Indian National Physics Olympiad

The Physics Olympiad program follows the following 5 stages-

• Stage I: NSEP- National Standard Examination in Physics 

• Stage II: INPhO- Indian National Physics Olympiad 

• Stage III: OCSC- The Orientation cum Selection Camp inPphysics

• Stage IV: PDT- Pre-departure Training Camp for IPhO

• Stage V: IPhO- Participation in International Physics Olympiad 

Stage I, the National Standard Examination is entirely the responsibility of Indian Association of Physics Teachers. All the remaining stages are organized by HBCSE. NSEP is essential to be qualified so as to participate in the INPhO.

Eligibility, Syllabus and Structure

Following is the detailed information about eligibility and structure of NSEP and INPhO in detail. It is very important to learn about NSEP before you gear up for the INPhO. 

• Stage I: NSEP- National Standard Examination in Physics 

NSEP is the first stage in selection of students for the physics Olympiad Programme, which is organised by the IAPT- Indian Association of Physics Teachers. Every student aspiring to go through the successive stages of the programme, must enroll for NSEP.  National Standard Examination in Physics is held at a large number of centers in the country.

NSEP is an examination of 2 hours. NSEP 2017 – 2018 was held on November 26, Sunday, for which the last date of enrolment was September 15, 2016.

• Eligibility:

All Indian students who are born on or after July 1^st, 1998 and also, are in addition, in Class XII or lower as of November 30^th, 2017 were eligible to appear for NSEP 2017 – 2018. Any student may appear for more than one subject in NSEP provided the examination schedule allows it. For this you would have to check the examination schedule pertaining to different subjects. Also, the students who have passed Class XII are not eligible to enrol for NSEP exam.

It is entirely a student's responsibility to ensure that the eligibility criteria are satisfied before he or she applies for the exam. In case at any stage of the programme it is found that the student does not satisfy the eligibility criteria, thenhe or she may be disqualified from the programme.

• Syllabus:

The detailed guidelines for NSEP syllabus is not given but it is roughly estimated to be of the Class 11^th and 12^th standards (CBSE board). Those students who are interested in INPhO must start preparing for it directly as the detailed syllabus of INPhO is listed out below (find in the INPhO section below). In such a way NSEP syllabus will automatically get covered.

• Exam Pattern and Structure

NSEP exam does not emphasize on rote memory, but the comprehension of the structure.

The format is as follows:

• Qualifying for the Second Stage:

The aim of the first stage examination is to have a wide range, then to progressively increase this reach,then to attain nationwide representation for stage II without overly compromising on merit or quality. Thus the selection to the stage II examinations i.e. the Indian National Olympiad Examinations (INOs) is based on the following structure-

a. Eligibility Clause: Any participating candidate must secure a score equal to or greater than a Minimum Admissible Score (or MAS) to be eligible for the Stage II INO exam leading to the International Olympiad. By default, the MAS for a given subject will be 40% of the maximum score in that subject.

b. Proportional Representation Clause (PRC): The number of students selected for Stage II (INO) in each subject is around 300 students. Hence, in the event of a tie at the last position in the list, all students with the same marks at this position will qualify to appear for the Stage II examinations. However, the selected students must nevertheless satisfy the eligibility clause laid out above.

c.Minimum Representation Clause (MRC): Notwithstanding the proportional representation clause as explained above, the number of students selected for INO from each State and UT must be at least 1, provided that the eligibility clause is satisfied thoroughly.

d.Merit Clause: Given the eligibility clause as stated above, it is conceivable that 300 students may not qualify for Stage II in a subject. In a case like this, the shortfall (less from 300) will be selected based purely on merit without further consideration to proportional representation and minimum representation clauses. Thus in the event of a tie at the last position in the list all students with the same marks at this position will qualify to appear for the Stage II examination.

Note: There will be no other criterion or provision for selection to the Indian National Olympiad Examinations (INOs).

All students who qualify to appear for the INPhO get a certificate of merit from IAPT.

• Stage II: INPhO- Indian National Physics Olympiad 

The Indian National Physics Olympiad is organized by HBCSE in about 15 centres in the country.

Eligibility: 

• Students selected from Stage I examination (i.e. NSEP) are eligible to appear for INPhO.

• In addition, those students who have represented India in International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) in the previous year, need not appear for the first stage NSEP examination in physics. They may be allowed on special request to the National Coordinator for the respective subjects, to directly appear for the second stage i.e.- Indian National Physics Olympiad (INPhO) examination, in case they satisfy other eligibility criteria like as age, class, etc. which are applicable for the Physics Olympiad. 

Exam Pattern and Structure

The INPhO duration is of 3 hours. INPhO 2017-2018 happened on January 31^st, 2018, Saturday. The date and time information of the exam is usually given out on HBCSE site in the 1^st week of January every year. The tentative date and time of INPhO 2018 examination is as follows:

The confirmed schedule and date is hosted on the site and also communicated to the eligible students by post, so that no one misses out this crucial information. Students who appear for INPhO are eligible for Travel Allowance and Dearness Allowance as per the norms of the programme.

INPhO Past Year Paper

Syllabus

As like NSEP, the syllabus for INPhO is also based roughly on the school syllabus of class 9^th and 10^th (CBSE board). But, the syllabus of higher secondary school is only a broad guideline. Here the problems and questions in National Physics Olympiad are usually non-conventional and of really high difficulty level, just as comparable to International Physics Olympiad. For that matter, the syllabus of IPhO should be considered for INPhO.

• Syllabus in detail for INPhO on lines of IPhO

Books for INPhO

Books for Preparation of Physics Olympiad (INPhO and IPhO). Many titles are in international languages for which English translations are available-

• Nicolaus Vermes- International Physics Competitions 1967-1977

• Marius Gall- Anatolie Hristev - Probleme date la Olimpiadele Internationale de Fizica

• Kahmeg K. Kudawa- International Physics Olympiads

• Proceedings of the 15th International Physics Olympiad

• Rudolf Kunfalvi- Collection of Competition Tasks from the I through XV International Physics Olympiads 1967-1984

• Oleg F. Kabardin- Vladimir A. Orlov - International Physics Olympiads for Pupils

• Ana Smontara- Ivo Batistic- Katica Biljakovic- Erna Sustar- Fizikalne olimpijade - znacajni medunarodni susreti mladih

• 16th International Physics Olympiad- ed. by Anton Moljk- Bojan Golli

• Gunter Lind- Physikalische Olympiade-Aufgaben

• 17th International Physics Olympiad

• Procedures for Selecting Teams to the International Physics Olympiads- Waldemar Gorzkowski- Andrzej Kotlicki - Lars Silverberg

• 18th International Physics Olympiad Report

• Collection of Competition Tasks from the I through XVII International Physics Olympiads 

• Recueil des Sujets de Concours des Olympiades Internationales de Physique 1967-1984

• Olimpiadas Internacionales de Fisica 1967–1986

• 19th International Physics Olympiad Report

• Olimpiadas Internacionales de FisicaI a XV 1967-1984 translated by Teresa Martin Sanchez - Manuela Martin Sanchez

• XX International Physics Olympiad - Waldemar Gorzkowski

• International Physics Olympiads, vol. I - Waldemar Gorzkowski

• A Report on International Science and Mathematical Olympiads - Peter O’Halloran

• Olimpiadas Internacionales de Fisica 1967-1990 - Fernando Vega Salamanca

• Hans Jordens - XXI International Physics Olympiad

• XXII International Physics Olympiad- compiled by Carlos Sifredo Barrios - Rafael Llames Izquierdo

• XXIII International Physics Olympiad- Heimo Saarikko

• XXIV International Physics Olympiad- Arthur Eisenkraft

• Daniel Kluvanec- Ivo Volf- Mezinarodni Fysikalni Olympiady -metodycky material

• Don-Hyung Choi- Sang-Wuk Lee - History and Collection of the Competition Tasks from the I through the XXII IPhO 1967-1992

• Waldemar Gorzkowski- Zadania z fizyki z calego swiata, 20 lat Miedzynarodowych Olimpiad Fizycznych

• XXV International Physics Olympiad- Shen Ke-qi - Cong Shu-tong,

• Giuliana Cavaggioni- Dennis Luigi Censi- Francesco Minosso- Paolo Nesti- Umberto Penco

• Olimpiade Internationale 1990-1994- Matematica Fizica- Chimie Informatica Constantin Harabor - Sofia Buse

• Chaleo Manilerd- International Physics Olympiads: Problems and Solutions from 1967-1995

• Duong Trong Bai- Cao Ngoc Vien- Bai Thi Vat li Quoc te

• XXVII International Physics Olympiad- Arnt Inge Vistnes

• XXVI International Physics Olympiad-Rodney L. Jory- Michael F. J. Peachey-John P. Rayner

• XXVIII International Physics Olympiad

• Pavlos Ioannou- International Physics Olympiads 196 –1997

• Proceedings of the 29th International Physics Olympiad- Vidar Agustsson

• International Physics Competitions- International Physics Olympiads and First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics- Waldemar Gorzkowski

• Megjunadodni Olimpijadi po Fizika, Viktor Urumov

• Medzunarodne Olimpijade iz Fizike, Boris Grbic- Marko Dzordzevic- Mirjana Popovic-Bozic -  Marko Stoshic

• Proceedings of the XXX International Physics Olympiad, Giuliana Cavaggioni

• Kompetisi Fisika Internasional : Olimpiade Fisika Internasional dan Langkah Pertama Meraih Hadiah Nobel Fisika, W. Gorzkowski; translated by Zamroni-Herwindo Haribowo-Yohanes Surya- Saparudin

• Duong Trong Bai- Dam Trung Don- Bai Thi Vat li Quoc te- Problems of the International Physics Olympiads, vol. 2

• International Physics Olympiad XXXI 

• S. M. Kozel- V. A. Korovin- V. A. Orlov- Sbornik zadach i zadanii s otvetami i resheniami- Mnemozina, Moskva 2001

• 32^nd International Physics Olympiad– Proceedings, Sinan Kaan Yerti and Ibrahim Gunal

• O. Guttersrud- C. Angell- Olympiad finalists : where do they go?

• Proceedings of the 33^rd International Physics Olympiad

• Supplement to the Proceedings- Problems and Solutions

• Proceedings of the Thirty Fourth International Physics Olympiad, Ming-Juey Lin- Jessica Chang and Sophia Yang

• 35^th International Physics Olympiad : Proceedings

• Proceedings of 36^th International Physics Olympiad