.

Refraction

: Refraction is the bending of light as it passes from one medium to another, caused by a change in its speed. It occurs because light waves travel at different speeds in different materials.

Resistance

: Resistance is a measure of how much an object or material opposes the flow of electric current. It determines how difficult it is for electrons to move through a circuit.

Resistivity

: Resistivity is a measure of how strongly a material opposes the flow of electric current. It quantifies the resistance per unit length and cross-sectional area of a material.

Thermal Conductivity

: Thermal conductivity refers to how well a material conducts or transfers heat. It measures how quickly thermal energy can move through a substance.

Thermodynamic Systems

: A thermodynamic system refers to a specific region or object under study that is separated from its surroundings by boundaries. It can be an open system, closed system, or isolated system.

Wave Functions

: Wave functions are mathematical descriptions that represent the behavior of particles, such as electrons, in quantum mechanics. They provide information about the probability distribution of finding a particle in different states.


© 2024 Fiveable Inc. All rights reserved.

AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.


© 2024 Fiveable Inc. All rights reserved.

AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.