Guidelines

Participation

• Participation is only possible in teams consisting of 3 or 4 members.

• Changing the composition of a team is only possible with the permission and acknowledgement of the organising committee.

• A team will be allowed to compete in IYPL only if at least 50% of the members are enrolled at a university within the territorial borders of India.

Selection of teams

• The standings and further selection of teams shall be decided and announced by the OC.

• Depending on directions from IAPS, the organising committee decides how many top teams from the preliminary (IYPL) shall be allowed to compete in PLANCKS. The organising committee holds the right to deny the participation of any team before the start of the competition if they have reasonable arguments to do so.

Teams

• The registration fees for IYPL 2026 is ₹400 per team.

• The winning team will participate in PLANCKS 2026 after paying the entry fee (which shall be around €300, excluding transaction fees, divided equally among the team members) as mandated by TC Netherlands.

• A student can only be a member of one single team.

• Amount of prize money for PLANCKS will be announced officially by the IAPS before the competition.

Eligibility

• Only students enrolled in a bachelor’s, master’s or dual-degree program in Physics or related fields can participate in IYPL.

• Only members of IAPS LCs or IAPS TCs as well as IAPS individual members can participate in PLANCKS 2026. Therefore, the members of the selected teams are required to register as members of INPS, in case they are not already registered.

• If a selected team, for any reason whatsoever, refuses to or cannot obtain said membership and/or pay the entry fee, they shall not be eligible to participate in PLANCKS. In such cases, the following team in the standings will be selected.

• Membership of INPS is not necessary to participate in IYPL.

The Competition

• The language used in the competition is English. 

• The competition will consist of both Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) and Subjective type questions which would covering highly diverse topics in different subjects within the field of physics.

• The MCQs section of the exam may have negative marking.

• When a problem is unclear, a participant can ask, for a clarification. The organising committee will respond to this request. If this response is relevant to all teams, the other teams will also be provided with this information. 

• The organising committee has the right to change or withdraw problems during the contest. When this happens, all teams will be informed of the same.