Curriculum
The curriculum is roughly equivalent to the first semester of “University Physics” or “Physics for Scientists and Engineers,” the calculus-based course that all students in engineering college and physical science majors (as well as many B.S. in Biology majors) are required to take. It consists of 7 units of algebra and trigonometry-based mechanics with the same Unit titles and Topics as AP Physics 1, but no Fluids unit. I do think most professors do complete a unit more than just mechanics in the first semester, but that there is not a lot of agreement on what that unit is.
Level
Students who have already completed AP Calculus AB successfully are well-prepared for this class. If your students are concurrently-enrolled in AB Calculus, you will need to make some choices: postpone the skills until the middle or end of the first semester (at least), or teach the calculus yourself. If you feel competent to do the latter, you could consider enrolling students who are not in calculus. Be aware that in my experience, only very strong students will feel comfortable learning calculus in physics class without the reinforcement provided by a math class. The College Board’s brief description of AP Calculus AB and BC is here.
Calculus makes its way into the course in various places. I dug through the CED and produced this document which summarizes all the places where calculus is specifically mentioned. includes gravity, circular motion, and orbits.
marcreif
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