PhysicsBowl

The most well-known high school physics contest in the U.S.

Hosted by the AAPT - the world's leading science community

Over 500 schools from 11 countries compete and rank together

Significantly enhance top university application.

Date: March 15 - 30, 2025

Introduction

American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), established in 1930, is a strong professional physics science society dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in physical science education. The association has 8,000 registered physics teachers; half of these are professors from famous universities, whilst a third are experienced high school teachers. The association provides the latest physics methodologies and rich educational resources through meetings, forums, magazines, contests and so on.

 

PhysicsBowl is an annual physics contest held by the AAPT. Experienced registered physics teachers and professors get together to write the competition problems and judge results. It is the most influential physics contest for American high schools, with participants from 500+ schools in 11 countries every year.

Rules & Awards

Rules

Language: English

Date: March 15-30, 2025

Location: Partner School
Student Eligibility: High school students
Type: Individual test (no experiment)

Exam problems:
Two sets of problems arranged as Division 1 and 2;
Division 1 is suitable for Grade 10 students. (IB Grade10, A-Level G2 students and excellent G1 students)
Division 2 is more difficult.(IB Grade 11-12, A-Level).

Format: 40 multiple-choice questions, 45 minutes.The test is composed of 50 questions; however, students answer only 40 questions. There are 2 divisions. Participants do not need to choose the division before the exam. Division 1 students will answer only questions 1-40, do not answer questions 41-50. Division 2 students will answer only questions 11-50, do not answer questions 1-10.

Awards

Individual award

  • Global Top100
  • Asia Top10
  • Asia Gold: Asia Top 10%
  • Asia Silver: Asia Top 25%
  • Asia Bronze: Asia Top 35%
  • Honorable Award: Asia top 55%

Team award
The sum of the top 5 individual scores from a school in Asia is counted for the team score.

  • Asia top 10 (Division1, Division2)

Notes: Division 1 and Division 2 are ranked separately

ASDAN EPQ Scholarship

3000RMB/std

National Gold

2000RMB/std

National Silver

1000RMB/std

National Bronze

Noted：The ASDAN Scholarship is only available to Year 10, 11 and 12 students for participating ASDAN Extended Project Qualification(EPQ). EPQ is recommended by the G5 group and many leading universities as a competitive academic experience. Scholarships cannot be exchanged for cash. For further details see: http://www.seedasdan.org/epq/。

Registration

Registration Phase:

  • The School can apply for partner school and students can directly register via School.
  • The Registration Deadline will last until 2 weeks before Exam Date of each competitions.

About Payment

Schools can submit the registration form and issue the payment accordingly before the registration deadline.

Exam Centers

Sample Problems