What is APhO?

APhO stands for the Asian Physics Olympiad. It is currently the premier Physics competition for Asian countries. It is modeled after the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO), and demands a similar level of intellectual capability from the participants. The competitors representing each participating Asian country are expected to be drawn from pre-university or equivalent institutions of the respective Asian countries.

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History of APhO

The APhO has its origins in the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO), an annual event first started in Warsaw in 1967 as a premier physics competition for pre-university students from around the world. In 1999, the team leader of Indonesia, Dr Yohanes Surya, together with the president of IPhO, Prof W Gorzkowski, undertook to create and organise the first Asian Physics Olympiad (APhO) in April 2000 in Indonesia. This event attracted participation from 12 Asian countries. Its successful implementation has been followed by the second APhO held in  Taiwan in April 2001 and the third APhO held in Singapore in 2002. Thailand will be the host of the fourth APhO in April 2003.

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Statutes of APhO

In recognition of the growing significance of physics in all fields of science and technology, and in the general education of young people, and with the aim of enhancing the development of international contacts between countries of the Asian region in the field of school education in physics, an annual physics competition has been organised for High School Students. The competition is called the 'Asian Physics Olympiad' and is a competition between individuals. By the term "countries of the Asian region" one should understand countries whose capitals are localised in the region traditionally recognised as Asia. The Asian Physics Olympiad should be conducted not later than two months prior to the International Physics Olympiad.

The competition is organised by the Education Ministry or another appropriate institution of one of the participating countries on whose territory the competition is to be conducted. Hereunder, the term "Education Ministry" is used in the above meaning. The organising country is obliged to ensure equal participation of all the delegations, and to invite all the participants of any of the last three competitions. Additionally, it has the right to invite other countries.

The Asian Physics Olympiad is a purely educational event. No country may have its team excluded from participation on any political grounds resulting from political tensions, lack of diplomatic relations, lack of recognition of some countries by the government of the organizing country, imposed embargoes and similar reasons. When difficulties preclude formal invitation of the team representing a country students from such a country should be invited to participate as individuals.

Within five years of its entry in the competition, a country should declare its intention to be the host for a future Olympiad. This declaration should propose a timetable so that a provisional list of the order of countries willing to organise the Olympiad can be compiled.

A country which refuses to organise the competition may be barred from participation, even if delegation from that country has taken part in previous competitions. Any kind of religious or political propaganda against any other country at the Olympiad is forbidden. A country which violates this rule may be barred from participation.

The Education Ministries of the participating countries, as a rule, assign the organisation, preparation and execution of the competition to a physics society or another institution in the organising country.

The Education Ministry of the organising country notifies the Education Ministries of the participating countries of the name and address of the institution assigned to the organisation of the competition.

Each participating country sends a team consisting of students of general or technical high schools, i.e. schools which cannot be considered technical colleges. Also students who finished their school examination in the year of the competition can be members of a team as long as they do not start the university studies. The age of the participants should not exceed 20 on 30th June of the year of the competition. Each team should normally have 8 members. In addition to the students, two accompanying persons are invited from each country, one of whom is designated delegation head (responsible for whole delegation), and the other - pedagogical leader (responsible for the students). The accompanying persons become members of the International Board, where they have equal rights. The members of the International Board are treated as contact persons in participating countries on the Asian Physics Olympiad affairs until the next competition. The competition is conducted in a friendly atmosphere designed to promote future collaborations and to encourage the formation of friendships in the scientific community. To that effect all the possible political tensions between the participants should not be reflected in any activity during the competition any political activity directed against any individuals or countries is strictly prohibited.

The delegation head and pedagogical leader must be selected from specialists in physics or physics teachers, capable of solving the problems of the competition competently. Normally each of them should be able to speak English.

The delegation head of each participating team should, on arrival, hand over to the organisers a list containing personal data on the contestants (giving name, family name, date of birth, home address, type and address of the school attended).

The working language of the Asian Physics Olympiad is English. Also the competition problems and their solutions should be prepared in English; the organisers, however, may prepare those documents in other languages as well.

The financial principles of the organisation of the competition are: "The Ministry which sends the students to the competition covers the return travel costs of the students and the accompanying persons to the place at which the competition is held." All other costs from the moment of arrival until the moment of departure are covered by the Ministry of the organising country. In particular, this concerns the costs for board and lodging for the students and the accompanying persons, the costs for excursions, awards for the winners, etc.

The competition is conducted on two days, one for the theoretical competition and one for the experimental competition. There should be at least one day of rest between these two days. The time allotted for solving the problem should normally be five hours. The number of theoretical problems should be three and the number of experimental problems one or two. When solving the problems the contestants may make use of tables of logarithms, tables of physical constants, slide-rules, non-programmable pocket calculators and drawing material. These aids will be brought by the student themselves. Collections of formulae from mathematics or physics are not allowed.

The theoretical problems should involve at least four areas of physics taught at high school level. High School students should be able to solve the competition problems with standard high school mathematics and without extensive numerical calculation.

The host country has to prepare one spare problem which will be presented to the International Board if one of the first three theoretical problems is rejected by two thirds of members of the International Board. The rejected problem cannot be considered again.

The competition tasks are chosen and prepared by the host country.

The marks available for each problem are defined by the organiser of the competition, but the total number of points for the theoretical problems should be 30 and for the experimental 20. The laboratory problems should consist of theoretical analysis (plan and discussion) and experimental execution.

The winners will receive diplomas or honorable mentions in accordance with the number of points accumulated as follows:

• The mean number of points accumulated by the three best participants is considered as 100%
• The contestants who accumulate more than 90% of points receive first prize (diploma).
• The contestants who accumulate more then 78% up to 89% receive second prize (diploma).
• The contestants who accumulate more than 65% up to 77% receive third prize (diploma).
• The contestants who accumulate more than 50% up to 64% receive an honorable mention.
• The contestants who accumulate less than 50% of points receive certificates of participation in the competition.
  

The mentioned marks corresponding to 90%, 78%, 65% and 50% should be calculated by rounding off to the nearest lower integers. The participant who obtains the highest score will receive a special prize and diploma. Special prizes can be awarded.

The obligations of the organiser:

• The organiser is obliged to ensure that the competition is conducted in accordance with the Statutes.
• The organiser should produce a set of "Organisation Rules", based on the Statutes, and send them to the participating countries in good time. These Organization Rules shall give details of the Olympiad not covered in the Statutes, and give names and addresses of the institutions and persons responsible for the Olympiad.
• The organiser establishes a precise programme for the competition (schedule for the contestants and the accompanying persons, programme of excursions, etc.), which is sent to the participating countries in advance.
• The organiser should check immediately after the arrival of each delegation whether its contestants meet the conditions of the competitions.
• The organiser chooses the problems and ensures their proper formulation in English and in other language. It is advisable to select problems where the solutions require a certain creative capability and a considerable level of knowledge. Everyone taking part in the preparation of the competition problems is obliged to preserve complete secrecy.
• The organiser must provide the teams with interpreters.
• The organiser should provide the delegation leaders with photostated copies of the solutions of the contestants in their delegation before the final classification.
• The organiser is responsible for the grading of the problem solutions.
• The organiser drafts a list of participants proposed as winners of the prizes and honorable mentions.
• The organiser prepares the prizes (diplomas), honorable mentions and awards for the winners of the competition.
• The organiser is obliged to publish proceedings (in English) of the Olympiad. Each of the participants of the competition (delegation heads, pedagogical leaders and contestants) should receive one copy of the proceedings free of charge not later than one year after the competition.

The scientific part of the competition must be within the competence of the International Board, which includes the delegation heads and pedagogical leaders of all the delegations.
The Board is chaired by a representative of the organising country. He is responsible for the preparation of the competition and serves on the Board in addition to the accompanying persons of the respective teams.

Decisions are passed by a majority vote. In the case of equal number of votes for and against, the chairman has the casting vote.

The delegation leaders are responsible for the proper translation of the problems from English to the mother tongue of the participants.

The International Board has the following responsibilities:

• to direct the competition and supervise that it is conducted according to the regulations
• to ascertain, after the arrival of the competing teams, that all their members meet the requirements of the competition in all aspects. The Board will disqualify those contestants who do not meet the stipulated conditions. The costs incurred by a disqualified contestant are covered by his country
• to discuss the Organisers' choice of tasks, their solutions and the suggested evaluation guidelines before each part of the competition. The Board is authorised to change or reject suggested tasks but not to propose new ones. Changes may not affect experimental equipment. There will be a final decision on the formulation of tasks and on the evaluation guidelines. The participants in the meeting of the International Board are bound to preserve secrecy concerning the tasks and to be of no assistance to any of the participants
• to ensure correct and just classification of the prize winners; the grading of those contestants who do not receive prizes or honorable mentions is not to be disclosed
• to establish the winners of the competition and make a decision concerning presentation of the prizes and honorable mentions. The decision of the International Board is final
• to review the results of the competition
• to select the country which will be assigned the organisation of the next competition

The International Board is the only body having the right to take decisions on barring countries from participation in the Asian Physics Olympiads for violation of these Statutes. Observers may be present at the meetings of the International Board, but not to vote or take part in the discussions.

The institution in charge of the Olympiad announces the results and presents the awards and diplomas to the winners at an official gala ceremony. It invites representatives of the organising Ministry and scientific institutions to the closing ceremony of the competition.

The long-term work involved in organising the Olympiads is coordinated by a "Secretariat for the Asian Physics Olympiads". This Secretariat consists of the President and Secretary. They are elected by the International Board for a period of five years when the chairs become vacant. For special merits to the Asian Physics Olympiads, the International Board may award one person with the lifelong title "Honorable President of the Asian Physics Olympiads" and a number of persons with the lifelong title "Honorable Member of the International Board of the Asian Physics Olympiad". The Honorable President and the Honorable Members of the International Board of the Asian Physics Olympiads are members of the International Board in addition to the regular members. They are invited to each Asian Physics Olympiad at cost (including travel expenses) of the organising country.

The present Statutes have been drafted on the basis of the Statutes of the International Physics Olympiads.

Changes in these Statutes, the insertion of new paragraphs or exclusion of old ones, can only be made by the International Board and requires qualified majority (2/3 of the votes). No changes may be made to these Statutes or Syllabus unless each delegation obtains written text of the proposal at least three months in advance.

Participation in an Asian Physics Olympiad signifies acceptance of the present Statutes by the Education Ministry of the participating country.

The originals of these Statues are written in English.

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Syllabus of APhO

General

1. The extensive use of the calculus (differentiation and integration) and the use of complex numbers or solving differential equations should not be required to solve the theoretical and practical problems.
2. Questions may contain concepts and phenomena not contained in the Syllabus but sufficient information must be given in the questions so that candidates without previous knowledge of these topics would not be at a disadvantage.
3. Sophisticated practical equipment likely to be unfamiliar to the candidates should not dominate a problem. If such devices are used then careful instructions must be given to the candidates.
4. The original texts of the problems have to be set in the SI units.

A. Theoretical Part

1) Mechanics

2) Mechanics of Rigid Bodies

3) Hydromechanics

4) Thermodynamics and Molecular Physics

5) Oscillations and Waves

6) Electric Charge and Electric Field

7) Current and Magnetic Field

8) Electromagnetic Waves

9) Quantum Physics

10) Relativity

11) Matter

The Theoretical Part of the Syllabus provides the basis for all the experimental problems. The experimental problems given in the experimental contest should contain measurements.

Additional requirements :

• Candidates must be aware that instruments affect measurements.
• Knowledge of the most common experimental techniques for measuring physical quantities mentioned in Part A.
• Knowledge of commonly used simple laboratory instruments and devices such as calipers, thermometers, simple volt-, ohm- and ammeters, potentiometers, diodes, transistors, simple optical devices and so on.
• Ability to use, with the help of proper instruction, some sophisticated instruments and devices such as double-beam oscilloscope, counter, ratemeter, signal and function generators, analog-to-digital converter connected to a computer, amplifier, integrator, differentiator, power supply, universal (analog and digital) volt-, ohm-, and ammeters.
• Proper identification of error sources and estimation of their influence on the final result(s).
• Absolute and relative errors, accuracy of measuring instruments, error of a single measurement, error of a series of measurements, error of a quantity given as a function of measured quantities.
• Transformation of a dependence to the linear form by appropriate choice of variables and fitting a straight line to experimental points.
• Proper use of the graph paper with different scales (for example polar and logarithmic papers).
• Correct rounding off and expressing the final result(s) and error(s) with correct number of significant digits.
• Standard knowledge of safety in laboratory work. (Nevertheless, if the experimental set-up contains and safety hazards the appropriate warnings should be included the text of the problem).
  

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