Navigating Experimental Design in AP Physics

The video tutorial focuses on tackling experimental design questions in AP Physics exams. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the question requirements, simplifying experimental setups, and effectively using graphs to represent data. The tutorial also highlights the need to reduce experimental uncertainty and provides strategies for starting with equations relevant to the experiment. Practical advice is given on reading questions carefully and avoiding assumptions, with a focus on logical reasoning and justification of answers.

What is a common initial reaction of students when faced with an experimental design question?

• Confusion

• Excitement

• Confidence

• Indifference

What is one of the key abilities assessed by experimental design questions?

• Solving multiple-choice questions

• Designing and describing scientific investigations

• Writing essays

• Memorizing formulas

Tags

NGSS.HS-LS1-3

NGSS.HS-PS1-3

NGSS.HS-PS2-5

When designing an experiment, what should you do if you are not provided with data?

• Skip the question

• Collect random data

• Guess the data

• Identify the data needed and design a plan to collect it

What should you avoid including in your experimental procedure description?

• Detailed steps of the experiment

• Necessary safety precautions

• Extraneous steps like 'sharpen my pencil'

• List of required equipment

Why is it important to keep your experimental design simple?

• To impress the graders

• To make the experiment more interesting

• To use all available equipment

• To save time and avoid unnecessary complexity

What should you do when creating a graph for your experiment?

• Avoid using a best fit line

• Plot data in one corner of the graph

• Use random scales for the axes

• Label both axes and include units

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS4-1

What is a common request in experimental design questions to reduce uncertainty?

• Skipping the uncertainty part

• Using only one trial

• Ignoring data adjustments

• Performing multiple trials

What should you do if you have extra time after completing all free response questions?

• Check your answers to ensure all parts are addressed

• Leave the exam room

• Take a nap

• Chat with friends

What is a good starting point when designing an experiment?

• Using random equipment

• Ignoring the variables

• Guessing the procedure

• Looking at the equation sheet

Tags

NGSS.HS-LS1-3

NGSS.HS-PS1-3

How can you visualize what the graph of your data will look like?

• By guessing

• By identifying applicable equations

• By ignoring the data

• By using random values