Every November, hundreds of high school-level students around the world showcase their skills by competing in a physics competition hosted internationally.  The 2019 Premier Competition http://physicsu.org/premier will take place on Sunday, November 17, 2019.

http://physicsu.org/premier/2019.

Physics Unlimited Premier Competition (PUPC) is an individual exam challenges students to apply their knowledge and skills at a deeper level than in conventional high school physics problems. Physics Unlimited provides opportunities for students to learn physics and math while exhibiting their problem solving skills. The primary mission of this non-profit organization is to make physics education and enrichment more accessible for students across the world, and it is dedicated to overseeing both onsite and online events. The Physics Unlimited Premier Competition is an international version of the Princeton University Physics Competition, run by its organizing team independently from Physics Unlimited. Students at all global sites compete on the same papers, resulting in both combined and site-specific sets of rankings.

For high school students who cannot travel to the United States, It has been selected international testing centers in different continents.

Besides the Princeton University campus, institutions in China, South Korea, Germany, Vietnam, Taiwan and Irmak Schools in Turkey are the official examination centers of PUPC

The following is an updated list of countries where local organizations or universities host the Premier Competition at educational institutions in their regions

China: hosted by ASDAN China

Korea: hosted by KGSEA

Germany: hosted by the Freshman Institute – FH Aachen (Geilenkirchen)

Turkey: hosted by Irmak Schools (Istanbul)

Taiwan: hosted by the Taiwan Math/Science Circle (TWMC)

Vietnam: hosted by the Center for Nano Science and Technology, Hanoi National University of Education, Hanoi

Competitors are given 1.5 hours to solve four problems of the level and scope roughly equivalent to what one may expect in a U.S.-based AP Physics C curriculum. Therefore, problems may cover areas beyond classical mechanics.

For the prospective competitors, reading chapter 7 of John Taylor’s Classical Mechanics to learn about Lagrangians is recommended. The topics for the exam are Newton’s Laws, rotational motion, in particular rotational kinetic energy, the Lagrangian formulation of classical mechanics, and the Kirchoff loop rule and circuits.