This year, a record-breaking five Marksmen qualified for the second round of the U.S. Physics Olympiad team. Out of 5,000 U.S. high school students who take this first test, only 400 students qualify for the second round of testing, and considering that five of them all attend the same school is remarkable.
The first test, the F=ma exam, evaluates advanced physics topics and requires at least 15 out of 25 points to be earned proceed to the next round, further showcasing the difficulty of the test.
The five Marksmen consisted of juniors Surya Dinesh and Deven Pietrzak, and seniors Kevin Lu, Rishi Rai and Matthew Gomez. Some members, like Dinesh, have qualified for multiple years in a row.
Physics teacher Stephen Houpt has always been involved in the Physics Olympiad, and this year the record-breaking number of Marksmen came as no shock to him.
“(The U.S. Physics Olympiad team) is selecting the best and brightest students across the U.S. and in order to do that, they have to ask hard questions,” Houpt said. “However, they were really well prepared.”
While the F=ma exam is very challenging, the second test, called the Physics Olympiad (USAPhO), is even more difficult and extends into a theoretical knowledge of physics. It requires complete knowledge of advanced physics subjects and narrows down the 400 students to just 25.
“The first test is multiple choice, but the second test is all free response,” Houpt said. “It’s very difficult, and apparently this year, it was almost all topics that aren’t covered in, for instance, AP Physics 1. It’s all concepts like relativity and optics and other advanced physics. For example, the highest scorer this year on the F=ma exam scored a 19 out of 25 whereas they would score a 100% on an AP Physics C test.”
While most students who take the test are juniors or seniors, there have been some exceptions. Houpt even recalls that a freshman qualified for the second round one year.
The five students took the exam on April 2, and are currently waiting for their results. If they advance, they will attend the U.S. Physics Team Training Camp from May 31 through June 11 at the University of Maryland. From there, only five students are selected to represent the U.S. at the International Physics Olympiad in Iran from July 21 to July 29.
