Science Academic Plans

Advisors: See Faculty of Science, Academic Advisors.

The Honours Co-operative Physics Academic Plan is in the form of a core of required courses, plus appropriate electives. The electives available in all years allow students to strengthen complementary areas of interest whether in some specific field in Physics or in some other subject area. Some examples are described below under the heading "Elective Choices".

Continuation in Honours Co-operative Physics requires a cumulative overall average of 60% and a 60% Physics average. 

In order to graduate with an Honours Co-operative Physics degree, the following requirements must be met:

1. Successful completion of 19.0 lecture units plus 2.25 physics lab units.
2. Mandatory (core) courses as listed below plus an additional 2.5 units of physics electives of which 1.5 units must be 400- level courses (PHYS 437A and PHYS 437B may not be counted towards these 1.5 units).
3. A minimum of four work terms, and submission of a minimum of four satisfactory work reports.
4. No more than 3.0 "SCI-labelled" units can be used.
5. Completion of the English Language Proficiency Requirement.
6. For detailed information on co-op program requirements, please see the Co-operative Program Evaluation information and the Co-operative Education and Career Action section of the undergraduate calendar.

Legend

⁺ Year One CHEM may be replaced by Year One BIOL or EARTH courses. 

Year 1A (Fall)

Year 1B (Winter)

CHEM 123/CHEM 123L⁺ Chemical Reactions, Equilibria and Kinetics/Laboratory
MATH 128 Calculus 2 for the Sciences
PHYS 10 Physics Seminar
PHYS 122 Waves, Electricity and Magnetism
PHYS 132L Mechanics, Waves and Measurement Laboratory
PHYS 124 Modern Physics
One elective (0.5 unit)

Year 2A (Fall)

MATH 227 Calculus 3 for Honours Physics
MATH 228 Differential Equations For Physics and Chemistry
PHYS 10 Physics Seminar
PHYS 232L Measurement Laboratory
PHYS 236 Computational Physics 1
PHYS 256/PHYS 256L Geometrical and Physical Optics/Laboratory
One elective (0.5 unit)

Year 2B (Spring)

Year 3A (Spring)

Year 3B (Winter)

PHYS 10 Physics Seminar
PHYS 334 Quantum Physics 2
PHYS 359 Statistical Mechanics
PHYS 365 Mathematical Physics 2
One elective 300- or 400- level PHYS lab (0.25 unit)
Two electives (1.0 unit)

4A and B (Fall and Winter)

Students in Year Four must take a total of 5.0 units, which must include PHYS 10, and 1.5 units of 400-level Physics electives and an additional 1.0 unit of physics electives.

Note to all Honours Co-operative Physics Students

Students should consult with an undergraduate academic advisor and a graduate officer regarding other electives needed for their choice of graduate program.

Elective Choices

The "core plus electives" structure of the Honours Physics and Honours Co-operative Physics Academic Plans allows a great variety of combinations of courses to be taken. By judicious selection of elective courses, students can deepen their knowledge of theoretical or experimental physics, or emphasize particular aspects of the subject, for example optics, condensed matter physics, astrophysics, or biophysics. It is also possible (subject to timetable restrictions) for physics students to use their elective courses to gain expertise in other subjects, for example business administration, computing, electrical engineering, or philosophy. The Undergraduate academic advisors are available to assist any student who wishes to select a particular set of elective choices.