Fifteen Xaverian Physics students have excelled themselves by achieving three silver awards and twelve bronze awards in the national Physics Olympiad Senior Challenge back in January. The competition is widely recognised as being the pinnacle of achievement for Physics students across the country with over 6000 of the most able Year 12 physicists taking part.
Participants sat a 60-minute paper in their respective colleges which comprised multiple-choice questions followed by some longer questions that test core knowledge and the application of this to solve problems related to the real world. The questions are set by an experienced team of teachers and university physicists and are designed to be challenging and beyond the problem-solving ability expected of Physics A Level students.
Former Priestnall School pupil, Blake Slater, who is studying A Levels in Ancient History, Mathematics and Physics, decided to take part in the competition to challenge himself in what he had learned so far on his Physics A Level course. He commented: “The short time length and complexity of the questions made it very challenging to tackle. I prepared for the exam by doing some past papers off their website and this helped in the approach I took to the real exam. Overall, I’m satisfied with my performance and more than anything, I’m proud that to have had the opportunity to take part in the first place. The competition really opened my eyes to the scope of Physics and how far I still have to go in my studies, and I hope I can take that forward as motivation to continue doing my best in the future.”
Munal Ovais, a former pupil of The Hathershaw College is currently studying A Levels in Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics, also competed in the event and commented: “Personally, I enjoyed the Olympiad more than I thought I would. Every question seemed to have some sort of novel situation to apply physics or mathematics to, and it was satisfying to work through each one logically. The fact that most questions applied physics to real-world scenarios meant that it was very different to anything I’d seen on the Physics A Level and, in taking part in the Olympiad I hoped to gain exactly this, a new perspective on a subject I was familiar with.
Munal continued: “My experiences so far at the College have really inspired me to continue studying Physics at university. I chose to study at Xaverian, mostly because of the College’s effective Oxbridge Programme which I hope will help me gain an offer from the University of Oxford, but also because of the relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. Experiences like taking part in the Olympiad really help put the subject in its wider context but will also help when taking the next step after Xaverian.”
Bridget Binks, Physics Curriculum Leader at Xaverian, commented on the achievement by saying: “We are delighted to have so many successful entries from our high-achieving physics students and immensely proud of how well all the students performed. Nationally, students achieve 7% Gold, 21% silver and 54% bronze and for three of our students to achieve a silver and twelve bronze awards is a significant achievement against some of the best physicists in the country. I’m sure our students will gain confidence from taking part in the competition and it will inspire them to continue studying physics at university when they take their next steps after Xaverian.”