The UP

Physics
Association Presents:

PISIKAalaman 2016
PISIKAalaman is an annual high school physics quiz bee held by the UP Physics
Association in order to provide an avenue for excellence and learning for students and
teachers alike. This January 2016, the competition has been splitted into two categories
catering to different curricula of high schools in the country.

UP PHYSICS
ASSOCIATION

National Institute Physics

University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City 1101

Guidelines and Mechanics

I.

Registration
1.

Registration shall last from November 21, 2015 to January 23, 2016

2.

Teams who registered for PISIKAalaman A must pay a registration fee of three hundred
pesos (P300.00) while teams who registered for B must pay a registration fee of one
hundred and fifty pesos (P150.00). See General Guidelines -> Competition Proper for further
details about PISIKAalaman A and PISIKAalaman B.

3.

Modes of payment:
i.

Landbank Account
UP Physics Association, Account No. 3071 0154 15

4.

ii.

Walk-in payment

iii.

Direct early payment

The contact details of the event organizers are as follows:

UP Physics Association
National Institute of Physics
University of the Philippines, Diliman
Quezon City, Metro Manila 1101
upphysics@gmail.com
(+63) 905 291 0657 (Angelo Rillera President)
(+63) 932 608 7793 (Nestor Daniel Fernandez Event Head)

5.

The official website of the competition is pisikaalaman2015.weebly.com.

6.

Interested schools may pre-register through tinyurl.com/pisikaalaman.

7.

Schools are highly advised to express their desire to join the competition on or before
January 22, 2016 by informing the event organizers through the contact details stated
above. However, walk-in registrants during the event day itself are still permitted to
register and join the competition.

8.

The information that must be sent to the event organizers are the following:
SCHOOL
Name:
Mailing Address:
Telephone Number:
Fax Number:
E-mail Address:
COACH(ES)
Name:
Contact Number:
E-mail Address:

PISIKAalaman 2016

Guidelines and Mechanics

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National Institute Physics

University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City 1101

UP PHYSICS
ASSOCIATION

CONTESTANTS and SPECTATORS

Name:
Year Level:
Team Number:

II.

General Competition Guidelines

A. Participants
1.

All secondary schools in the Philippines are eligible to register a maximum of two
(2) teams in the competition.

2.

Each team is composed of exactly three (3) members. Only bona fide secondary
school students enrolled in the participating school at any year level are eligible to
be a member of the team.

3.

PISIKAalaman shall be divided into two competitions: Bracket A and Bracket B.

Schools are free to join any category but all teams from the same school are only
allowed to join one competition/category.

4.

Changes in the composition of the team are permitted until the start of the groupsolving round. No substitution of members are allowed after the start of the said
round.

5.

No food shall be provided. Participants are requested to bring packed lunch.

B. Competition Proper
1.

The Event will be held on January 23, 2016

2.

PISIKAalaman will be held inside the campus of the University of the Philippines. Thus,
all participants must comply with the rules and regulations in application within the
campus.

3.

PISIKAalaman shall be divided into two (2) brackets: A and B. The brackets will only
differ based on the coverage of topics and the approach to questions. Please refer to the
table below for the coverage of topics.
Bracket A

Bracket B

Classical Mechanics and Waves

Classical Mechanics and Waves

(Kinematics, Newtons Laws of Motion,

(Kinematics, Newtons Laws of Motion,

Work and Energy, Momentum,

Work and Energy, Momentum, Fluid

Rotational Dynamics, Gravitation, Statics

Mechanics (conceptual), Simple

and Equilibrium, Fluid Mechanics, Simple Harmonic Motion, Doppler Effect)

Harmonic Motion, Pendulums, Wave
Motion, Electromagnetic Waves, Doppler
Effect, Superposition of Waves)

PISIKAalaman 2016

Guidelines and Mechanics

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UP PHYSICS
ASSOCIATION

National Institute Physics

University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City 1101

Thermodynamics

Thermodynamics

(Thermometers and Temperature Scales,

(Thermometers and Temperature Scales,

Thermal Equilibrium, Ideal Gas Law,

Thermal Equilibrium, Ideal Gas Law)

Calorimetry, Change of Phase and Latent

Heat, Heat Engines, Carnot Engines,
Entropy, Thermal Expansion, Transfer of
Thermal Energy,)
Electromagnetism and Optics

Electromagnetism and Optics

(Electric Charge, Conductors and

(Electric

Insulators, Coulombs Law, Electric Field,

Insulators, Coulombs Law,

Gausss Law, Electric Potential,

Field,

Capacitance and Dielectrics, DC Circuits,

DC Circuits, Magnets,

Biot-Savart Law, Amperes Law,

Reflection and Refraction,

Faradays Law, Lenzs Law, Reflection

Curves Mirror, Lenses)

Charge,

Gausss Law,

Conductors

and

Electric

Electric Potential,
Lenzs Law,
Plane and

and Refraction, Plane and Curved

Mirrors, Ray Diagrams, Lenses,
Polarization)

4.

The competition is divided into three (3) parts: the group solving round, the individual
solving round, and finals round. The mechanics of the competition will apply to brackets
A and B but the questions to be given will be different.

5.

All participants are required to bring their own school ID, a black or blue pen and a
scientific calculator and be in their school uniform. However, use of programmable
and/or graphing calculators is not allowed during the competition.

6.

Final answers to questions or problems that involve computation must be expressed

using three (3) significant figures. The convention in rounding values shall be followed.
Be guided with the following example. (example: 0.1435 ~ 0.144 and 0.1445 ~ 0.145)

7.

Protests regarding a particular problem or question will only be entertained during the
checking of answers, before the competition progresses into a new problem or into a new
round. No protests shall be entertained outside the said situation.

PISIKAalaman 2016

Guidelines and Mechanics

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UP PHYSICS
ASSOCIATION
III.

National Institute Physics

University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City 1101

Elimination Round
1.

Teams will answer the same set of thirty (30) multiple-choice questions (each worth one
(1) point and five problem solving questions (each worth six (6) points).

2.

Each team shall be given a formula card to be used throughout the competition. The
teams are permitted to bring the formula cards to the succeeding rounds.

3.

Each problem will be composed of an easy, an average, and a difficult question.

4.

Participants are only allowed to discuss the problems among their teammates.
Communication with other teams is prohibited.

5.

Questions to proctors must only be clarifications about the rules or the text, and not
about the concepts in the problems.

6.
7.

The use of external references even if it is digital or personal, is strictly prohibited.

The top twenty (20) scoring teams in the Group Solving Round will continue into the
Individual Solving Round.

IV.

Individual Solving Round

1.

Twenty (20) teams will continue onto the Individual Solving Round. This will be ranked
based on their scores in the Group Solving Round.

2.

Each contestant will be provided a questionnaire and a blank sheet for scratch work.
Talking with other contestants, especially to teammates, is strictly prohibited.

3.

The exam is good for 60 minutes only.

4.

The questions for this round shall be composed of 50 multiple-choice items, with each
correct answer for each question item meriting one (1) point. The individual scores from
this round will be summed up to produce the team score.

5.

Questions to proctors must only be clarifications of the rules or the text and not the
concepts of the problems.

6.

The use of external references aside from the provided formula cards is strictly
prohibited.

V.

Finals
1.

Ten (10) teams are qualified to compete in the final round. These teams will be
determined by their scores in the individual round.

2.

There shall be fifteen (15) questions in this round. Five (5) questions per difficulty level;
Easy, Medium and Hard. Easy questions will be worth 200 points; Medium questions
will be worth 400 points and Hard questions will be worth 600 points.

3.

Questions will be read twice. After the second reading of the question, the teams are
given three (3) minutes to solve the problem.

4.

Teams will be given buzzers that can only be pressed after the hosts have given the
signal. However, teams can begin solving problems during the reading of the problem.

PISIKAalaman 2016

Guidelines and Mechanics

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UP PHYSICS
ASSOCIATION
5.

National Institute Physics

University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City 1101

The first team to press their buzzer will be given 5 seconds to give their answer orally. If
they are correct, they are given the points. If they are incorrect, they do not receive points
and can no longer answer the question.

6.

If the the first team to press their buzzer is incorrect, every other team will have a chance
to steal. Steals will be worth the same amount of points and will continue until a team
gets the correct answer, all teams have failed to give the correct answer or the timer runs
out.

7.

For each difficulty, one question will be designated as a Hero Support Question. This
will be announced before the question is read. Each Hero Support Question will still be
played normally, however, all teams will be asked to submit their answer to the question
at the end of the time limit. Teams who answer correctly will receive half the number of
points the question is worth unless they already received full points for the question.
Teams who buzzed and were incorrect will still receive points given that their final
answer is correct.

8.

Participants are not allowed to communicate in any way with other teams. Participants
are only allowed to discuss the problems among their teammates.

9.

Questions to proctors must be clarifications about the rules or the text, not about the
concepts in the problems.

10. Protests regarding the given answer for each question will be entertained by the judges
before the next question is read.

11. The use of external references, even if it is digital or personal, is strictly prohibited.

VI.

Scoring and Prizes

A. Scoring
1.

The combined points from the elimination round (group and individual solving rounds)
shall determine which teams shall enter the Final round.

2.

Teams who enter the Final round shall have their scores reset to zero (0) at the beginning
of the said round.

3.

The top three teams will be determined from their scores in the Final round.

B. Prizes
1.

The top three teams shall receive a trophy and each member belonging to these teams
shall be awarded a medal.

2.

Cash prizes shall be given to the Champions, 1st Runner-up and 2nd Runner-up.

3.

Special awards will be given to top Individual Scorers and top Group Score

4.

Certificates of participation shall be given to all team members and shall be given only
after the group picture at the end of the first day.

PISIKAalaman 2016

Guidelines and Mechanics

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UP PHYSICS
ASSOCIATION

National Institute Physics

University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City 1101

VII. Event Schedule

January 23, 2016
Time

Bracket B

Bracket A
Registration

7:30 8:30

NIP Lobby

8:30 10:15

Group Solving

Group Solving

LP 101

LP 104
Break

10:15 10:45

10:45 12:00

Individual Solving

Individual Solving

LP 101

LP 104
Lunch Break

12:00 1:00

Finals Bracket B
1:00 2:00

LP 101
Finals Bracket B

2:00 3:00

LP 101
Interlude

3:00 3:10

Awarding and Closing Ceremony

LP 101

3:10 4:00

PISIKAalaman 2016

Guidelines and Mechanics

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