Adapted from - Physics & Astronomy News - published October 29th, 2024
The Department of Physics and Astronomy at UWaterloo proudly hosts the annual Sir Isaac Newton (SIN) Exam, a tradition for physics-loving high schoolers worldwide. This year, Zander Li from Waterloo achieved the highest score globally, outperforming 3,076 students from around the world.
In 2024, the SIN Exam attracted over 1,200 participants from outside Canada, including students from Australia, India, China and Japan – solidifying its status as an international competition. Offered every spring, the SIN Exam aims to inspire high school students to explore physics, creating a fun challenge for those passionate about the subject.
Every issue of our Entangler, we release several past SIN Exam questions in our “SIN BIN”. Head on over to each edition of our Entangler to give it a try!
As the winner of the SIN contest, Zander and his family were invited to campus to meet Nobel Prize winning professor Donna Strickland and given a tour of the facilities to show him what being a physics student at our university is like.
“I really enjoyed my visit to campus, especially meeting Donna Strickland,” says Zander.
I learned a lot about the amazing applications of lasers (big thanks to the grad students in Dr. Strickland's lab!) and all the different areas of physics research that happen at the university. It was an eye-opening experience and a lot of fun.
As a new incentive for the exam, starting in 2025, every student who takes the SIN exam will be eligible for a $1000 contest award entrance scholarship if they accept a spot in a physics program in the Faculty of Science. To check out all of our physics programs, you can visit the Department of Physics and Astronomy programs page.
If you’re a student who would like to participate in the exam, connect with your physics teacher to help get your school signed up. If you’re a teacher interested in supervising the exam for your students, registration opens in mid-March and the exam takes place in May. For all the information you need to know about the exam, visit the Sir Isaac Newton Exam page on our website.
And if you’re an alumni who is looking to reignite your physics passion, why not take a crack at the SIN Exam questions yourself? Relive the thrill of problem-solving!
