2008 Physics Olympiad

Definitely harder than previous years judging by past papers. I think I got lucky on that bullet question - my mind blanked out but I wrote a load of stuff anyway and got the marks :gasp:

That electricity one was a proper ****.

Reply 3

Formica

That electricity one was a proper ****.

Oh yeah...wasted loads of time on it, and i bet I got no marks...Anyway, i got a little letter in our register this morning which says I passed and have to waste 3 hours on Friday 9th!

However, my physics teacher congratulated me on doing really well, when I though it was rubbish! "it shows real commitment" yeah commitment of 1 hour a couple of weeks ago.

Don't you find when you find something hard you do tend to do better than finding something easy (PHY2!)

So, any tips, hints etc. for round 2? It'd be cool to do round 3 :wink:

But 3 Hours! Ive never been more unhappy to do something well in my life....a real kick in the teeth.

Reply 4

Henerz

So, any tips, hints etc. for round 2? It'd be cool to do round 3 :wink:

But 3 Hours! Ive never been more unhappy to do something well in my life....a real kick in the teeth.

I'm gonna inject myself daily with omega-3 and glue notes on the insides of my eyelids.

Reply 5

mikeleeds

Qualify?! Paper 1 is set and marked by your school, and its up to the school who they enter for papers 2.

We just got given the paper 1 '08 and were told to do it at home and regardless of the mark we get we will be entered for paper 2, which is the only one that counts...

Reply 6

mikeleeds

We just got given the paper 1 '08 and were told to do it at home and regardless of the mark we get we will be entered for paper 2, which is the only one that counts...

How unfair...we had to do it like an exam, about 12 of us did it (we were sort of invited) and they're only letting 4 do round 2.

Reply 7

I didn't think that the amount of time we were given to finish the exam was fair given the number and difficulty of the exam, but as it has been said paper 1 doesn't count towards anything so I suppose it doesn't really matter.

How are the awards (Bronze, Silver, Gold) decided anyway?

Reply 8

Blackwater

How are the awards (Bronze, Silver, Gold) decided anyway?

Percentage scores in paper 2. I think more than 20% is a bronze, more than 40% is a silver, and 60% is a gold (I don't think you can get more than 60% since they stop marking when you reach that). If you get a gold I think you have to do another exam to determine if you'll be going to Vietnam.

Reply 9

westhamfan

Formica

Hmm, I got through to round 2, but if we don't get 20% what do we get? :redface:

Reply 10

westhamfan

Hmm, I got through to round 2, but if we don't get 20% what do we get? :redface:

A commendation - bit of a wooden spoon really. If you've got to round 2 a bronze (at least) should be in your reach.

Reply 11

I got 24/50 on paper 1, which I was pretty chuffed about considering our teacher has had to lower the pass mark to 9/50. :p:

Reply 12

Blackwater

I got 24/50 on paper 1, which I was pretty chuffed about considering our teacher has had to lower the pass mark to 9/50. :p:

I don't know what our pass mark was, but out of the 4 who got through we got 30, 27, 14 and 12...and about 8 or so more didn't get through

Reply 13

Someone actually got the original pass mark? I think that warrants an automatic gold.

Reply 14

westhamfan

So is reaching the second round a bit of an achievement then? i.e is it quite impressive if i were to mention it in any Uni interviews? or would they just think, yea so do a lot of people....

Reply 15

mikeleeds

westhamfan

So is reaching the second round a bit of an achievement then? i.e is it quite impressive if i were to mention it in any Uni interviews? or would they just think, yea so do a lot of people....

Well like I said before its entirely up to your school as to who gets through to the second round....

Reply 16

mikeleeds

Well like I said before its entirely up to your school as to who gets through to the second round....

Exactly, so it depends on how strong the rest of your school is - getting into the second round means you are in the top half-a-dozen in your school...which is clearly more impressive if you come from Eton or somewhere.

Reply 17

Android565

It was a bit of a mess in my school, only 2 of us turned up for round 1 and we werent given a formula sheet, I have been entered for round 2 with a score of 25 so I guess I should look through a few past papers or something, anyone know a good source of papers + solutions?

Reply 18