Have you taken on the challenge of the British Physics Olympiad A2 challenge?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the British Physics Olympiad A2 challenge, focusing on participants' experiences, preparations, and thoughts regarding the competition. The scope includes educational aspects, personal anecdotes, and insights into the difficulty of the papers involved.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Homework-related, Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses uncertainty about the appropriate forum for discussing the British Physics Olympiad A2 challenge and shares their intention to participate.
  • Another participant, who is younger and entering the AS challenge, indicates their involvement in the competition.
  • There is a discussion about the perceived difficulty of Paper 1 compared to other mathematics competitions, with one participant noting that the timing may be challenging.
  • Some participants suggest that Paper 2 is significantly more difficult than Paper 1, with one questioning whether calculus is required for Paper 2.
  • Another participant mentions procrastination and expresses a lack of preparation for the competition.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express varying opinions on the difficulty of the papers, with some suggesting that Paper 2 is more challenging than Paper 1. There is no consensus on the necessity of calculus for Paper 2, indicating a lack of agreement on this point.

Contextual Notes

Participants reference different levels of preparation and experience with the competition, which may influence their perspectives on the difficulty of the papers. There are also varying ages and educational stages among participants, which could affect their familiarity with the content.

Who May Find This Useful

Students preparing for the British Physics Olympiad, educators interested in competition formats, and individuals curious about high school-level physics challenges.

nickbob00
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Not sure where this goes, but since it's an education thing, I figured here would be the best place.

Hi all,

I'm planning on sitting the British Physics Olympiad A2 challenge in a few weeks and I was hoping to see what people thought about it and see if anyone here is either doing it this year or has done it in a previous year.

It is a competition for able A level Physics students (age 17/18, A2/year 13), and the second paper is used to select candidates to go on and represent Britain in the International Physics Olympiad.

Here is the link in case anyone is interested, looks to be very difficult (considering this is intended for high school aged pupils, who will not have done any calculus based Physics at school -_-)
http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/olympiad/PaperBPhO.html

Nick
 
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I am in Year 12 (16 years of age) and entering. I am also doing the AS challenge in early 2012.
 
Awesome, have you looked at the papers yet?
 
I haven't looked at IPhO or AS Challenge papers, but in the summer holidays I looked at Paper 1 (A2 paper). It doesn't seem as hard as BMO/IMO. The timing does look a bit difficult, especially because some 2-markers might take a bit longer than 2 minutes to arrive at the answer (thinking time). I haven't done a full paper yet, though.
 
Paper 1 is only a little harder than A level, Paper 2 is where it's at :P
 
Do we have to do Paper 2 as well?

Oh, that's why my sheet says 3 hours... apparently it can be split up into 1 hr 15 min and 1 hr 45 min, or a straight 3 hours if you want. I am assuming no calculus is required for Paper 2?
 
Paper 2 is distinct from paper one. Not sure if it explicitly requires calculus, but it probably helps :P
 
I should be preparing for this but I am not. Just let me finish this packet of crisps. Procrastination at its finest.

Anyone else doing this?
 

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