British Physics Olympiad (BphO) round 1, November 2024
Hi all, How did you find BphO this year? I thought it was quite awful myself.
What questions did you do from section 1 and 2? I managed to get quite a few problems done on section 1 (I remember the electricity being quite nice, but overall definitely an increase in difficulty from previous years). Section 2 was a scramble for just a few marks, I got some of the question about rotating stuff done and the first couple of marks of the last question on gravity, but I am not at all optimistic about this paper.
Do feel free to share any answers you would like to check in the replies.
Also, if we swear on the BphO but cross it (with a single line so it is still probably visible) out could i suffer any consequences in this (the offensive material was "**** this" and "whoever wrote this exam, **** you".?
Anyway, all the best and hopefully the grade boundaries will be really low.
What questions did you do from section 1 and 2? I managed to get quite a few problems done on section 1 (I remember the electricity being quite nice, but overall definitely an increase in difficulty from previous years). Section 2 was a scramble for just a few marks, I got some of the question about rotating stuff done and the first couple of marks of the last question on gravity, but I am not at all optimistic about this paper.
Do feel free to share any answers you would like to check in the replies.
Also, if we swear on the BphO but cross it (with a single line so it is still probably visible) out could i suffer any consequences in this (the offensive material was "**** this" and "whoever wrote this exam, **** you".?
Anyway, all the best and hopefully the grade boundaries will be really low.
Scroll to see replies
Reply 1
Hi there.
I thought it was pretty good, I’d done a decent bit of preparation. I answered most of section 1 with the exception of the tarmac one, the rod with trolley one, and a couple more that I’ve forgotten. For section two, I answered 4 and 5 and thought they were quite entertaining questions. Got all but the last 6 marks of each done. Does anyone know when we get the results?
I thought it was pretty good, I’d done a decent bit of preparation. I answered most of section 1 with the exception of the tarmac one, the rod with trolley one, and a couple more that I’ve forgotten. For section two, I answered 4 and 5 and thought they were quite entertaining questions. Got all but the last 6 marks of each done. Does anyone know when we get the results?
Reply 2
The swearing? Idk man. Probably.
Reply 3
Original post
by ANON12342Hi all, How did you find BphO this year? I thought it was quite awful myself.
What questions did you do from section 1 and 2? I managed to get quite a few problems done on section 1 (I remember the electricity being quite nice, but overall definitely an increase in difficulty from previous years). Section 2 was a scramble for just a few marks, I got some of the question about rotating stuff done and the first couple of marks of the last question on gravity, but I am not at all optimistic about this paper.
Do feel free to share any answers you would like to check in the replies.
Also, if we swear on the BphO but cross it (with a single line so it is still probably visible) out could i suffer any consequences in this (the offensive material was "**** this" and "whoever wrote this exam, **** you".?
Anyway, all the best and hopefully the grade boundaries will be really low.
What questions did you do from section 1 and 2? I managed to get quite a few problems done on section 1 (I remember the electricity being quite nice, but overall definitely an increase in difficulty from previous years). Section 2 was a scramble for just a few marks, I got some of the question about rotating stuff done and the first couple of marks of the last question on gravity, but I am not at all optimistic about this paper.
Do feel free to share any answers you would like to check in the replies.
Also, if we swear on the BphO but cross it (with a single line so it is still probably visible) out could i suffer any consequences in this (the offensive material was "**** this" and "whoever wrote this exam, **** you".?
Anyway, all the best and hopefully the grade boundaries will be really low.
I thought it was really good for the most part. I didnt really get much preparation done, only a few past papers and only the section 1 part, however i have been revising for the PAT for oxford since the start of the summer holidays, and did the actual thing, which came in very handy for section 1. A lot of the section one questions were really hard so i skipped very many without much thought other than "do i think i can do this/do i KNOW how to do this" and then went back to harder ones after i did those, felt like i picked up anywhere from 28-39 marks on section one, though could be way lower.
Section 2 was a mixed bag, like, very much so. I attempted questions 4 and 5. With question 4, it was probably one of the most blessed bpho question i had seen in my life, i got every single part down and thought it was easy and most of the difficulty came from inputting an expression in the calculator (integrating the activity and having to use the mass with the moles and avogadros number and convert to joules and find the decay constant and stuff, putting the numbers in took so long. but with question 4 i felt like i got at least 19 marks if not 25. Question 5 on the other hand actually sucked, i did 5 a, and it was okay, but after that, i got super stuck on 5b not even getting the first bit, and every other part of question 5 needed 5b, so i got max 6 marks on questions 5.
overall i think it went pretty well, though i could have easily screwed up loads of the questions in section 1, well see lol
Reply 4
do you have the paper? or a mark scheme? just a question paper would do even. or can you recall and questions?
Reply 5
BPhO was supposed to release the paper by midday yesterday. Does anyone have the paper or MS? Just want to see which questions from section 1 I got correct.
(edited 1 year ago)
Reply 6
Does anyone know what the grade boundaries might be this year? Can't find anything past 2020
Reply 7
Original post
by ANON12342Hi all, How did you find BphO this year? I thought it was quite awful myself.
What questions did you do from section 1 and 2? I managed to get quite a few problems done on section 1 (I remember the electricity being quite nice, but overall definitely an increase in difficulty from previous years). Section 2 was a scramble for just a few marks, I got some of the question about rotating stuff done and the first couple of marks of the last question on gravity, but I am not at all optimistic about this paper.
Do feel free to share any answers you would like to check in the replies.
Also, if we swear on the BphO but cross it (with a single line so it is still probably visible) out could i suffer any consequences in this (the offensive material was "**** this" and "whoever wrote this exam, **** you".?
Anyway, all the best and hopefully the grade boundaries will be really low.
What questions did you do from section 1 and 2? I managed to get quite a few problems done on section 1 (I remember the electricity being quite nice, but overall definitely an increase in difficulty from previous years). Section 2 was a scramble for just a few marks, I got some of the question about rotating stuff done and the first couple of marks of the last question on gravity, but I am not at all optimistic about this paper.
Do feel free to share any answers you would like to check in the replies.
Also, if we swear on the BphO but cross it (with a single line so it is still probably visible) out could i suffer any consequences in this (the offensive material was "**** this" and "whoever wrote this exam, **** you".?
Anyway, all the best and hopefully the grade boundaries will be really low.
I absolutely despised Section 2. I wasted 20 minutes on Q5b) and had no idea what to do, then went to Q3, got stuck after a few marks, so then scrambled back to Q5 for a bit, before finally doing Q4 and thank god it was easier than the other questions. I'm thinking I bombed this one and only got 20/50 tops (rip)
Reply 8
3
Original post
by orangesandjuiceI absolutely despised Section 2. I wasted 20 minutes on Q5b) and had no idea what to do, then went to Q3, got stuck after a few marks, so then scrambled back to Q5 for a bit, before finally doing Q4 and thank god it was easier than the other questions. I'm thinking I bombed this one and only got 20/50 tops (rip)
I was in the same boat as you, but unfortunately I completely avoided Q4 as I have only taught myself the basics of nuclear incase it came up on section 1, but it seems like I shot myself in the foot with that. In retrospect section 1 wasn’t too bad compared to section 2. Luckily I’m not doing physics at uni anyway so I don’t need to be too attached to whatever result I get, but it would be nice to do well and perhaps get onto the next round (if the grade boundaries are low enough- in 2022 the papers were objectively easier and it was only 39/100 to get a top gold and onto round 2)
Reply 9
3
my school has to upload the script too so they will see my comments, so I’m low-key cooked 😬(but it was great stress relief, fingers crossed the marker will find the humour in it rather than take offence)
Reply 10
Original post
by botheredmonkeyBPhO was supposed to release the paper by midday yesterday. Does anyone have the paper or MS? Just want to see which questions from section 1 I got correct.
Reply 11
Original post
by ANON12342Hi all, How did you find BphO this year? I thought it was quite awful myself.
What questions did you do from section 1 and 2? I managed to get quite a few problems done on section 1 (I remember the electricity being quite nice, but overall definitely an increase in difficulty from previous years). Section 2 was a scramble for just a few marks, I got some of the question about rotating stuff done and the first couple of marks of the last question on gravity, but I am not at all optimistic about this paper.
Do feel free to share any answers you would like to check in the replies.
Also, if we swear on the BphO but cross it (with a single line so it is still probably visible) out could i suffer any consequences in this (the offensive material was "**** this" and "whoever wrote this exam, **** you".?
Anyway, all the best and hopefully the grade boundaries will be really low.
What questions did you do from section 1 and 2? I managed to get quite a few problems done on section 1 (I remember the electricity being quite nice, but overall definitely an increase in difficulty from previous years). Section 2 was a scramble for just a few marks, I got some of the question about rotating stuff done and the first couple of marks of the last question on gravity, but I am not at all optimistic about this paper.
Do feel free to share any answers you would like to check in the replies.
Also, if we swear on the BphO but cross it (with a single line so it is still probably visible) out could i suffer any consequences in this (the offensive material was "**** this" and "whoever wrote this exam, **** you".?
Anyway, all the best and hopefully the grade boundaries will be really low.
I fs agree with you - it was definitely worse than last year. Paper 1 went well for me too, paper 2 was very hit or miss so idk how I did. Did you get any ideas for question 5b? I was trying to solve it afterwards as well but I'm still kinda stumped ngl
Reply 12
Original post
by BigUpGianI fs agree with you - it was definitely worse than last year. Paper 1 went well for me too, paper 2 was very hit or miss so idk how I did. Did you get any ideas for question 5b? I was trying to solve it afterwards as well but I'm still kinda stumped ngl
Original post
by BigUpGianI fs agree with you - it was definitely worse than last year. Paper 1 went well for me too, paper 2 was very hit or miss so idk how I did. Did you get any ideas for question 5b? I was trying to solve it afterwards as well but I'm still kinda stumped ngl
Here's my method:
https://we.tl/t-nmiOoE83Ur (it won't let me upload a photo, i'm so bad at this 😭)
only unknown is x, solve for it, you get the 1.5AU (ish) they want. You know v_e, so you can use x and a to calculate y and then find time, the last 2 parts have angles from this diagram, which is basic trig cos (get it?) by the end you have everything on the diagram labelled.
For C, you can use vector momentum conservation, along with a nice pretty diagram (use column vectors).
Then it's pretty simple subbing into KE equation
For D, for part 1, you do GPE = KE (magnitudes), for part 2, you calculate GPE + KE (with GPE having a negative sign) and calculate that for a circular orbit based on time period.
Reply 13
Anyone know when we can expect our BPhO results to come out?
Reply 14
Original post
by EcrendisAnyone know when we can expect our BPhO results to come out?
No clue, havent got anything back yet either
Reply 15
I assume sometime in the early new year. I have been told it is supposed to be from the week commencing 30th December.
Reply 16
Original post
by combinatoricsI assume sometime in the early new year. I have been told it is supposed to be from the week commencing 30th December.
Do you know if it is our teacher who gets the scores or if the scores are directly sent to us students?
Reply 17
Original post
by parthsheth07Do you know if it is our teacher who gets the scores or if the scores are directly sent to us students?
It is sent to the person who signed you up so most likely your teacher. They will also get the grade/award boundaries sent via email and last year it was 45 for a top gold, 34 for a gold and around 20 for a silver
Reply 18
Did you guys find this years harder than last year? I just wanna see if I have a shot at top gold, cus I think i got 37-50/100
Reply 19
Original post
by lmaolmaolmaololDid you guys find this years harder than last year? I just wanna see if I have a shot at top gold, cus I think i got 37-50/100
i didnt do it last year. have the scores been released???
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