PhysicsBowl
- Who can enter
- Any high school student
- Entered by
- A school or centre
- Paper
- 40 questions, 45 min
- Team
- Top 5 scores, summed
- Awards
- Per region and division
Questions and answers
Answered in the first sentence.
Every entry below opens with the answer. The explanation follows it, so you can stop reading as soon as you have what you came for.
Answers are drawn from what AAPT publishes. Where the honest answer is that nothing has been published, that is what you will find here.
Before you enter
Eligibility and entry
What is the PhysicsBowl?
A high school physics competition run by the American Association of Physics Teachers. Every year in March and April, students answer 40 multiple-choice questions drawn from high school physics, in 45 minutes, under supervision at their school or test centre. Schools also compete as teams.
Who is allowed to take it?
Any high school student. AAPT states that anyone in K–12 could potentially take the contest. There is no qualifying round, no nomination and no prior result needed — entry is made by a school, not earned.
Can I register myself?
Not directly — but we can arrange it for you. Entries are always made by a school or a test centre, never by an individual student. If your school runs the contest, that is the simplest route. If not, message us on WeChat: we offer a registration service and arrange the entry through the official channel, with the fee per the centre’s notice.
I’m in China. Do I register with AAPT?
No — you go through ASEEDER / SEED-ASDAN instead. AAPT routes regions 15 to 21 — mainland China, the rest of Asia and the Middle East — through that organisation rather than through its own registration. The contact is physics@seedasdan.org. Writing to AAPT directly is the single most common reason a school in China loses time. Full detail on registration.
How much does it cost?
It depends on your registration route. AAPT’s published direct fee is US$10 per student through EdVistas — that is the US route. Entries from mainland China and the rest of regions 15–21 run through a test centre, and the exact fee is the one in your centre’s notice — confirm there before budgeting. Older pages quoting $25 per set of PDFs or $5 via WebAssign reflect a superseded system.
We have several physics teachers. Do we need several teacher codes?
No — exactly one code per school. AAPT is emphatic about this: only the one teacher code is required for a school to compete, so it is important that a single code is used no matter how many staff help administer the exam.
When is the 2027 contest?
AAPT has not announced it.Reviewed 8 October 2026: AAPT says 2027 registration will open in December 2026. The exact 2027 contest date is not confirmed here. The listed preparation pack covers 2007–2025; ask whether the released 2026 paper has been added. —Worked solutions cover selected years only; the actual pack supplied by the advisor determines availability.
Taking the contest
The paper and the sitting
What is the difference between the two divisions?
How much physics you have studied — not how good you are. Division I is for students in their first physics course, at any level. Division II is for a second course or beyond, and is explicitly open to anyone who wants the harder paper. A school may enter teams in both. Work through the self-check if you are unsure.
What kind of questions appear?
High school physics, across a deliberately wide range. AAPT’s own answer is that high school students study everything from conceptual physics through AP Physics B/C to modern physics, and that as a contest it is not expected that any one student or school will have covered every topic on the paper. Meeting something unfamiliar is normal and is not a sign you entered the wrong division.
Is there an equation sheet?
Yes, but it is not exhaustive. It carries many basic relations and is not intended as a complete list of what a question might need. Some constants are provided — all of them used in building the exam. For every gravity question, use g = 10 m/s². An annotated version exists for study; it is not the sheet you get in the exam.
Who is allowed to proctor?
Not a relative. Parents, relatives and close acquaintances of any student sitting may not proctor. A proctor should hold at least a two-year degree, though not necessarily in physics, and is expected to use an official school email address. Homeschooled students should approach a community college, university or library. Full conditions on competition rules.
Do we all have to sit it on the same day?
Within a school, yes; across schools, no. AAPT sets a window and the school picks one day inside it, with its students sitting at the same time. The window exists because spring breaks fall differently. There is a cut-off for answer sheets to reach scoring — typically the last day the contest may be administered.
Results and awards
After the exam
How is a team score worked out?
The top five individual scores from a school, added together. They must be within the same region and division. Five students are needed to qualify; a school may enter fewer, but a short team simply has less to add up.
What awards are there?
Top two students and top two schools, in each region, in each division. The specific awards change from year to year, but that structure holds. Because it is per region and per division, the field you compete against is far smaller than the total entry.
What is Region 00, and why does it matter?
It is the region for test preparation centres and educational services, and it is eligible for student awards only. No school or team awards are available to entrants registered that way. If you are sitting through a training centre rather than your own school, this changes what you can win — check which applies before you set expectations.
How do I find out my result?
Through the teacher who registered you. The entry was made by the school, so the score returns that way. AAPT separately publishes regional winner lists and a Global Top Scores list for each year. Scoring cannot begin until the whole window has closed, so results take a while regardless of when you sat.
Can a question be challenged, or a missing score chased?
Yes, by the registering teacher, with AAPT. AAPT anticipates both situations. Neither is something a student raises directly, and neither is something this site can do — we have no visibility of individual results.
Was 2026 unusual?
Yes. An unusually large number of students scored highly, so AAPT published no top-100 list and instead recognised every student scoring 38, 39 or 40 in either division — more than a hundred per division. Regional and divisional awards were unaffected. Do not read one cycle as the permanent standard; see past competitions.
Not here?
Ask us the one you can’t find
If your question is not above, send it. If the answer is published somewhere we will point you at it; if it is not published at all, we will tell you that plainly rather than guessing — and add it here if others are likely to ask.