BPhO Physics Challenge Past Papers & Solutions
BPhO Junior and Senior Physics Challenge
Junior and Senior Physics Challenge past papers with worked solutions — the GCSE-level entry point to the British Physics Olympiad ladder.
- Eligibility
- Year 10 (Junior) and Year 11 (Senior) students
- Format
- Short and structured written physics questions
- Duration
- About 1 hour
- Scoring
- Written marks with Bronze, Silver and Gold certificate tiers
The Physics Challenge papers are how younger students get into olympiad physics before A-Level content arrives. Questions are short but genuinely unfamiliar, rewarding students who can reason from first principles with GCSE physics and confident algebra. Working the past papers is the cleanest way to find out whether a student enjoys this kind of thinking — and it builds the habits that make BPhO Round 1 approachable two years later.
BPhO Physics Challenge past papers and solutions by year
Every link below opens the official BPhO PDF directly. Sit the paper timed, mark it against the solutions, then read the extended solutions once you have written up your own attempt.
Stuck on a BPhO Physics Challenge question?
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What the paper tests
Forces & motion
Energy & power
Electricity
Waves & light
Estimation
Where it leads: A natural stepping stone to the BPhO Senior Physics Challenge and Round 1. See our coaching programme.
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Past papers show you the gap; a mentor closes it. Our BPhO Physics Challenge mentors are medal winners who walk through every solution 1-to-1, then set targeted practice on the archetypes you lost marks on.
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Frequently asked questions
- Who can enter the Physics Challenge?
- The Junior Physics Challenge is aimed at Year 10 students and the Senior Physics Challenge at Year 11, with schools entering their students. Check the BPhO site for the current year's eligibility and dates.
- Is the Physics Challenge harder than GCSE physics?
- The content is GCSE-level, but the questions are unfamiliar and multi-step, so students who only recognise textbook question formats find it demanding. That unfamiliarity is exactly what past-paper practice removes.