To earn an associate degree with a major in physics, students must complete the core courses listed below, plus general education degree requirements. These major requirements help prepare students for upper-division course work for bachelor and advanced degrees in physics offered by four-year institutions. Since the course work in physics and math is sequential, students should give priority to completing major requirements in degree planning.

The core courses listed for the Associate in Science degree in physics help students prepare for transfer to a Bachelor of Science degree in physics program at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), California State University Northridge (CSUN) California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI), and other accredited universities. Universities differ slightly in requirements for the Bachelor of Arts degree in physics and the Bachelor of Science degree in physics. Students are advised to refer to the official articulation agreements on assist.org for the most current requirements of their intended transfer institution. The Counseling Department or a member of the Science Department faculty can help plan a student’s coursework at Oxnard College so the student has a smooth transition to the University of his or her choice with a major in physics. The requirements for the A.S. degree in physics are satisfactory completion of a minimum of 60 semester units of which 41 semester units must be the Required Core Courses shown below. The additional minimum of 20 units is to be chosen from the general education degree requirements found in the Oxnard College catalog. Students who plan to transfer to a four-year university should consult the CSU-GE or IGETC pattern for general education. The A.S. degree in physics is designed for students who wish to earn a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in physics at UCLA, UCSB, or CSUN.

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UC Santa Barbara requires both CHEM R120 General Chemistry I (Units: 5) and CHEM R122 General Chemistry II (Units: 5) for either the B.A. in Physics or the B.S. in Physics. CHEM R122 General Chemistry II (Units: 5) is offered fall and spring semesters at Oxnard College.

To complete the Associate Degree, students must meet requirements in the major, general education, competency, units, scholarship, and residency. Refer to Earn an Associate Degree and the A.A. or A.S. Degree in Specific Majors sections of this catalog.

 Proposed plan of study for A.S. degree in Physics:

Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to: 

• Apply the fundamental principles of physics to solve quantitative problems involving physical systems given certain parameters.
• Appropriately utilize physics equipment and the skills needed to gather and analyze data pertaining to physical systems.
• Extract information from graphs containing relations between physical quantities and use it to draw conclusions pertaining to the given system.
• Interpret and develop diagrams depicting physical systems and use them to draw conclusions, formulate mathematical representations, and solve for unknown quantities.
• Utilize communication skills (e.g. written, oral, web-based) to effectively report observational results and conclusions based on these results.