Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ
Category
Registration to the competition
Can I change the information about team members after registration?
Yes but only until the end of the registration period.
Can I change the composition of my team after I create it?
Yes but only until the end of the registration period.
Can I change the name of the team after creating it?
Yes but only until the end of the registration period.
Can I take part even if I am not a high school student?
Yes. The Open category is for you. More in the rules.
Can I take part even though I haven't started attending high school or grammar school?
Yes. But you must expect that you will be in the same category as the most junior highschool students. You can find more in the rules.
Can a foreigner take part?
Yes. Of course a huge advantage for them would be if they knew English or Czech.
How do I determine my study year?
Firstly refer to the ISCED 2011 classification and find your country. The year of graduation corresponds to the last year of school classified as level 3.
Category
The game
Is it possible for participants to communicate with the organizers? If so how and in what languages?
Organisers will during the competition give out important information through our in-game noticeboard that will be available on our website.
Send your questions about the tasks and other things to online@fyziklani.cz.
Organisers communicate in Czech, Slovak or English only.
When do I get the password for the competition?
You should receive it at least half an hour before the competition begins.
Can I use the internet to find information during the competition?
Yes but you can't communicate with non-members of your team.
What are the parts of the competition and how do they differ?
The competition has two parallel parts. The major part starts at the beginning of the competition and one hour later the Hurry-up series will begin. These will then run in parallel until the competition ends. In the second half of the competition you will be able to skip problems. For the Hurry-up series see the rules and the questions and answers below.
Category
Tasks
In what language will the problems be?
In Czech and English.
When and how will we get new problems to solve during the competition?
You will get the seven initial problems when the competition starts. You can expect new problems with the Hurry-up series. During the competition you must solve the problems you have to get new ones or, in the second part, by skipping problems. The exchange is always one for one. You can find more information in the rules.
How does the difficulty of the problem change with its number?
The average difficulty rises as you do the problems but there still might be some easier problems later on. Also, remember that difficulty is highly individual.
Will we get author's solutions?
Yes, after the end of the competition the solutions will appear on our website. Some time after the end the organizers will still be on the website and will be reacting to your recommendations, experiences or troubles relating the competition or the problems.
What areas of physics are the problems from?
Competition problems are chosen across physics, but usually mechanics prevails. Inspiration can be found in problems from previous years.
Category
Submits
How many significant digits should one give in the solution?
Each task has specified how many significant digits the result should have. You can also submit result with more significant digits.
The task doesn't tell us which units to submit the result in. What should we do?
If it is so then just submit it in the base SI units.
We want to submit the answer to the problem but we can't. What is going on?
The reason must be that you submitted a wrong solution to a task less than a minute ago. If it isn't so then please contact the organizers.
If I submit the wrong answer can I correct it?
Yes, you can answer any question as many times as you want to. Remember though that by submitting wrong answers you will lower the potential point gain from the question and also that you can't answer the problems from the same category incorrectly more than once in a minute (the problems from the main category and the three hurry-up categories). For more information see the rules of the competition.
If we want to submit the solution as a decimal should we use a decimal point or comma?
The symbol is irrelevant but don't use anything to denote thousands (i. e., use 1000000 instead of 1,000,000) .
What are the accepted formats of numbers?
We accept the formats described on following website.
We enable the usage of both the comma and the decimal point.
Category
Task skipping
When can I skip a problem?
You can skip problems in the second part of the competition (from 18:30 CET).
Will I lose points for skipping problems?
Yes, you will lose one point per skipped problem from your total score.
How many problems can I skip?
You can skip 10 problems in total (major part and hurry-up series altogether).
Category
Scoring
How do we get bonus points?
You can get bonus points for solving a whole collection of Hurry-up problems in the time limit. More about this in the rules.
We got Y points for a problem that was supposed to be worth X points. What happened?
This is caused by the fact that wrong solutions decrease the point gain from that problem. To get more information about this look at the rules.
We solved the problem but this hasn't appeared on the scoreboard yet. How come?
The scoreboard refreshes every two minutes so wait a bit longer. Also remember that twenty minutes before the end of the competition the scoreboard stops refreshing completely to add extra tension.
Category
Hurry up
What is Hurry-up?
It is a period in the competition between 18:00 and 20:00 CET when you can solve new and relatively easy problems. However, you can get bonus points only until 18:30 CET. It is a series of problems that runs in parallel to the major competition. The Hurry-up series has some specific rules though. You can find more about this in the rule section.
How will I find out that the Hurry-up series has begun?
Using a clock. It will also be announced on the noticeboard. You should also have new problems to solve — but to see that refreshing the page will be necessary.
Is the awarding of points during the Hurry-up series governed by the same rules as the standard part of the competition?
Yes, but you can also get zero points. You can find the exact scoring table in the rules.
When will I be enabled to solve Hurry-up problems?
You can get bonus points only in a period between 18:00 and 18:30 CET, after that we will be accepting solutions to the Hurry-up problems but you will not get the bonus points.
Category
Video calls
Do we all have to be present during the video calls?
Not everyone needs to be present on the video call and it does not automatically mean a penalty. However, we may take these situations into account when checking that the competition was fair and without cheating.
I don't have a webcam, would it be a problem?
If someone is unable to join or has technical difficulties, this does not automatically mean a penalty. However, we may take these situations into account when checking that the competition was fair and without cheating.
What if I don't speak English and I used a translator for the tasks?
We will include instructions for this in the invitation email. The most important thing is that you let us know, and we will tailor the call to your needs.
Category
Other FAQ
Will I get a certificate for attending?
We will send certificate for attending (with score) to all teams via email.
In the case you didn't receive it, please check your spam folder. In case that it is not in spam, contact us on online@fyziklani.cz.
What are the prices and how are they distributed?
Possible prizes can be found on the homepage. Prizes are selected in turn by the teams with the highest point gains
Will my result in this competition help me with an application to a university?
Probably not but you can try to use it.
When will we receive the certificates?
You will receive the certificates once the final result lists are published.
Should I save my notes in a specific format?
No need. Just don't throw away or delete the notes and keep them. It isn't also bad idea to save the codes you use, or to take a picture of your progress in the software you use from time to time.
Where should I send my questions about the competition before it starts?
When sending an email, please be sure to include your team name so we can help you more easily.