By Katie McQuaid
Associate Director, Communications and Marketing
The Department of Physics and Astronomy at UWaterloo hosts The Sir Isaac Newton (SIN) Exam every year and this year, Zander Li from Waterloo received the highest score in the world, beating out 3076 other students from around the globe. This year, over 1200 students outside of Canada participated in the exam from countries like Australia, India, China and Japan, making it a truly international competition.
Taking the SIN exam has been a tradition for physics-loving high schoolers for decades. The exam is offered every Spring and encourages the teaching of physics to high school students around the globe. The test is challenging and fun for students who are passionate about physics in different ways.
Li 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 UWaterloo is like.
“I really enjoyed my visit to campus, especially meeting Donna Strickland,” says Li. “I learned a lot about the amazing applications of lasers (big thanks to the grad students in Dr. Stricklands 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.