Exam Procedure For Selection of The U.S. Physics Team
Usually school teachers organize exams. There are TWO exams. In earlier versions of this contest, the preliminary exam contained a section of free response questions as well as a section of multiple-choice questions. However, they were separated into two exams: a preliminary exam and a new quarterfinal exam. For 2010, there will again only be the Preliminary and Semifinal exams.
Preliminary Exam: The F = ma contest. Multiple-choice only, focusing on mechanics. Exam time: 75 minutes (allow 90 minutes total to administer the exam). Administer the exam between January 19 and February 2. Deadline for AAPT Grader to receive scantron forms back is February 3. The cut-off was about 16 at 2008.
Quarterfinal Exam: Top 400 students based on preliminary exam score will be invited to take this free response exam with Mechanics and Electrostatics. Exam time: 60 minutes (allow 75 minutes total to administer the exam). Administer the exam between February 23 and March 4. Exam papers must be received back at AAPT by March 5. Both 2008 and 2009 exams were calculus-based. In 2010, the Quarterfinal Exam was abandoned, and students took the Semifinal Exam after the Preliminary Exam.
Semifinal Exam: Top 150 students based on the combined score on the preliminary and quarterfinal exams will be invited to take this exam. Also, free response exam. However it covers all topics in introductory physics: Mechanics, E&M, Thermodynamics and Fluids, Relativity, Nuclear and Atomic Physics, and Waves and Optics. Part A: 4 problems, 90 minutes. Part B: 2 problems, 90 minutes. Allow 3.5 hours to administer the exam. Administer the exam between March 12 and 19. Exam papers must be received back at AAPT by March 20.
Read more about this topic: United States National Physics Olympiad
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