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Participate Mathematics Contests | Cariboutests

Caribou Cup Participation

Thank you for your interest in Caribou Contests. Here you can find information about participating in the contests and how to sign up. You can sign up for Caribou Contests at any point in the year, even just for one contest, and even on contest days.

Click on the links below to jump to a section.

Overview

Eligibility

Contest Rules

Fees

Upcoming Contests

How to Register

Access Codes

Questions

Overview of Caribou Mathematics Contests

The Caribou Cup is an international online math competition run by a small team in Canada and representatives in other countries.

A short summary:

Levels:
7 grade levels offered (K/1, 2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, 11/12)
- Students can participate in only one contest level.
- Students can participate in either their grade level or higher, never a lower grade level.
- Strong students are encouraged to participate in a higher level.
- Try out previous contests first to decide in which grade level to participate.
Languages:
8 languages on offer: English, French, Persian, Mandarin Chinese, Ukrainian, Khmer, Vietnamese, and Bahasa Melayu.

Frequency:
6 contests per year held over two days (a Wednesday and a Thursday). Schools often have some grades write on the first day and the rest on the second day, but this is up to the teachers' discretion. For dates, see Upcoming Contests on our homepage or in the sidebar.

Timing:
Students have 50 consecutive minutes to complete the contest once they have started it. Students can start a contest at any time within their school’s contest time window (by default 7:30-15:30 local time). The last possible time to start a contest is Thursday 18:30 EST.

Prizes:
Cash prizes are awarded to top performing math students at the end of the year. See the Prizes page for details.

Special features:
- Full results on the evening of each contest’s end
- Interactive questions using fun math & logic games (every contest, announced 2 weeks in advance)
- Math History questions (two contests per year, announced 2 weeks in advance)
- Video solutions on our Youtube & Dailymotion channels
- All previous contests including interactive questions available as previous tests online 24/7
- Certificates of participation and merit for individual contests and for the whole Caribou Cup, which counts the best 5 out of 6 contests (in the case of a tie, we use the 6th contest as a tiebreaker)

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Eligibility

Any school-aged child can participate in Caribou Contests, no matter their nationality or schooling situation. The competition is online so you can participate from anywhere in the world!

To participate you need only 4 things:

A Coordinator to run the contest (usually a teacher, librarian, homeschooling parent, tutoring centre director, but you can also register with the Caribou Virtual School without a Coordinator)
A place to write the contest which has an internet connection (usually a school, homeschool, library, tutoring centre)
A device with internet access (computers are preferred but tablets and smartphones are also possible)
A valid Access Code (see Fees, below)

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Caribou Contest Rules

Click to view the Contest Rules page. Caribou Coordinators and students agree to abide by these rules when they participate in Caribou Contests.

We count on the supervising adults and the integrity of participants to ensure that these rules are followed. However, we have also developed a series of statistical tools to help identify unfair participation. When unfair participation is detected, we reserve the right to remove the student’s contest entry from ranking. For more information on these tools, and examples of unfair participation, click on the above link.

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Fees

In our goal of promoting mathematics, we try to keep the cost of participation as low as possible.

It is completely free to:

Register for a Caribou Coordinator account to run the contests at your school, homeschool, library, tutoring centre, or other institution
Try the previous October contest for practice and view its solutions for all grade levels
Watch over 250 Video Solutions of past contest questions on our Youtube and Dailymotion channels
Try out all of our Math and Logic Games − public access (without a valid account) is limited to 5 minutes

You only need to pay one participation fee to get an Access Code that will allow you to participate in all contests in the year. Prices can vary by country. Contest participation from a small number of countries is completely free, currently Ghana, Lebanon, Mali, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, Ukraine.

Please visit the Online Shop to see all the prices for your country. You can also check our Registration Guide to see if we have a Caribou Representative in your country who can offer you discounted rates.

Cost of Participation:

Lowest level contests (Grade K/1) are completely free all year.
The first contest in October is free for all levels.
For the Grade 2 and 3/4 levels, the fee is $14.40 CAD per student for the remaining 5 contests (upfront payment is possible).
For Grades 5 to 12, the fee is $24.00 CAD per student for the remaining 5 contests (upfront payment is possible).
For School Wide Contest Access (an unlimited number of participating students in all levels for the full year), the fee is $512.00 CAD.
If you have received a Caribou Contests Voucher, you can redeem it for free for a valid Access Code. How to Redeem your Voucher.

Apart from participation in the contests, we offer other online math practice and learning material such as previous contests, tutorials, an interactive geometry mini-course, an automatic proof-verification system, and a calcrostic © puzzle book. Access to these as well as All-Inclusive packages for individuals and schools can be purchased with or without contest participation. For details, visit the Products & Price page. Unlimited Access to our Interactive Math and Logic Games is included in any purchase.

Participation Fees can be paid for by the teacher, school, parents, or third-parties. For information on purchases and payment options, see the Online Shop & Payments section of the FAQ.

International participation is exempt from tax. In Canada, all prices are subject to tax (HST), which varies by province. Canadian schools can claim the HST back under our business name "Caribou Contests", business number BN 834584237RC0001 and HST number 834584237RT0001.

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Upcoming Mathematics Contests

For questions and concerns please visit our FAQ / Help page.

Would you like to receive updates about upcoming contests? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. For news, visit our homepage news section. For updates by email, join our Subscriber List.

Date	Grades
15th(Wed) & 16th(Thu) January, 2025	K/1, 2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, 11/12
12th(Wed) & 13th(Thu) February, 2025	K/1, 2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, 11/12
9th(Wed) & 10th(Thu) April, 2025	K/1, 2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, 11/12
7th(Wed) & 8th(Thu) May, 2025	K/1, 2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, 11/12

Upcoming Coding Contests

Student can start the contest on either contest day from 12:00 AM EST of the first day to 11:59 PM EST of the second day. The student MUST use an access code with Non-Math Contest access and log in to the Caribou Coding Contest Site to start the contest. Once begun, the student has 120 consecutive minutes to complete the test. Be sure to start the contest at least 2 hours before the contest end time to give yourself enough time to complete the contest!

Please visit Coding Site (login as Guest) to see the FAQ related to the Coding Contest

Would you like to receive updates about upcoming contests? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. For news, visit our homepage news section. For updates by email, join our Subscriber List.

Subject	Date	Grades
Coding Beginner, Coding Junior, Coding Senior	4th(Wed) & 5th(Thu) December, 2024	All Grades
Coding Beginner, Coding Junior, Coding Senior	21st(Wed) & 22nd(Thu) May, 2025	All Grades

Upcoming Calcrostic Contests

Students can start the contest on either contest day, within their school's Contest Time Window (by default, 7:30AM - 3:30PM local time). The student must click on 'START THE CONTEST' and sign in with their name and Access Code. Once begun, the student has 50 consecutive minutes to complete the test. The student also must buy non-math credits before taking the test. Each test requires 1 non-math credit. Practice contests for the Calcrostic Contest are available here.

For questions and concerns please visit our FAQ / Help page.

Would you like to receive updates about upcoming contests? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. For news, visit our homepage news section. For updates by email, join our Subscriber List.

Subject	Date	Grades
Calcrostics	12th(Wed) & 13th(Thu) March, 2025	K/1, 2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, 11/12

How to Register for Caribou Contests

How you register for Caribou Contests depends on your situation. In any case, every participating student needs 1 valid individual Access Code to participate in 1,2,... or all 6 contests in the Caribou Cup year.

Go to our interactive Registration Guide, or choose the option below which best describes your situation (click on to view details):

Teacher / Librarian / Tutor

Students & Parents

Students do not need to register for individual contests. All they need is an Access Code that is valid for that contest. In most cases, students participate through their school with a Caribou Coordinator (teacher/librarian) organizing the contest. If this is the case, the Caribou Coordinator is responsible for distributing the Access Codes; you should get in touch with the Caribou Coordinator and you do not need to read this section.

If you are unsure whether your school is participating, or you know that you would like to participate without a school, follow these instructions:

1) Choose a Place to write the contest & choose or become a Caribou Coordinator to administer the contest

First, decide whether you will be participating with an institution such as a school or library, or without an institution.

With an Institution (e.g. school, library, tutoring centre)

Without an Institution (e.g. homeschool, distance learning, no school)

2) Obtain an Internet connection and device to write the contest & Try Previous Tests

3) Obtain an Access Code (Free or Paid)

Each student needs 1 valid full-year access code to participate in all of the contests in the current Caribou Cup (July 1 - June 30). For more information on Access Codes, see the section "Access Codes".

The Access Code is all you need to participate in the contests. Students do not need to register ahead of the contest, they simply sign in on Contest Day with their Access Code, enter their name, and from that moment forth the Access Code is associated to the student's name.

How you obtain your access code, and whether or not it is free, depends on the time of year and your situation:

How to get free Access Codes
The Grade K/1 contest is free all year. There are two ways to get a free Grade K/1 Access Code:
- Students at a School or Home School:
  Your Caribou Coordinator can generate unlimited free access codes in their account.
- Students with the Caribou Virtual School:
  Your parent/guardian can make a free purchase of 'Grade K/1 Contest Participation' in the Online Shop by following the prompts. Your access code will be sent to the email provided.
For Grades 2-12, only the October contest is free. To continue participating after October, free access codes must be converted into full-year Access Codes via a purchase.
How to get a free access code valid only for the October contest:
- Students at a School:
  Your Caribou Coordinator (e.g.teacher/librarian) can generate unlimited free access codes in their account.
- Students at a Home School:
  Your Caribou Coordinator (e.g. parent) can generate an unlimited number of free access codes in their account.
- Students with the Caribou Virtual School:
  You cannot obtain a free Access Code for the Caribou Virtual School. Make a purchase in the Online Shop to obtain a paid Access Code that is valid for the entire year, or if you are not sure about committing to all 6 contests, follow the instructions to register as a Home School to be able to download free October-only Access Codes.
How to convert free Access Codes into paid ones valid for the full year
After the October contest, only the Grade K/1 level is completely free. As such, every Grade K/1 Access Code is valid for the full year automatically. Access codes for other grades must be converted to valid full-year codes via a purchase in the Online Shop. In some cases, the school covers the cost of participation. In others, parents must pay the participation fee:
- If the School or Home School pays:
  If the school is paying for participation, sign in as the Caribou Coordinator before making the purchase:
  - To pay for individual access codes, select 'Students who have an Access Code', 'Grade X/Y Contest Participation', and select the students to convert.
  - To pay for unlimited access codes, select 'for my whole school', and then either 'School Wide Contest Access' or 'All-Inclusive School Wide Pass'. All existing codes at your school and any new codes will automatically be valid for the entire year.
- If the Parent pays:
  If parents are paying for participation, the Caribou Coordinator must ensure 'Allow Third-Party Purchases' is checked in their account. Then in the Online Shop, the parent must sign in as Someone Else :
  - To pay for individual access codes, select 'Students who have an Access Code', enter the student's access code, and select 'Grade X/Y Contest Participation'.
How to purchase Access Codes valid for the full year
If you participated in the October contest with a free code and need to convert it into a valid full-year Access Code, see 'How to purchase Access Codes valid for the full year' above. If this is not the case, keep reading.
In some cases Schools pay the cost of participation. In others, the parents pay for participation:
- If the School or Home School pays:
  If the school is paying for participation, sign in as the Caribou Coordinator before making the purchase:
  - To pay for individual access codes, select 'Students who do not have an Access Code', enter the number of students, and select 'Grade X/Y Contest Participation', selecting the number of students in this grade, and doing the same for other grades if necessary.
  - To pay for unlimited access codes, select 'for my whole school', and then either 'School Wide Contest Access' or 'All-Inclusive School Wide Pass'. All existing codes at your school and any new codes generated will automatically be valid for the entire year.
- If the Parent pays:
  If parents are paying for participation, the Caribou Coordinator must ensure 'Allow Third-Party Purchases' is checked in their account. Then in the Online Shop, the parent must sign in as Someone Else :
  - To pay for individual access codes, select 'Students who does not have an Access Code', enter the student's name, school, and Coordinator, then select 'Grade X/Y Contest Participation'. You and the Coordinator will receive an email with the student's access code.
How to exhange a Voucher Code for an Access Code

If you have been given an individual Voucher Code, it can be redeemed by any Caribou Coordinator to get a free Access Code that is valid for the full year.
Follow the steps above to choose the School you will register under and your Caribou Coordinator. Then, your Caribou Coordinator can sign in and click on "Redeem Voucher Codes" on their homepage. They will need to enter your Voucher Code and select your Contest Grade Level before submitting. Then, an Access Code will be created for you registered to their Coordinator account, visible on the page Manage & Print Access Codes.

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Access Codes

An Access Code is a 12-character code starting with the Caribou Cup year. For example, 2021C4R1B0US.

You can think of an Access Code as a Student's account. All account information like the student's name, purchases, and test entries are associated with their Access Code.

Each student needs a single Access Code to participate in 1, 2, ... or all 6 contests in the Caribou Cup (July 1 – June 30).

Access Codes…

do not carry over to the next Caribou Cup
are associated with a particular grade level
become linked automatically with the student’s name upon first sign-in

How do I get an Access Code?

Where can I find my Access Code(s)?

I have an Access Code. Now what?

Access Code Validity

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Have any Questions?

For any questions about Caribou Contests, please try our extensive Help / FAQ section. From there you will be led to an email form if you are unable to find the answer to your question.

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