Competitions · Physics · CAP
CAP, the Canadian physics prize exam.
The first round of selection for Canada’s national physics team, and deliberately set beyond what a classroom covers. Around two thousand students sit it each year, and between fifty and a hundred of them score above half marks.
At a glance
What the exam is, and who runs it.
The Canadian Association of Physicists is Canada’s professional body for the subject, with more than 1,700 members from academia, government and industry. It runs this paper with the physics and astronomy department at the University of British Columbia.
- Organiser
- The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP), with UBC’s physics and astronomy department
- What it is
- The first round of selection for the Canadian national physics team
- Who can enter
- High-school students in any year, though in practice it is sat by the strongest students at each school
- Format
- Individual, written, in English. One multiple-choice section and three long-answer questions
- Syllabus
- The International Baccalaureate Higher Level core course, plus a little geometric optics. Emphasis on mechanics, optics, electricity and magnetism
- Calculators
- Programmable calculators are not permitted
- When
- Mid-April, with registration closing at the end of March
- Where
- In person. All schools in all provinces sit on the same day
- Languages
- The paper is produced in English and French, with markers in each working to the same scheme
- In China since
- 2018, hosted by ASDAN China
- What it is not for
- Results carry no weight in Chinese school admissions
The difficulty
What "deliberately high" means in numbers.
CAP publishes its own statistics, and they are the clearest description of the paper available. Read them before setting a target.
Half marks puts you in the top few per cent
Around two thousand students sit it each year. Between fifty and a hundred score above 50%. That is roughly one entrant in thirty reaching half the available marks.
And the top score is usually around 80%
Not 100%. In a typical year nobody finishes the paper cleanly, which tells you the exam is designed to have headroom above the best candidate in the country.
Few Canadians finish in time
The organisers state that only a small number of students in Canada complete the paper within the time allowed. Running out of time is the normal experience, not a failure.
It is a competition, not an assessment
The organisers are explicit that this is not a judgement on classroom performance. It is looking for the most skilled physics students in the country, and it is calibrated for them.
Marking
How the hundred marks are assembled.
The two sections are scored out of different totals and then weighted, so the raw marks are not the final marks.
| Section | Questions | Raw total | Weight in the final score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple choice | 25 | 25 | 40 |
| Long answer | 3, at 20 marks each | 60 | 60 |
| Combined | — | — | 100 |
The long-answer section is worth 60 of the 100 marks. But note what the multiple-choice section is actually used for - see below.
The filter
The multiple-choice section decides who gets read.
This is the most consequential mechanism on the paper, and it is easy to miss in the marking description.
Provincial coordinators mark the multiple choice
Papers are collected provincially, where coordinators mark the multiple-choice section and forward qualifying papers onward for national marking.
Which means the first section is a gate
The multiple-choice score is used to select which papers have their long answers marked nationally. A weak first section can mean the long answers are never read at all.
Even though it is worth less
The section carries only 40 of the 100 marks, but it controls access to the 60. In practice it matters more than its weighting suggests.
Coordinators review fully where they can
The organisers note a preference for reviewing all parts of a paper before selecting it for national marking, where that is practical. It is a preference, not a guarantee.
Syllabus and awards
What to study, and how results are decided.
CAP is unusually specific about the syllabus it sets against, which makes preparation more concrete than for most olympiad papers.
IB Higher Level core, plus geometric optics
The exam is set against a recognised international syllabus: the IB HL core course, with a little geometric optics added. That is a knowable target rather than an open-ended one.
Four areas carry the emphasis
Mechanics, optics, electricity and magnetism. Depth in these four is a better use of preparation time than breadth across everything an olympiad might touch.
Canadian scores set the thresholds
Because this is national team selection, Canadian entrants are marked and ranked first. Candidates elsewhere are then awarded against the Canadian cut-off scores.
Five students reach the international olympiad
Each year five of the top performers go on to represent Canada at the International Physics Olympiad.
Preparation
How Hanlin prepares students for CAP.
A paper where the national top score is around 80% needs a different plan from one where full marks are achievable.
Secure the multiple-choice section first
It is the gate to having the rest of the paper read. Reliability across 25 questions matters more here than brilliance on one long answer.
Work the IB HL core deliberately
The stated syllabus makes preparation concrete. Students work through the HL core with geometric optics added rather than assembling an olympiad reading list.
Writing long answers under pressure
Three questions at 20 marks each, with time short enough that most candidates do not finish. Practice is on producing partial but well-presented work rather than on completing everything.
Setting a realistic target
Half marks places a candidate in roughly the top few per cent of the Canadian field. Planning against that figure rather than against 100% is what makes the preparation sane.
Why Hanlin
Hanlin has been entering students for CAP for years, and publishes what they got. The record is further down this page.
Programme formats
Five ways this is taught.
Group size is the whole difference between these. It decides how much of the tutor's attention a student gets and how far the course can bend to them, so it is worth choosing rather than accepting.
| Format | Group size | What it suits |
|---|---|---|
| One-to-one | One student | Content, pace and emphasis set by what this student actually needs rather than by a syllabus. The only format that can be rebuilt mid-course. |
| Small group | Three to eight | Opens at three. Frequent discussion, and the tutor can slow down or move on according to what the group has absorbed. Most students chasing a higher award are taught in this one. |
| Class | Eight to twelve | Taught by the subject lead or a medal coach. Less back-and-forth, so it suits a student who will say when something is unclear. |
| Large class | Ten to twenty | For students in the middle of the placement range, and a way to try a competition before committing. Students often move to a small group or to one-to-one afterwards. |
| Past-paper class | No cap | Past papers worked through in sequence in the weeks before the sitting. Free to students already enrolled. |
Course length for CAP is set after a placement paper. The gap between where a student is and what the paper asks for is what the course has to close, and that gap is not the same for two students in the same year group.
How it runs
Six steps, four people on your side.
The same process for every student, so that nothing depends on one tutor remembering to do it.
Step 1Pre-course assessment
A placement paper before anything is booked, so the course tier is chosen on evidence rather than on a year group.
Step 2Tutor matching
A subject tutor is matched to the result, and their full background is provided before you agree to it.
Step 3Plan and group
A study group opens with four people on one student: the tutor, a planner, a supervisor and an academic manager.
Step 4Scheduled teaching
The teaching office sets the timetable around the competition date and school term, and teaching begins.
Step 5After-class reports
What was covered, and how the student handled it, reported after every lesson.
Step 6Homework follow-up
The teaching assistant and the form teacher both check that homework is done, which is where most preparation quietly fails.
Free resource pack
Past papers and preparation pack
The same material our own CAP students work from. Scan the code, say what you need, and an advisor sends it.
Tell an advisor which competition and year group, and the material comes back the same day. Free, and you do not have to enrol in anything. If we do not already hold what you need, we will go and find it.
- PDFPast papers, every year the organiser has released
- PDFWorked solutions, where the organiser publishes them
- PDFThe syllabus on one page - every topic, and how heavily it is examined
- PDFEntry checklist and the dates for the current cycle
Teaching team
Who would teach it.
Three of the twenty-two tutors on the published Hanlin roster - the ones whose subject this is.
Huang
A College Board-accredited AP teacher. Read mathematics and physics in Southeast University's honours programme, took a master's in aerospace engineering at George Washington University under the lead of NASA's Sigma programme, and a second master's in robotics and AI at Melbourne. Five years teaching international curricula and competitions.
Ding
Master's in physics from Brown University after the physics honours programme at Central China Normal University, with a Berkeley BISP exchange. Two years as a graduate teaching assistant, then teaching alongside Professor Enrico Pajer (cosmology) and Professor Anastasia Romanou (exoplanets). College Board-accredited.
Lu
Master's in astrophysics from UCL after an astronomy degree at Xiamen University. In international education since 2019, teaching for logical structure and framework first - efficient methods and flexible problem-solving over rote coverage.
Student results
What Hanlin students got.
Taken from Hanlin's published record of student honours and rewritten in English. Figures are as the organisers reported them.
Bronze by way of the Canadian team, 2025
One line from Hanlin's published CAP record. The rest of it is below.
CAP
- 2025One student placed second nationally, went on to the UBC training camp, was selected for the Canadian national team and took a Bronze medal at the International Physics Olympiad
Earlier years
- 2024One Gold - the highest score in the country - plus 2 Silver, one Bronze and 2 regional merit awards
The full record, across every subject and year, is on the student honours page.
Where it is taught
Hanlin learning centres.
Teaching runs from Hanlin's own centres in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hangzhou, and online for students elsewhere.
Talk to an advisor
Everything Hanlin does for CAP, in one conversation.
Entry, planning, coaching and the past papers. An advisor will tell you which of these a student actually needs, including when the answer is none of them.
Competition entry and planning
Which competitions suit this student, in what order, and by when - then we handle the registration, including the ones that can only be entered through a school or a centre.
Competition coaching
Taught by full-time subject tutors, on a course tier chosen by placement paper rather than by year group.
International curriculum tutoring
IB, AP, A-Level, IGCSE and the US high school curriculum, taught alongside school and timed around the exam calendar.
Competition past papers, free
A large library of past papers, mark schemes and syllabus breakdowns across every competition on this site. No charge and no enrolment.
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CAP, briefly answered.
What students and families ask before entering.
Who can enter CAP?
High-school students in any year. In practice it is sat by the strongest physics students at each school, because the level is set deliberately high.
How hard is it really?
Around two thousand students sit it each year and between fifty and a hundred score above 50%. The top score nationally is usually about 80%, and only a small number of Canadian students finish within the time allowed.
What is the format?
One multiple-choice section of 25 questions and three long-answer questions worth 20 marks each. The two are weighted 40 to 60 to give a final score out of 100.
Does the multiple-choice section matter if it is worth less?
More than its weight suggests. Provincial coordinators mark it and use it to select which papers have their long answers marked nationally, so a weak first section can mean the rest is never read.
What syllabus is it set against?
The International Baccalaureate Higher Level core course, plus a little geometric optics, with emphasis on mechanics, optics, electricity and magnetism.
Can I use a calculator?
Not a programmable one. That restriction is stated explicitly.
How are awards decided for students outside Canada?
Canadian entrants are marked and ranked first, since this is national team selection. Candidates elsewhere are then awarded against the Canadian cut-off scores.
Where does it lead?
Five students from among the top performers go on to represent Canada at the International Physics Olympiad each year.
Related
Other physics contests.
What students commonly enter alongside CAP.
CAP enquiries
The first section decides whether the rest gets read.
CAP weights its long answers at 60 marks but uses the multiple-choice section to decide which papers reach national marking. Tell us the student’s year group and what physics they have covered, and an advisor will set a realistic target.