Physics Olympiads
Physics Olympiad. noun. An annual physics contest for high school students, held nationwide in many countries, and also internationally.
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An "Olympiad", as the name suggests, is as big in the world of academics as the Olympic Games are in sports. The sheer rigor and challenge of Physics Olympiads held worldwide set them apart from many other global secondary-school competitions, and they are second only to the Mathematical Olympiads in terms of scope and global involvement. Most students, when they first start preparing for the Physics Olympiads in their home countries, quickly realize that the exam content - regardless of their age group - is worlds apart from anything they had experienced before.
That was the first thing that jumped at me as I started to prepare for the Bangladesh Physics Olympiad (BDPhO) of 2018, when I was in Grade 10. Only a few days ago, I barely had a grasp of calculus and physics at school; and now here I was, learning how to solve differential equations, compute layers of integrals such as the ones for moments of inertia, use vector products and complex numbers, and so much more! I was being invited by this novel challenge to apply these newly-acquired tools in a plethora of different situations, as well as to engage in deep reflection on both subjects. Before this, I had simply memorized formulas and struggled during exams to remember where to apply which one. Now, as I began to acquire new approaches and new problem-solving skills, I was gaining the autonomy to make formulas wherever I needed them! This habit for intensive learning and coming up with solutions on-the-fly has carried over beautifully into my college classes.
The National Round of BDPhO in 2018 saw me place 8th among the 500+ students in my age category, and the very next year, in BDPhO 2019, I placed 6th in the Nationals. One of the many perks National Round winners get is being part of the Physics Camp, which is a comprehensive mentoring program designed to enhance both theoretical problem-solving skills and experimental skills in students. Both of these are crucial to succeding in the overseas-level competitions, such as the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO), and the much more competitive Asian Physics Olympiad (APhO).
Me in front of one of the buildings in the University of Latvia campus, June 2019. This was the first time I had seen the sun stay up for as long as 7pm!
BdPhO 2021 (Questions + Solutions) - prepared by Raiyan Rashid.pdfA Question Set containing 10 questions, and their solutions, prepared for Category B (Grades 8-9) in the Bangladesh Physics Olympiad (BDPhO) 2021.
The Camp helped me mature as a science student by letting me solve theory problems and conduct hands-on experiments from previous years. In doing so, it had planted in me the seeds for becoming a scientific researcher. I had many mentors in the form of coaches and ex-participants. One upperclassman even told me this, while I was having problems with a particular question set: “If it’s too hard for you, you don’t have to do it alone. That’s what we’re here for!” As our weekly ritual, we took a break from our bread-and-butter exam-prep and used our talents to do something completely out-of-the-norm. Finding the exact right amount of water for the perfect bottle flip? We did it. Coming up with an equation to describe the oscillation of soup in a bowl? We did it. You name it, we thought of it, we carried it out!
Based on my performance in these camps, and in a Selection Test (for overseas-level candidates), the Olympiad Committee selected me to participate in the 3rd European Physics Olympiad (EuPhO) 2019 in Riga, Latvia. Bangladeshi students have built their own reputation in IPhO and APhO before; we were the very first team to represent our country in Europe as well! The five-day tour to Latvia was incidentally also my first time abroad without my parents, and it helped me become much more self-reliant as a person.
But my most important achievement in this space, in my eyes, has been to give back to this wonderful community of mentors and budding physicists. In Winter 2020, during my freshman year of college, I prepared for the BDPhO Committee a set of 10 questions that would potentially be given to contestants in Grades 8 and 9 in the following year. It took me a revisiting of everything I had learned, and two entire days of hunkering down in my pandemic-era bunker that was my study table, to devise all the questions and write out their solutions! But now that I have, I'm proud of it, and it's one of my best works in science till date.
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