PUPC 2025 — Opening a Small Study Group

BPHO and Physics Bowl have, for a lot of students, drifted out of reach. This year I received a wave of enquiries from students wanting to tackle PUPC instead. Supply meets demand: opening a small study group.

The material is genuinely hard. My recommendation is to join after finishing AP Physics or when IB Physics is largely covered. If you're unsure, send me your background or find last year's paper and see how it feels — the official website has been down, so sourcing the problems may take some work. The image below shows one of last year's easier problems, for reference.

Sessions will be run in Mathematica, which means I'll skip through a lot of the derivation and calculation, focusing on physical intuition rather than algebraic mechanics. Course outline and schedule are in the image.

Why PUPC

Compared with Physics Bowl or BPHO, PUPC is more interesting in its problem design: you get Morin-style calculation problems alongside fully open conceptual questions. For students who already have solid physics foundations and want deeper physical thinking rather than more problem-solving drill, PUPC sits at a useful level.

The competition also runs internationally with a Zoom-based session format — a very different experience from domestic Chinese competitions, and useful exposure for students planning an international track.