Competition Information

What follows is information on the competition's format and also general information pertaining to all Math Challengers competitions as a whole. Please read this information carefully.

Please also see the Events page for specific information to any Contest event.

Competition Format

The competition consists of 4 stages. Stage 1 ["Blitz"] and Stage 2 ["Bull's Eye"] are individual competitions. Stage 3 ["Co-op"] is a Team competition. Stage 4 ["Face-Off"] is a one-on-one competition between up to the top 10 individuals who participated in stages 1 and 2.

Individual Score

The maximum possible individual score is 50.

Team Score

The maximum possible team score is 80. The team score is calculated in the following way: The average of the top 4 entries per team + the score of the team from the Co-op stage of the competition.

The above mentioned team average will be calculated by taking into account the marks of the best four individual participants out of the up to five scores of the individuals of that team.

NOTE: if a team consists of less than 4 individuals, scores of 0 will be used for any individual missing and will be included in the calculation of the team's average - for example if a team has only 3 participants who scored 50, 40, and 30, and if they scored 18 in the Co-op stage, then their final team score will be [50+40+30+0]/4+18=48.

Awards and Provincial Finals

The top 3 schools in each of the competitions [only if more than 3 schools participate] will be awarded trophies. The top 3 individuals in each of the competitions [based on their score before the Face-Off stage] will be awarded trophies. The top 10 individuals [but no more than 5 individuals of the same grade from any one school], or the top 25% of participants, [whichever is less], in each of the competitions will advance to the Face-Off stage and will be awarded medals. All individual final standings are based on the performance in the Blitz and Bull's Eye stages. The school that was awarded the first place trophy in any of the Regional pools will be invited to participate in the Provincial Finals

Additional awards or prizes will be awarded to the best performers of the Face-Off stage[Provincial only]. Additional schools participating in any of the Regional pools may be invited to participate in the Provincial finals subject to the Rules. At the Provincial Finals, the top schools and top individuals will be awarded trophies and/or medals.

Please be sure to read the rules of Grade level Eligibility in the Rules and Regulations before registering.

Code of Conduct

Though Math Challengers is a team competition, talking, signals, any other form of communication, and group work of any kind, are permitted only at the Co-op stage, and only between members of the same team. Only the competitors are allowed in the competition rooms during the first three stages. All audience including parents, coaches, and participants during the Face-Off stage are required to refrain from talking or signalling of any kind in the competition rooms. Also, the use of cameras and/or any video/audio recording is allowed ONLY during the award ceremony. However Math Challengers accredited photographers may take pictures at any stage of the competition.  Media coverage is welcome, but must not interfere with any ongoing Face-Off competition.

General Instructions

Also see Instructions to Competitors and MC's

  1. The use of notes or any other reference material is not permitted.

  2. Calculators are not permitted for the Blitz, Bull's-Eye, or Face-Off rounds. However scientific calculators are permitted only for the Co-op round. Graphics calculators and programmable calculators are not allowed at all. Devices with wireless communication capabilities are absolutely not allowed.

  3. Scrap paper WILL NOT be provided for the first two individual stages and MUST NOT be used. The participants are expected to do all their computations and writing on the competition papers. They may write wherever they want on the paper except for the clearly marked area where they must write the final answers to the questions.

  4. Participants are not allowed to ask any questions during any of the stages of the contest. Invigilators are instructed not to answer any questions.

  5. If a participant has to leave the room [for any reason], during any of the stages, he/she may only be allowed to come back into the room after that stage is finished.

  6. Participants must write their answers to any of the questions in the designated area. The markers will not look for the answers anywhere else on the sheet. The written answer must be clear and in a legible and acceptable format. If an answer is dubious or if the markers cannot clearly read an answer, they will mark it as incorrect.

  7. Units are NOT needed, and the participants are strongly urged NOT to provide any units in their answers to any of the questions. We will attempt to include the correct units [where appropriate] in the designated area on the answer sheet. BUT, if a participant provides units [for whatever reason], they MUST be correct, and exactly as asked in the question. Otherwise, the answer will be counted as incorrect.

  8. All answers must be expressed in the simplest form [unless otherwise specified]. The simplest form [unless the answer is an expression or a radical that can not be simplified any further] is usually an integer or a common fraction that cannot be simplified any further. If a common fraction can be simplified further into an integer then the answer must be provided in an integer format. An exception is for questions with monetary units where the answers [unless otherwise specified] must be provided as decimal expression. Also some questions require that the answer be provided correct to a certain number of decimal places and the answer must be provided exactly as specified.


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