Physics Content Review

Page Contents:

1. Format of the test


2. Types of questions on the test


3. Content of the test


4. Recommended Books

Firstly, How Is the Physics Subject Test Formatted?

The SAT II in Physics is 60 minutes long and asks 75 multiple choice questions. Every question has 5 answer choices.

There are some independent questions, while others are grouped and ask about the same graph or picture.

You can't use a calculator on the Physics Subject Test. With less than a minute for each question, the test doesn't present overly complicated math.

Types of Questions

The three types of physics questions are recall, single concept, and multiple concept problems.

1. Recall questions make up 20% to 33% of the test. They are somewhat straightforward and test your understanding of the concepts of physics.

2. Single concept problems make up 40% to 53% of the test. In addition to recalling a concept, you have to apply a physical relationship, formula, or equation to solve a problem. These questions test your understanding of simple algebraic, trigonometric, and graphical relationships, along with concepts of ratios and proportions.

3. Multiple concept problems account for 20% to 33% of the questions. They have the extra step of asking you to recall and bring together two or more different relationships, formulas, or equations in order to solve a problem.

Content Of the Physics Subject Test

According to College Board, the SAT II in Physics covers mechanics, electricity and magnetism, waves and optics, heat and thermodynamics, modern physics, and other miscellaneous concepts. Mechanics and electricity/magnetism questions make up over half the test. Let's look at how the test breaks down.

Mechanics, 36% - 42%

• Kinematics, such as velocity, acceleration, motion in one dimension, and motion of projectiles


• Dynamics, such as force, Newton's laws, statics, and friction


• Energy and momentum, such as potential and kinetic energy, work, power, impulse, and conservation laws


• Circular motion, such as uniform circular motion and centripetal force


• Simple harmonic motion, such as mass on a spring and the pendulum


• Gravity, such as the law of gravitation, orbits, and Kepler's laws

Electricity and Magnetism, 18% - 24%

• Electric fields, forces, and potentials, such as Coulomb's law, induced charge, field and potential of groups of point charges, and charged particles in electric fields


• Capacitance, such as parallel-plate capacitors and time-varying behavior in charging / discharging


• Circuit elements and DC circuits, such as resistors, light bulbs, series and parallel networks, Ohm's Law, and Joule's Law


• Magnetism, such as permanent magnets, fields caused by currents, particles in magnetic fields, Faraday's Law, and Lenz's Law

Waves and Optics, 15% - 19%

• General wave properties, such as wave speed, frequency, wavelength, superposition, standing wave diffraction, and Doppler effect


• Reflection and refraction, such as Snell's Law and changes in wavelength and speed


• Ray optics, such as image formation using pinholes, mirrors, and lenses


• Physical optics, such as single-slit diffraction, double-slit interference, polarization, and color

Heat and Thermodynamics, 6% - 11%

• Thermal properties, such as temperature, heat transfer, specific and latent heats, and thermal expansion


• Laws of thermodynamics, such as first and second laws, internal energy, entropy, and heat engine efficiency

Modern Physics, 6% - 11%

• Quantum phenomena, such as photons and photoelectric effect


• Atomic, such as the Rutherford and Bohr models, atomic energy levels, and atomic spectra


• Nuclear and particle physics, such as radioactivity, nuclear reactions, and fundamental particles


• Relativity, such as time dilation, length contraction, and mass-energy equivalence

Miscellaneous, 4% - 9%

• General topics such as history of physics and general questions that overlap several major topics


• Analytical skills, such as graphical analysis, measurement, and math skills


• Contemporary physics, such as astrophysics, superconductivity, and chaos theory

In addition to these concepts, you have to memorize certain formulas that express physical relationships, like F = ma. You have to be able to manipulate equations, read a graph, understand the metric system, and apply lab skills to answer questions.

Recommended Books:
Building a good knowledge base in the subject is imperative to success on the Physics Subject Test.You will probably know a lot of concepts from school, however your knowledge base might not be enough for the test. In order to prevent this, here is a comprehensive set of books recommended for the test.

Princeton Review : This is a pretty good book offering lots of practice tests with realistic questions. However one downside is that the theory coverage is not done very well and the test questions lack adequate explanation.

Barrons : The theory coverage for Barrons is quite adequate for the test. However the practice test questions are pretty hard compared to the real test.

From my experience, I recommend using a combination of both books, Barrons for theory and Princeton Review for the tests.

Two other books for the test are the ones published by McGraw Hill and KAPLAN. Kaplan test questions are very easy and don't provide adequate test preparation. McGraw Hill is the exact opposite, test questions are unrealistically hard and most often require usage of calculator.