Objectives
- To stimulate the study of physics among young people.
- To reward effort and academic excellence.
- To disseminate physics and serve as a meeting point between secondary education and university.
In addition to being a competition, the Physics Olympics is also an educational experience. After an initial selection test, a team of around twenty students is formed to take a 72-hour physics course. At the end of the course, a local test is held to select the 6 winners who, after 12 hours of additional training, can participate in the national, Latin American and international phases.
The Royal Spanish Physics Society (RSEF), commissioned by the Ministry of Education, has been organising the Spanish Physics Olympiad (OEF) since 1990, of which the València Olympiad is the local phase, as well as participation in the international phases.
Participants
Students enrolled in Physics in the 1st or 2nd year of Batxillerat in the 2023-24 academic year.
Calendar of Activities of the Local Phase of the Physics Olympics
1. Pre-selection test, to form a team of 20-25 students, which will be held on Thursday, October 26, 2023, at 4:00 p.m., Room 106 of the Higher Technical School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Valencia.
2. 72-hour preparation course from November 2023 to February 2024, for students shortlisted in the first test. Two afternoons per week (Tuesday and Thursday from 4pm to 7pm), 3 hours each session. At the Polytechnic University of Valencia and at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Valencia.
3. Local test of the Physics Olympiad to select the team of 6 students who qualify, (4 starters and 2 substitutes) of which the first 4 will represent the university district of Valencia in the national phase - February 22, 2024, 4 p.m. , Faculty of Physics (University of Valencia, Burjassot Campus)
4. Presentation of awards and diplomas: Thursday, February 29, 2024, time and place to be determined.
5. Practical preparation course of 4 sessions (12 hours) for the selected team.
6. Trip to the national Olympiad of the 4 qualified people: to be determined.
Study grants for winning students
Students who are the winners of the Olympics will receive a study grant of €1000. This grant will only be awarded if the winning student has enrolled in the first year of a degree course at a centre belonging to the Universitat de València.
The study grants obtained are personal and non-transferable and can be made effective in the two academic years following their award. If the student has been the winner of the local phases of one or more Olympiads, either successively or simultaneously, he/she can apply for a single study grant for a single degree course at the Universitat de València.
Each collaborating institution will award the prize it determines.
Tests carried out in previous years
National Phase
In the following link, problems of the Spanish Physics Olympics, the exercises proposed in the different editions of the Spanish Physics Olympics will be compiled. In some cases, the worksheets presented together with the exercises are also included, as well as the corresponding solutions to the problems.
