A Team A Team is designed for post-AP Physics students who have already learned or know the traditional classical mechanics that is taught here at TJ. The primary purpose of A Team is to rigorously train students for higher level competitions such as the USAPhO semifinalist exam in the US Physics Olympiad. We offer lectures and challenging problem sets on post-AP mechanics topics, as well as material not covered in AP Physics like thermodynamics, special relativity, optics, waves, and electrodynamics. A fairly deep understanding of multivariable calculus is recommended, but is not required as it will be taught on the go.

B Team B Team is designed for AP Physics students who are looking for help or a supplement to their AP Physics class. For the first half of the year, we will have lectures and problem sets that focus on mechanics in accordance with the AP Physics course. We will also spend some time going deeper than AP Physics in certain areas, and prepare students for the mechanics-based F=ma Exam, which is the equivalent of the AMC 12 exam in the US Physics Olympiad. For the second half of the year, we will cover electricity and magnetism and review for the AP exam in May.

C Team C Team is designed to foster physics interest in those who have little to no experience in physics. This team is based more on understanding physics from an experimental point of view through demonstrations. C Team topics include a brief introduction to topics covered in TJ Physics courses like Physics 1 and AP Physics, as well as additional topics such as optics and thermodynamics. Knowledge of calculus is not required for this team. In addition, C Team also works with our Outreach Committee to organize physics demonstrations at community events.

TJ Peer Tutoring In the 2015-2016 school year, Physics Team started a tutoring program to match our passionate team members to help TJ physics students. This program was based off the motto that “the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else.” The program was so well-received that we expanded our program to math, computer science, biology, and chemistry under the name TJ Peer Tutoring.

TJ Physics Olympiad TJPhO is a free, annual, online high school competition hosted by TJ High School for Sci & Tech. One of the first international high school physics competitions, TJPhO challenges budding physicists with a variety of physics problems, from fundamental to research-related. Click here to visit the website.

Techstravaganza Physics Team participates in Techstravaganza, an annual science fair held in TJ, in which teachers and high school students interact with over a thousand elementary and middle school students. TJ Techstravaganza is organized by TWIST. Click here to learn more about Techstravaganza.

TWIST In an effort to combat the gender gap in physics participation, Physics Team partners with Tomorrow’s Women in Science and Technology (TWIST) to foster physics interest among women. Physics Team’s Outreach Committee takes an active role in helping set up physics booths at TJ Techstravaganza, which is organized by TWIST.