USAPhO 2015 Discussion

Taking the F=MA tomorrow. I’ve been prepping for it and have consistently gotten around 14-17 on previous exams. Any suggestions on last minute studying?

review formulas and applications.

I meant relaxation methods like bikram or meditation. Last year I did pushups but that only got me a 11.5. Also anyone know if caffeine helps with physics olympiad performance?

Just took the exam. Are we allowed to discuss tomorrow?

Someone on AOPS has posted that the scoring has changed, i.e. there are no deductions for incorrect answers this year. My proctor never mentioned that so I skipped a few questions. Can someone verify this change?

http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=913&t=622020

Hmm. I took it on Wed. I doubt they would have changes this year I mean all the previous years had deductions. Seems odd.

I hope you’re right man. Hopefully that AOPS poster is just t r o l l ing

Actually I talked to one of my friends who took the paper version and he said that the cover sheet stated there were no deductions. This is weird because the Web Assign version does not mention the scoring rules. I solved all 25, but I guess other students (like you) who took the Web Assign version would have skipped some thinking the scoring was the same as in 2014, which would put them at a huge disadvantage.

Wow. If that’s the case then that’s really going to mess up the cutoffs. Instead of .25 increments it would have to be in increments of 1 meaning moving the cutoff up or down could affect hundreds of people.

Anyone knows when the scores are coming up?

AAPT says that semifinalists will be announced in the 3rd week of February on the US Physics Team website.

Source? EDIT: http://www.aapt.org/physicsteam/2015/

"2/5/2015

Semi-finalists for the USAPhO will be posted the third week of February. The testing dates for the USAPhO are March 16-22, 2015.

F=ma scores will be emailed to teachers after the semi-finalists have been posted.

Training camp will be held in Maryland, May 18-27, 2015, with team members arriving May 17th and departing May 28th.
"

Good luck trying to beat the kids who’ve been on the team since they’ve been 8 and graduated from Harvard…

Seriously though, it’s a difficult competition