Physics

Grade 11 Physics (SPH3U in Ontario, Physics 20 in Alberta, Physics 11 in British Columbia) is the first standalone physics course in the Canadian system and a prerequisite for the Grade 12 course that engineering programmes require. It assumes competence with algebra and trigonometry, which is taught in parallel rather than beforehand.

The course covers kinematics, forces, energy and momentum, waves and sound, and electricity and magnetism. Students who arrive comfortable with rearranging equations and resolving vectors generally do well; the ones who struggle are usually fighting the mathematics rather than the physics, and that is where tutoring is most effective early in the year.