The case for it

Why a department enters a cohort.

Most schools already run one olympiad.
This is the one you enter the middle of the year group into, not just the top set.

It is sat, not survived

The paper is built so that a student answers real questions and leaves with something. The difficulty lives in the last question or two, where the students who want it will find it. Nobody spends an hour staring at a page they cannot start.

You get data you can use

A cohort report comes back within 20 days: the spread of scores across the year group, and where your students sat against the wider entry. Analysis per question might be available depending on the circumstances. Enough to take into a department meeting and actually point at.

Every student ends up with something

A personalised certificate for all of them, including a certificate for participation. Merit goes to the top 60% and Distinction to the top 20%, measured across everyone sitting that paper rather than against your own cohort, so a strong set can take a large share of them.

The numbers

What it costs you, in minutes

Coordinating teacher

one round · one cohort
Complete a form for registration 30 min
Receive an invoice, pass it to your finance office 10 min
Payment made and confirmed 0 min
Hand out the credential slips 10 min
Invigilate the sitting 70 min
Hand back certificates and the report 10 min
Total ≈ 2h 10m
…and 70 minutes of that is sitting in a room.

What is not on that list

  • Creating an account for every student
  • Installing anything on school machines
  • Photocopying, collating or posting papers
  • Marking, moderating or entering results
  • Setting up proctoring or monitoring software

Who has to be in the room

One member of staff, for the whole sitting. It does not have to be a mathematician and it does not have to be the coordinating teacher.

The school has the full responsibility for the invigilation, and they must ensure that the test is carried out in an environment that ensures fairness to everyone. They may adopt additional measures alongside live invigilation, such as video monitoring.

Fitting it in

Two rounds, and where they sit in your year.

Both dates are published at the start of the academic year, so they can go into the calendar before the term plan hardens.

November

Autumn round

  • Registrations now open
  • Keeps out of important exam windows
  • Registration closes 14 days ahead, credentials go out 7 days ahead
  • Results, certificates and the cohort report within 20 days
March

Spring round

  • Registrations open from December
  • Keeps out of important exam windows
  • Registration closes 14 days ahead, credentials go out 7 days ahead
  • Results, certificates and the cohort report within 20 days

Exact dates are chosen to avoid major exam periods. If a date clashes badly with your calendar, tell us and we'll do our best to accommodate.

Afterwards

What lands on your desk.

Results go to the coordinating teacher first, so staff hear them before students do.

for the department

The cohort report

Score distribution across the year group, and where your cohort sat against the wider entry. Topic-level strengths and weaknesses may be available depending on circumstances.

for each student

Certificates

A personalised PDF for every student: participation as standard, Merit for the top 60% and Distinction for the top 20%. Print-ready at A4.

for the top of the year

Awards & the invitation

Special awards are issued to the students who hold the highest scores, and they are invited to write a question for the next round.

The money

Fees, and how you are billed.

One invoice, emailed the moment you submit the form.
Payment is by international bank transfer, and your entry is confirmed once it reaches us.

$15 per student

Billed in USD by international bank transfer (SWIFT).

The fee covers the paper, marking, practice papers, every certificate, the overall score report and the school-specific cohort report.

step by step

From form to sitting

  1. about 30 minutes 1

    Register your cohort

    Fill in your details and your roster on the registration page.

  2. straight away 2

    Your invoice arrives

    It comes by email. Pass it to your finance office.

  3. 2–5 business days 3

    Your finance office pays it

    By bank transfer, quoting the invoice number.

  4. once the payment lands 4

    Your entry is confirmed

    A receipt, practice papers and a confirmation email with further guidance arrive.

  5. at least 7 days before 5

    Credentials reach you

    One login per student, emailed to you to hand out on the day.

For your finance office

  • Currency: USD.
  • Method: international bank transfer (SWIFT). Full bank details, including SWIFT/BIC, are on the invoice.
  • Reference: the invoice number. Without it we may not be able to match your payment.
  • Charges: to be instructed as “OUR”, so the full invoiced sum arrives.
  • Tax: the invoice is issued without VAT or GST. Where your country requires it, your school accounts for any such tax itself.
  • Terms: payment falls due on the date shown on the invoice.

Worth knowing before you start

Registration closes 14 days before the paper, so leave room for your finance office to process the transfer.

You're billed for every student on the roster, whether or not they sit on the day, so it's worth confirming your numbers before you submit.

Names go on certificates exactly as you type them, and can't be changed once credentials are issued.

Cancelling more than 14 days before the paper gets you a full refund; inside 14 days, none is due. Refunds go back by international bank transfer, minus the bank charges on the return.

Safeguarding

Data, monitoring and consent

Is anything recorded?
No. No video, audio or screen recording. Any additional measure is taken to the school's discretion.
Is software installed on school devices?
No. The exam portal opens in a standard browser tab. Nothing is downloaded, nothing is installed, and no lockdown or proctoring client is used.
What do you hold about a student?
A name, a school, a grade, a contact email and a score. We do not hold this information permanently; it is deleted in accordance with our data retention policy.
Do you contact students directly?
No. For a school entry, everything, from credentials, results to certificates, goes to the coordinating teacher. We do not email students on a school entry, and we do not market to them.
Is any of it sold or shared?
Never. Nothing we receive from the school is sold, shared or passed to third parties. Top scorers and question setters are named publicly only when they consent, where the school has confirmed permission.
Who sees results first?
The coordinating teacher. Nothing is published before the coordinating teacher has had the cohort report.
If it isn't your decision

Taking it to whoever has to approve it.

Plenty of the teachers who write to us are not the person who signs it off. If it would help, we will send you a one-page summary written for a head of department or a deputy head: the fee, the workload, the safeguarding position and the dates, on one side of A4.

  • Tell us the grade bands you are thinking of and a rough number of students
  • We reply with the summary and an indicative cost for your finance office
  • Nothing is committed until you submit the registration form — asking costs you nothing, and no invoice is raised until you do
The dates

The November round

November 2026
  • Grade 8Friday 20 NovemberSchool Division
  • Grade 10Monday 23 NovemberSchool and Home Divisions
  • Grade 12Tuesday 24 NovemberSchool and Home Divisions

Enter a cohort, or just ask what it would look like.

One email with your grade bands and rough numbers is enough to start.

Start registration →