TL;DR: Want a shot at the US Physics Team? It all starts with the F=ma exam, a multiple-choice physics test for students in the US, run by the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). You can't sign up on your own, though: a teacher or another approved adult has to register you by Jan 14, 2027. In each of the last 4 years, fewer than 1 in 10 F=ma test-takers reached the cutoff for the next round, the USA Physics Olympiad (USAPhO).
If you're a high schooler who's into physics, F=ma is probably near the top of your list of physics competitions for high school students. F=ma questions are tricky, but every past F=ma exam is posted online, so you can practice on the real thing.
What is the F=ma exam?
The F=ma exam is a 75-minute physics test with 25 multiple-choice questions, and it's the first step toward the US Physics Team. The exam is named after Newton's second law of motion, F = ma, which says force equals mass times acceleration. Each correct answer earns 1 point, and a wrong or blank answer earns 0. AAPT runs the exam each year with the American Institute of Physics (AIP) (US Physics Team).
You'll take the F=ma exam online at your school or another approved site, with an adult proctor watching. You'll use a computer or tablet, and there's no paper version. A few weeks after the exam, AAPT usually posts the questions with full solutions, so you can see exactly where you lost points.
How does F=ma lead to the US Physics Team?
AAPT picks the US Physics Team in several rounds, starting with F=ma, and narrows the group in each one. Here's how the rounds usually go (AAPT student page).
F=ma: In recent years, more than 5,000 students took it, and about 400 to 500 moved on.
USAPhO: The USA Physics Olympiad is a 3-hour exam, split into two 90-minute parts. You write out full solutions, and you'll need calculus for some problems. In 2026, students took it about 8 weeks after F=ma.
US Physics Team and camp: About 20 top USAPhO students join the team and go to a 10-day training camp.
International olympiad: About 5 students from camp represent the US abroad, usually at the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO).
Only US citizens and green card holders can move past F=ma to USAPhO and the US Physics Team (AAPT rules). IPhO, the last step, is one of the best-known international competitions for high school students.
What F=ma score qualifies for USAPhO?
The F=ma score you need for USAPhO has ranged from 14 to 18 out of 25 over the last 4 exams. AAPT sets the cutoff after each exam, so you won't know it ahead of time. Here are the last 4 years, from AAPT's official results.
2026: The cutoff was 16, and 440 of 6,682 students qualified (results).
2025: The cutoff was 15, and 518 of 5,848 students qualified (results).
2024: The cutoff was 14, and 500 of 6,061 students qualified (results).
2023: The cutoff was 18, and 417 of 5,173 students qualified (results).
In our view, a good F=ma goal is 18 out of 25 on timed past exams, a score that would have qualified in each of the last 4 years. The cutoff has been about twice the median score each year, so it goes up when the paper is easier. The median is the score right in the middle of all test-takers.
What does the F=ma exam test?
F=ma covers mechanics, the part of physics about forces and motion. AAPT's topic list covers how things move, forces on objects at rest, Newton's laws, and momentum and energy (AAPT practice page). It also covers oscillations (things that swing back and forth, like springs), orbits, fluids, and basic data analysis. AAPT says you can solve every problem without calculus. The exam is at the level of an algebra-based high school physics course.
In our view, you can solve most F=ma questions with a quick insight or a smart estimate. The questions are short, but you'll need to think about what's really happening. On the 2026 exam, students worked out how fast a row of falling dominoes travels as the dominoes get bigger. They also worked out how long vases of different shapes take to drain, and what happens when you jump onto a spinning merry-go-round.
How does F=ma registration work?
A teacher or another approved adult registers you for F=ma, and you can't sign yourself up. Registration usually opens in October and closes in January, and the exam is usually in February.
Ask your physics teacher in the fall whether your school is signing up. If your school isn't registering for F=ma, you can ask another approved site, like a college physics department, to host you. If you're homeschooled, a parent can register you, but a different adult has to supervise the exam. Here are the key facts for 2027, as of October 2026, from AAPT's 2027 registration page.
Exam date: Feb 9, 2027, online only. AAPT will announce the exam time later.
Who can take it: Students who are US citizens, green card holders, or attending a US school. You need to be in the US on exam day.
Registration deadline: Jan 14, 2027.
Cost: $80 per school ($40 if the teacher is an AAPT member), plus $16 per student.
Who can proctor: An adult with at least a 2-year college degree, using a school or organization email. Relatives, close friends, and for-profit test prep centers can't.
How to prepare for the F=ma exam
The best F=ma preparation is AAPT's own past exams, which go back to 2008 and come with full solutions (past exams). AAPT also suggests working through them with a study group. Here are 6 steps to turn those exams into a higher score.
Take the 2025 exam as a timed test. Give yourself 75 minutes, a basic calculator, and no notes. Then score it to see where you're starting. Save the 2026 exam for your last month.
Follow the plan for your level.
Level 1, if you scored under 8: Learn the basics of mechanics in a physics class or textbook first. Then try past questions one topic at a time, without a timer.
Level 2, if you scored 8 to 15: You're above the 2025 median of 7. Work on your two weakest topics first, then move on to full timed exams.
Level 3, if you scored 16 or more: You're at or above recent cutoffs. Aim for a steady 18, and start calculus-based mechanics and electricity and magnetism for USAPhO. AAPT suggests a calculus-based intro physics textbook.
Sort every wrong answer by topic. Then work on the topics you miss most. Check which topics came up most on recent exams, and start there.
Read the official solution for every question. Do it even when you got the answer right. You'll often find a faster way in the solutions, so you'll save time on exam day.
Study with friends. When you explain a solution out loud, you quickly find the parts you don't fully understand.
Take one full timed exam a week in the last month. Use exams from different years, and compare each score with that year's cutoff.
You can take F=ma every year you're in school, and the 2026 US Physics Team camp included sophomores. So if you're in 9th or 10th grade, you can take F=ma now for the experience.
How to do well on F=ma exam day
On F=ma exam day, the biggest gain is to answer all 25 questions, since you can't lose points by guessing. So if you're running out of time, make your best guess on the rest. Here are 3 more tips, based on the 2026 exam rules.
Keep moving at about 3 minutes a question. AAPT says the questions aren't all equally hard, but each one is worth 1 point. If one is taking too long, skip it and come back at the end.
Practice with the same tools you'll have. In 2026, you could use a basic scientific calculator with its memory cleared, but no books or formula sheets. Use g = 10 N/kg for gravity near Earth's surface, unless a question says otherwise.
Check your setup with your proctor. You'll take the exam on a testing website called Educational Vistas (EdVistas). So test your device with your proctor before the day.
After the exam, you can take your mechanics into projects that mix physics and coding, like AI in physics research. You don't need any coding experience to start. In AI Scholars at Veritas AI, you learn Python and AI from the first lesson and team up with classmates on an AI project of your own. Each mentor works with just 5 students in live classes.
FAQs
1. How hard is the F=ma exam?
In our view, F=ma is hard, but you can improve a lot with practice. The median F=ma score was 8 out of 25 in 2026, and 7 out of 25 in 2024 and 2025. You may know the physics behind the questions, but they're asked in new ways.
2. Can middle school students take the F=ma exam?
Yes, AAPT doesn't set a minimum grade. A middle schooler who meets the F=ma citizenship, school, and location rules can take the exam like anyone else. The exam covers high school physics, so most younger students take it as practice.
3. Can international students take the F=ma exam?
Yes, if you attend a US school and you're in the US on exam day. You can't move on to USAPhO, though, since it's only open to US citizens and green card holders. Students outside the US can try PhysicsBowl, AAPT's other big physics contest, which is open to schools in several countries (PhysicsBowl).
4. Does F=ma help with college applications?
In our view, F=ma helps most when you qualify for USAPhO. In 2026, AAPT didn't share individual F=ma scores and published only the names of students who qualified for USAPhO. So the F=ma result you can list on an application is qualifying for USAPhO. On your application, you can also show physics you take further on your own, like a research project. If you know some Python, you can build your own AI research project in the AI Fellowship at Veritas AI. You meet one-on-one with a mentor for 15 sessions. Later, a publication specialist helps you prepare your paper for a journal or competition over 4 sessions.
Sources
You can check the details for each year on AAPT's own pages.
AAPT US Physics Team: the main page for F=ma, USAPhO, and the team.
F=ma registration: this year's exam date, deadline, fees, and how to register.
Rules: who can take each round.
Past exams: every F=ma exam since 2008, with solutions.
Information for students: how the rounds work and how to prepare.
Bring Your Physics Into AI With Veritas AI
If figuring out why things move the way they do is what hooked you on physics, you can point that same curiosity at AI with Veritas AI. Students from over 160 countries, more than 3,200 in all, have studied with Veritas AI. Veritas AI's team of 200+ mentors, with researchers from Anthropic, Meta, and NVIDIA among them, works with students on a real research project. According to Veritas AI internal data, 79% of the papers its students submitted were accepted. To find where you'd start, you can see how the programs compare.
About the author: Diya Tripathi leads operations at Veritas AI and studied computer science at Ashoka University.
