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1. What is the F=ma Contest?
F=ma is a physics contest for American or U.S.-residing high school students, hosted by the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). Qualifying students go on to compete in the USA Physics Olympiad, which then selects students to join the U.S. Physics Team to compete at the International Physics Olympiad. The International Physics Competition is a very prestigious and popular physics competition, and the U.S. Physics Team has a great track record of regularly placing in the top 10.
2. What is in the F=ma exam?
The F=ma contest consists of 25 multiple-choice questions with a 75-minute time limit. Topics covered in this physics contest include classical mechanics, applying fundamental principles to real-world scenarios, and basic calculus. Classical mechanics includes kinematics, statics, Newton’s laws, momentum and energy, oscillations, orbital mechanics, rotational dynamics, fluids, dimensional analysis, and elementary data analysis. Competing students will be provided with scratch paper and are allowed to bring a simple scientific calculator and use only basic functions.
3. Why participate in the F=ma?
The top 400 students from the F=ma contest are invited to participate in the USA Physics Olympiad; students must all meet the cutoff of 14 points. The USA Physics Olympiad exam is a 3-hour free response exam, where the top 20 students go on to a training camp for the U.S. Physics Team. The training camp is to prepare students to compete in the International Physics Olympiad. Participating in any of these three contests is an excellent way to show college admissions your enthusiasm and high technical skill in physics. If you’re looking for admission into big STEM universities such as MIT or CalTech, it’s highly recommended to participate in the F=ma contest. Being accepted into the US Physics Team will certainly impress MIT and CalTech admissions. While the F=ma contest isn’t as prestigious as the USA Physics Olympiad or the International Physics Olympiad, it’s not only the crucial first step but also a great chance to test your skills and learn from your mistakes.
Even if you’re an international student who won’t be eligible to participate in the U.S. Physics team, you’re still able to take the F=ma contest and wow college admissions with your score! Additionally, there are countless other opportunities for international high school students to show off their physics skills and interest. See 8 Physics Competitions for High School Students.
Finally, the F=ma contest is an interesting, extracurricular way for you to prepare for the AP Physics exams.
4. Important Dates and Eligibility
Where to take the exam
The F=ma contest is administered by students’ local high schools and proctored by teachers not parents or relatives.
Dates
F=ma Registration deadline: January 22, 2024
F=ma Contest: February 8, 2024
USA Physics Olympiad: April 2, 2024
U.S. Physics Team Training Camp: May 31 – July 11, 2024 at University of Maryland
Eligibility
For the F=ma contest, any student currently attending a U.S. school or U.S. citizens or permanent residents is eligible to take the exam. However, only U.S. citizens or permanent residents are eligible to advance to the USA Physics Olympiad.
Cost
$75 school registration fee. Your high school must first register with host organization AAPT to be administer the test to students.
$15 fee per competing student.
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5. How to prepare for the F=ma contest?
The F=ma contest focuses on classical mechanics, which covers kinematics, statics, Newton’s laws, momentum and energy, oscillations, orbital mechanics, rotational dynamics, fluids, dimensional analysis, and elementary data analysis, as listed above. Below are resources from the world’s top STEM institutions to break down these topics for you!
MIT Physics I: Classical Mechanics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has a course specifically on classical mechanics. The course materials (videos and readings) are all available online for you to study. Dive through 12 weeks-worth of college-level content covering topics such as Kinematics, Newton’s Laws, Circular motion, Drag forces, Constraints and continuous systems, Momentum and impulse, Continuous mass transfer, Kinetic energy and work, Potential energy and energy conservation, Collision theory, Rotational motion, Angular momentum, Rotations and translation – rolling, and Vectors. Each week’s workload also includes problem sets and worked examples.
Yale University Fundamentals of Physics I
Yale University’s also has all lectures available for view for Fundamentals of Physics I. This course also provides problem sets as well as full-length midterm and final exams for students to practice. Over the course of 24 lectures, the Yale professor explains Vectors in Multiple Dimensions, Newton’s Laws of Motion, Inclined Planes, Work-Energy Theorem and Law of Conservation of Energy, Law of Conservation of Energy in Higher Dimensions, Dynamics of a Multiple-Body System and Law of Conservation of Momentum, Rotations: Dynamics of Rigid Bodies and Parallel Axis Theorem, Torque, Relativity, Lorentz Transformation, Four-Vector in Relativity, The Taylor Series, Simple Harmonic Motion, Introduction to Waves, Fluid Dynamics and Statics and Bernoulli’s Equation, Thermodynamics, The Boltzmann Constant, Carnot’s Engine, and Entropy.
Previous Exams
Once you understand the concepts, the best way to practice is to take practice mock exams under a 75-minute time limit. See below for previous exams to test yourself with.
6. Take a preparation class with Aralia Education
With a lot of heavy course content to cover, it’ll be crucial to have an experienced tutor help you study and explain complex concepts. Prepare for the F=ma contest with Aralia Education! We’ll pair you with an award-winning teacher from the best private high schools in the country and craft a course curriculum tailormade to your unique needs as a student. Learn more about Aralia’s F=ma contest class.
