FAQ

Q1. Who can sign up? 

Any teachers and students can sign up, including homeschooling parents and children.

Q2. Will the competition be appropriate for all year levels?

There are two divisions, Junior and Senior. The Junior division is year 9 through year 11, and the Senior division is year 12 and year 13. The reason for this division is as follows:

A significant amount of content is shared between years 9, 10 and 11 - especially when it comes to electricity and mechanics. The junior section is mainly designed for year 10-11 students, but we do encourage bright year 9 students who wish to push themselves to do the competition. We do acknowledge that it will be very difficult for a year 9 who has just started school to grasp a thorough understanding of basic Mechanics or Electricity. But we are aware that there are students who challenge themselves up to a year or two years above their year.

The reason for the two divisions is the sudden leap of contents from years 9-11 to years 12-13. Whilst it is reasonable for a year 12 to head start on learning year 13 material, it is not so reasonable to expect year 11 to do the same. Therefore, we have set the senior division as year 12-13. This also allow us to be more flexible in the range and depth of content we can test. 

Q3. Why can't I find a teacher who registered from our school?

Please contact us at contact@nzpmc.com.

Q4. What type of questions can I expect? Are the questions similar to the sample questions? 

We expect students to be prepared for the topics listed in "What Do We Test" under Resources.

Sample questions were designed only show the breadth and quality of questions that will be used in the actual competition. This will allow students to be aware of the level of understanding required for each topic to do well in the competition. The emphasis and proportion of each topic may be different on the day of the competition, compared to what is seen in the sample questions.

Q5. What's in it for students?

• Students can receive trophies / medals / badges / certificates

• Students can use NZPMC as an opportunity to build on NCEA knowledge

• Gauge your Physics and Mathematics knowledge at a national level

• Workshops throughout the year

Q6. What's in it for teachers?

• Exciting challenge to give to your students to foster their engagement in learning

• Showcasing your students' talents at a national level

• Nothing to be handled from the school's side except for payment and registration - we handle everything else for you! (Round 1 takes place online, Round 2 takes place in-person)

Q7. How do we know that the questions will be high-quality and correct?

All questions are sent through to Professors and Lecturers at the University of Auckland and the University of Canterbury before they are published. Experienced high school teachers will also be quality-assuring the questions for difficulty and suitability for high school students.

Q8. What is NZPhO?

The NZPhO is a new competition which can be seen as an extension of the NZPMC, although the two competitions are separate in their registration process and schedule. Taking after the format of the IPhO, the NZPhO is intended to bring NZ back onto the physics olympiad world stage and provides students with the opportunity to extend their physics ability. Questions are geared more towards the combination of physical intuition and understanding of principles, with a focus on problem solving rather than memorisation. 

Have a question not answered above?  Contact us via contact@nzpmc.com!