AP Physics 1 Unit Tier List In Under 1 Minute

Part 5 of my AP Class Unit Tierlist Series: AP Physics 1

Special thanks to Tarun Muddasani for the template!

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[marielaforestsnyder]

ill come back to this vid after i get my 2024 exam score back

[sarthak-ti]

I’d definitely have to disagree about some of these. Dynamics was tough to wrap your brain around, but SHM felt quite straightforward and really hurt combined energy and momentum

[JacksonDugmore]

Now that I’ve gone through all the units:

Seriously Drop: Rotational Motion

Consider Dropping: Momentum

Mid: Kinematics, Circular Motion, Energy, SHM

Light Work: Dynamics

Too EZ: none, it’s physics

Got murdered on my rotational motion test because almost every question on it revolved angular momentum

[triangl]

unit 1 2 4 6 should be light work at max imo unit 3 and 5 should be in mid and rotation all the way at the top. idk tho I took phys c

[bluemashedpotatoes]

i found simple harmonic motion to be quite easy actually

[bp_cherryblossomtree]

Im on unit 5 with a bad teacher. My year is not going so good

[bruh]

I'm sorry to say, but this is honestly a very poor tier list (coming from someone who scored a 5 last year).

Here's a correct version:

Seriously Drop ASAP:
N/A
Consider Dropping:
Circular Motion and Gravitation
Mid:
Momentum, Torque and Rotational Motion, Dynamics
Light Work:
Kinematics, Simple Harmonics
Too EZ:

Rating Torque and Rotational Motion in the "Seriously Drop ASAP" category is ridiculous. All that rotational motion is is a reformulation of kinematics, but with a couple more things added on. These things include: moment of inertia calculations (which AP1 has no calculus, so it's just ∑mr^2) and the definition of torque. All of the other things in the units are just analogues from linear motion, I mean the equations are the exact same (e.g. xf = xi vit + 1/2 at^2 has the analogue expression θf = θi + ωit + 1/2 αt^2). This includes torque as well: F = ma -> τ=Ια. Rotational Motion is overhyped to the point where it leaks over into tier lists like these.

Rating simple harmonics as "Consider Dropping" is also a felony. You can take an hour and learn that d/dx sin(x) = cos(x), d/dx cos(x) = -sin(x), the equations for spring and pendulum periods, and congratulations, you've just learned the entire unit.

Another war crime is rating Circular Motion and Gravitation in the "Light Work" category. Blud... what are you on? Circular Motion and Gravitation is genuinely the most difficult unit of the year. There are multiple equations you need to know that are not explicitly on the formula sheet (such as the orbital velocity equation sqrt gm/r). Also, maybe my teacher was harsh and made us derive by hand the circular acceleration formula v^2/r and most don't have to do it, but I still believe that it's the hardest. The unit itself is unintuitive, as it's the first non-contact force that is analyzed, and you learn that there is no such thing as the centrifugal force.

Just my two cents.