F=ma / Physics Olympiad Path

Physics Olympiad Resources & Club Roadmap

Weekly meetings, slides, and problem sets built around the actual F=ma topic distribution. Click any week to open the slides in the full-screen viewer. Follow the official physics club account here for more details!

  1. 1
    Week 1 · Kinematics
    Position, velocity, acceleration

    1D & 2D motion, graphs, relative velocity, and multi-step kinematics problems.

  2. 2
    Week 2 · Dynamics
    Forces & Newton’s laws

    Free-body diagrams, tension, friction, inclined planes, and multi-mass setups.

  3. 3
    Week 3 · Energy & Work
    Work–energy & power

    Potential & kinetic energy, work, power, and using energy to shortcut hard dynamics.

  4. 4
    Week 4 · Collisions
    Momentum, impulse, and impact

    Elastic vs inelastic collisions, center-of-mass frame, and ballistic-style questions.

  5. 5
    Week 5 · Systems of Masses
    Connected objects & constraints

    Atwood machines, pulleys, multi-block systems, and constraint equations.

  6. 6
    Week 6 · Rigid bodies & rotation
    Torque and rotational dynamics

    Torque, rotational inertia, rolling without slipping, and rotation–translation mixes.

  7. 7
    Week 7 · Oscillatory motion
    Springs & small-angle motion

    Simple harmonic motion, springs in series/parallel, and small-angle pendulum problems.

  8. 8
    Week 8 · Gravity
    Inverse-square law & orbits

    Newtonian gravity, orbital energy, escape speed, and near-surface approximations.

  9. 9
    Week 9 · Fluids
    Pressure & buoyancy

    Hydrostatics, Archimedes, forces on submerged surfaces, and F=ma-style fluid puzzles.

  10. 10
    Week 10 · Mixed review & “Other”
    Full mock F=ma

    Mixed-topic problems, less-common edge cases, and timed mock exams with debrief.

Topic weight based on 288 problems
Kinematics 44 problems · ~15%
Dynamics 58 problems · ~20%
Energy 40 problems · ~14%
Collisions 29 problems · ~10%
System of masses 18 problems · ~6%
Rigid bodies 22 problems · ~8%
Oscillatory motion 27 problems · ~9%
Gravity 22 problems · ~8%
Fluids 15 problems · ~5%
Other 13 problems · ~5%
These percentages guide how much time we spend on each topic and how many problems appear in every meeting’s practice set.