High School Physics Pathways

Report Highlights

• Enrollments in traditional introductory physics courses collectively have remained flat amid a growing student population over the past 20 years.
• Over the past two decades, Advanced Placement (AP) physics classes have accounted for an increasing proportion of high school physics enrollments.
• AP Physics 1 enrollments in particular, designed to be another introductory physics option, continue to grow, while overall physics participation has not shown comparable growth.
• Regular Physics enrollments that use a conceptual physics textbook declined significantly compared to those in recent years.
• Second-Year advanced physics enrollments declined overall between 2018–19 and 2023–24.
• Science course sequencing and prerequisite structures continue to shape access to and participation in physics.

Availability versus Access
Physics is available to most high school students, but only about two in five students take it (White & Chu, 2026 ). This report examines high school physics enrollment by the type of course using data from the 2023–24 Nationwide High School Physics Survey and explores students’ pathways through physics, potentially providing insight into the difference between the availability of physics courses and students’ decisions to take advantage of them.

Types of Physics Courses
Physics courses can largely be distinguished by the extent of math usage. Regular Physics, Honors Physics, AP Physics, and any advanced physics courses tend to be the most math intensive. At the other end of the spectrum, Conceptual Physics uses considerably less math. Courses like Physics First and Regular Physics using a conceptual physics textbook (Regular Physics C) fall close to the conceptual end of this spectrum.

Physics First, introduced around 1990, was designed to place physics at the beginning of the high school science sequence. Its primary goal was to build a foundational understanding of matter and energy before students take biology, chemistry, or other sciences, thereby reversing a traditional biology-chemistry-physics sequence (Figure 1). At the same time, Physics First programs were often designed to reduce traditional prerequisite barriers, typically the completion of certain math courses, that delayed physics until later grades.

Figure 1

In the 2023–24 survey, Regular Physics continues to account for the largest enrollment among all types of high school physics courses (Figure 2). Although enrollment declined by 3% between academic years 2018–19 and 2023–24, Regular Physics enrollments have remained relatively flat since 2004–05. Regular Physics C experienced a larger decline of 47% over the same period. Physics First enrollments also declined substantially, falling by 23%. While Conceptual Physics and Honors Physics increased by 23% and 34%, respectively, since 2018–19, their numbers have been relatively flat for the past two decades.

Figure 2

Regular Physics, Regular Physics C, Honors Physics, Conceptual Physics, and Physics First are all introductory physics courses, meaning that students do not need to complete a prior physics course before enrolling, although some require algebra or calculus. The high school enrollments in these courses combined have remained relatively stable for the past two decades. However, overall US high school student population increased by 23% between academic years 2003–04 and 2022–23 (NCES, 2025, Table 219.10 ). As a result, enrollments in these introductory physics courses have not kept pace with overall growth in the high school population. Advanced Placement physics courses account for an increasing share of high school physics enrollments during this period (Figure 3).

Figure 3

Advanced Placement Physics
High school students who take AP Physics courses can earn college credit, giving them a head start in college. These courses historically were designed to offer the most advanced physics in high school, to be nationally standardized, and to require more prerequisites than other physics courses. This limited the offering to students who had already completed a traditional introductory physics course.

AP Physics 1, first offered in 2015, was designed to expand access to AP Physics by removing the physics prerequisite. AP Physics 1 enrollment was equivalent to about 6–7% of the number of high school graduates in each of the two surveys since the course was first offered and increased by 15% between the surveys. However, this did not prevent overall participation in physics from falling slightly relative to growth in the high school student population.

Physics courses often follow a prerequisite sequence, discussed later in this report, so many students may not take physics until 11th grade. Advanced second-year physics courses often require both introductory physics and mathematics prerequisites, which typically place them in 12th grade. Disruptions to this sequence—such as course cancellations, limited staffing, or resource constraints during the COVID-19 pandemic—may have limited students’ opportunities to reach advanced physics courses before graduation.

Despite the growth of AP Physics 1, this increase in first-year participation has not been accompanied by a corresponding increase in enrollments in second-year courses such as AP Physics 2, AP Physics C, or other advanced physics options. AP Physics 1 serves as a prerequisite for AP Physics 2 and AP Physics C; however, the expected progression from introductory AP Physics into second-year AP Physics is not fully reflected in enrollment trends.

High School Physics Pathways
Discussion about high school science course-taking almost always begins with biology and chemistry because nearly all students take biology, and at least three of four take chemistry or a course that combines chemistry with another science (Figure 4).One common sequence for high school students is to take biology as their first science (usually in grade 9) and chemistry their second science (usually in grade 10) before considering additional science courses, if any. Another begins with an introductory science course such as a survey of science, integrated, physical or earth science, before biology and chemistry (Figure 1). In the 2009 High School Transcript Study, biology and a survey of science each accounted for about 38% of the share of science classifications in grade 9, while relatively few were classified in physics (Brown et al., 2018 ).

Figure 4

The availability of physics at a school does not necessarily mean that every student has the same opportunity to take it. Whether physics fits within a student’s four years of high school can depend in part on the sequence of science courses they take. The previous report from this survey shows 91% of high school seniors attending schools that offer physics at least every other year (White & Chu, 2026 ). However, only two out of five US high school students take physics before graduating (White & Chu, 2026 ). This means most students never enroll in a physics course during high school.

Instead, many students do not take another science course after biology and chemistry, or they may take other science courses. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data show substantial course-taking in sciences they group under Integrated Science and Earth and Environmental Science (NCES, 2022 ). Some of this coursework occurs early in high school as seen in the pathways preceding biology and chemistry, while others may also be taken later in high school. Consequently, the overall completion rates should not be interpreted solely as alternatives to physics. Overall, these two groupings collectively have the third and fourth-highest completion rates, ahead of physics (Figure 4).

One distinction is important for interpreting these categories. Although astronomy at the college level relies heavily on physics, many high school astronomy courses place less emphasis on formal math and quantitative physics problem-solving than in traditional physics courses (SCED, 2016 ). Therefore, they are not counted as high school physics courses.

These different sequences affect where physics can fit within four years of high school. Students who begin with biology may reach physics after chemistry, while students who begin with an introductory or earth science course may reach physics later. Physics First takes a different approach by placing physics at the beginning of the sequence.

In addition to the pathway opportunity, many physics courses require successful completion of prerequisites such as algebra, calculus, or prior science coursework. This helps explain why students commonly take physics during junior year of high school. In contrast, courses in integrated science or environmental science often have fewer prerequisites than physics does, which is why they are often the first science taken. Factors such as scheduling, perceived course difficulty, graduation requirements, and teacher availability may also influence student course choices. Physics participation reflects not only whether a course is available, but also whether students’ pathways provide an opportunity to reach physics, whether they have the prerequisites, and whether they ultimately choose to enroll.

Looking Ahead
As noted in the previous report (White & Chu, 2026 ), overall high school physics enrollments have not kept pace with the growth in high school student population between academic years 2018–19 and 2023–24. Data from AP College Board exams may provide additional context for understanding how participation changed over the years and what trends may emerge in the future.

AP Physics exam administrations declined between 2019 and 2022, consistent with declines observed across other AP science exams during the same period (College Board, 2025 ). Since 2022, the number of AP Physics exams administered has recovered to approximately pre-pandemic levels (Figure 5).

Figure 5

Conclusion
Although physics is available in most US high schools at least every other year, this level of availability does not guarantee participation. Course sequencing, pathway opportunity, prerequisite structures, and course selection continue to shape which students ultimately enroll in physics.

Traditional introductory physics courses account for a smaller share of high school physics enrollment, while alternative pathways, particularly AP Physics 1, account for a growing share.

AP Physics enrollment growth continues while non-AP enrollments have at best leveled off. Although AP Physics 1 was intentionally designed to lower barriers to participation, its growth could reflect a redistribution of students from traditional introductory physics courses into AP courses.

These changes suggest that the pathways through high school physics continue to evolve. Further observation is needed to determine whether patterns of movement from introductory to advanced physics courses are also changing.

Methodology
This study is based on a sample of one-sixth of the public and private high schools classified as regular, technical, or emphasis schools in the United States. Data collection for this round began in the fall of 2023.

We define a high school as a school with at least three students enrolled in grade 12. Many of these are traditional high schools; some comprise grades 7–12, and others, grades K–12. Historically, the coverage of high school graduates among 17-year-olds had been increasing to a peak of 89% in 2019–20. It has since started dropping to 86.3% in 2022–23.

We began with web searches for each of the 3,986 high schools in our sample. If we could identify a physics teacher at the school, we collected the contact information for that teacher. If not, we collected contact information for the principal or science chair. We then contacted each of the schools where we had not identified a physics teacher by phone and email to determine whether physics was offered at the school and, if so, who taught it. We collected data on whether physics was offered from 2,487 of our 3,986 sampled schools (62%). We compared demographics for the non-responding schools with those of the responding schools and found no evidence to suggest that the two groups differ significantly. Therefore, evidence suggests that we have a representative sample of schools.

During the spring of 2024, we contacted each of the 3,103 teachers we had identified in the fall to learn more about physics in each of the high schools. We heard back from 19% of the teachers.

This survey series has exclusively focused on physics courses taught in high schools. In some cases, students at one school might attend a physics class at another school synchronously or asynchronously via video. When the school reported this, we counted these students as being enrolled in a physics course. This is consistent with our practice in previous studies.

References
American Association of Physics Teachers. (2002, April 13). Physics First. https://www.aapt.org/Resources/policy/physicsfirst.cfm

Brown, J., Dalton, B., Laird, J., & Ifill, N. (2018). Paths Through Mathematics and Science: Patterns and Relationships in High School Coursetaking (NCES 2018-118). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018118.pdf

College Board. (2025). AP exam volume changes 2015–2025 [Data set]. https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-exam-volume-changes-2015-2025.pdf

Common Education Data Standards. (2016). School codes for the exchange of data (SCED) course codes - Version 4. https://ceds.ed.gov/ScedCourseCodesv4.aspx

National Center for Education Statistics. (2022). High school mathematics and science course completion. In Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/sod/high-school-courses

National Center for Education Statistics. (2025). Table 219.10. High school graduates, by sex and control of school; public high school averaged freshman graduation rate (AFGR); public high school 4-year adjusted cohort graduation rate (ACGR); and total graduates as a ratio of 17-year-old population: Selected school years, 1869–70 through 2031–32. In Digest of Education Statistics: 2024. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d24/tables/dt24_219.10.asp

White, S., & Chu, R. Y. (2026). High school physics enrollments and class availability: Results from the 2023–24 Nationwide Survey of High School Physics. American Institute of Physics. https://doi.org/10.1063/sr.c60efffa51

Acknowledgments
We offer our sincere gratitude to the responding principals, teachers, and staff at our sampled schools for helping us provide this information.

High School Physics Pathways

By Susan White and Raymond Y. Chu

Published: October 2026

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