Competitions · Season calendar

Math Competitions:
Format, Dates & Prep for Irvine Students

15 math competitions in school-year order; 13 have official dates for this season.

$Math Competitions: Format, Dates & Prep for Irvine Students$

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Math (15)

Nov4–172026High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling (HiMCM)HiMCM is a fundamentally different animal from the AMC family: it does not test speed but the ability to decompose an open real-world problem into a model, support conclusions with data, and write a persuasive English paper. That maps directly onto the research potential U.S. universities look for, and the paper is a tangible artifact a student can cite on an application and explain in an interview. For students with strong logic and writing who do not thrive under a stopwatch, HiMCM is often a better fit than the AMC track.HighMiddleHiMCM is open to all students in high school grades or below; the concurrent MidMCM is for middle school students no older than 14.5 on the start date (for 2026, born on or after May 1, 2012). Teams have up to four students and must have a faculty advisor from their school, institution, or program. 2026 marks the 29th HiMCM and the 6th MidMCM.Register by Nov 4
Nov5–132026American Mathematics Competitions AMC 10 / AMC 12AMC 10/12 is the most widely recognized high-school mathematics benchmark in the United States and the one admissions officers actually know. For STEM-leaning applicants in Irvine it is close to a default: an AIME qualification goes straight into the honors section of an application, and Distinguished Honor Roll is one of the few credentials that credibly says national top 1%. It is also the only official gateway to AIME, USAMO, and eventually MOP, so every year of delay is one fewer attempt.MiddleHighAMC 10: students in grade 10 or below who are under 17.5 on contest day. AMC 12: students in grade 12 or below who are under 19.5 on contest day. A student may sit both the A and the B administration, but may not take AMC 10 and AMC 12 on the same day. Registration is through a school or institution's Competition Manager.Register by Oct 15
Nov72026Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament (HMMT)HMMT is widely regarded as one of the hardest and most prestigious student-run high school tournaments in the United States, and its February problems are treated as the practice ground between AIME and USAMO. For an Irvine student the value is demonstrating that you can hold your own against the strongest peers in the country — a dimension GPA and AP scores cannot show — while the team experience yields concrete, specific material for applications.HighOpen to high school students worldwide who are under 21 at the time of participation and were enrolled full-time in primary or secondary education when registration opened. Team members must attend the same in-person school or live within 150 miles of one another. A competitor may not do both the November and February tournaments in the same season. Because of space limits, admission is by uniformly random lottery, with the top 30 teams from the previous February guaranteed a place if they reapply.Register by Sep 20
Nov72026Duke Math Meet (DMM)Duke Math Meet is mid-sized with a complete format — team, proof, relay, and Guts rounds all present — and a competitive intensity between state-level events and HMMT or PUMaC, which makes it a good proving ground for a school team just entering university-level team competition. For students already at AIME level who have never done a large team meet, it offers a lower-pressure start with a fairly complete experience.HighOpen to high school students competing in teams of six (which split into two groups of three for the relay round). A coach registers the team, and the organizers note that registration may close early if team capacity is reached.Register by Oct 25
Nov142026Berkeley Math Tournament (BMT)BMT bills itself as the largest student-run math competition in the world, with over 4,000 annual participants — and it is in California, making it one of the few high-level university tournaments an Irvine family can reach without a cross-country flight. Combined with the December online edition and the spring BmMT for middle schoolers, a family can give a student the full experience of team rounds, proof writing, and a Guts round at very low cost.HighMiddleOpen to students in grade 12 or below, with no lower age limit; the organizers state explicitly that students need not be from the Bay Area, California, or the United States. Teams may have up to six students. The online edition requires that the student did not compete in the same year's in-person BMT. A separate middle-school event, BmMT, is also run.Register by Nov 1
Nov212026Princeton University Mathematics Competition (PUMaC)PUMaC's distinguishing features are its subject-specific individual tests and its proof-based Power Round: students choose the subjects they are strongest in and must actually write proofs, which is far closer to university mathematics than multiple choice. For Irvine students already at AIME level, a Division A placement is a genuinely differentiating credential, while Division B gives a newer school team a stage where it will not simply be flattened.HighStudents must not have reached their 20th birthday before the competition date and must not have been enrolled full-time at a post-secondary institution before then. Teams normally come from a single high school; regional or homeschool teams require director approval and must come from a well-defined geographic area. Individual entries are accepted for the Main Competition. A full team is eight students.Register by Oct 11
Jan21–272027American Mathematics Competition 8 (AMC 8)AMC 8 is the recognized entry point of the American math-competition ladder and, for many Irvine families, a child's first real encounter with competition mathematics. The score itself does not go on a college application, but Honor Roll and above is one of the few nationally comparable academic benchmarks available in middle school, and local private schools, gifted programs, and summer math camps often look at it. Its bigger value is developmental: it shifts a student from computing correctly to reasoning clearly, which is exactly what AMC 10 and AIME demand later.MiddleElemStudents enrolled in grade 8 or below who are under 14.5 years of age on competition day. Students cannot register themselves; they must sit the exam at a site whose teacher has registered as an MAA Competition Manager.Register by Jan 5
Feb5–62027American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME)In U.S. STEM admissions, 'AIME qualifier' is a label admissions officers recognize and credit, and a strong AIME score (typically 8 or more) is serious evidence for top engineering and mathematics programs. In a district as competitive as Irvine, GPA and AP scores no longer separate applicants; AIME is one of the few credentials that quantifies genuine mathematical strength. It is also the mandatory step toward USAMO and MOP.MiddleHighInvitation only: students must meet the MAA's published cutoff on that year's AMC 10 or AMC 12. For the 2026-27 cycle, the announced thresholds are 100 on AMC 10 or 85 on AMC 12. Qualifying students book their own seat at a Pearson testing center.
Feb242027University of Waterloo CEMC Contests (Gauss / Pascal / Cayley / Fermat / Euclid)The CEMC family is valuable for two reasons: precise grade-by-grade tiering, and Euclid's full-solution questions. Each grade has its own paper, so a student can run from Gauss in grade 7 to Euclid in grade 12 with a clearly visible progression, and Euclid's written solutions train the ability to turn an idea into a mathematical argument — exactly what a diet of multiple-choice AMC papers never develops. For students applying to top Canadian engineering and mathematics programs, and to Waterloo in particular, the Euclid score is a credential that is directly weighed.MiddleHighBy grade: Gauss for grades 7-8, Pascal for grade 9, Cayley for grade 10, Fermat for grade 11, and Euclid for grade 12 or the final year of secondary school (including CÉGEP). Motivated students in lower grades may write a higher contest. Students cannot register themselves; their school must register — a teacher orders through the CEMC Contest Supervisor Portal using the school's CEMC School Number and supervises the writing in a classroom setting. U.S. schools are eligible and fall under the North and South America schedule.Register by Feb 2
Mar182027Math Kangaroo USAMath Kangaroo is the best first competition for younger students: it starts in kindergarten, has no penalty for wrong answers, and uses playful problems that do not require accelerated coursework, so it builds confidence rather than anxiety. For Irvine families its practical use is early calibration — before AMC 8 is within reach, it shows roughly where a child stands nationally in their grade and whether they genuinely enjoy mathematical thinking.ElemMiddleHighOpen to students in grades K-12; kindergarteners test at the Grade 1 level. Students must enter at their actual school grade — testing below one's grade level is not permitted. The official standard is simply that the student can read and work independently at their own grade level.Register by Dec 31
Apr6–152027Purple Comet! Math MeetPurple Comet offers the best value of any international team math contest — completely free, fully online, teams of one to six, and a ten-day window in which you pick your own start time. For Irvine families it is the cheapest possible way to give a child a first experience of collaborative problem solving, and for students already doing AMC work, the rule allowing computational tools trains a genuinely different skill: turning a problem into something a machine can compute.MiddleHighMiddle school division: students who have not yet completed eighth grade (or the local equivalent) and are under 16. High school division: students who have not yet graduated from secondary school (or the local equivalent) and are under 20. Teams have one to six students and must be registered and supervised by an adult supervisor. Eight categories are defined by school size and team composition (small high school is 1,200 students or fewer, small middle school 400 or fewer), plus mixed/homeschool categories and a non-competitive open category.Register by Apr 15
Apr17–192026Stanford Math Tournament (SMT)SMT is one of very few university-level high school team tournaments in California, so an Irvine family reaches it without a cross-country flight. The format is also unusually forgiving: the individual round lets a student choose between a general paper and two subject papers, so a less experienced competitor is not shut out. The 80-minute Power Round is a complete proof-writing exercise, which is exactly what selective math camp applications ask for, and the April date sits well clear of the crowded fall season.HighMiddleThe in-person tournament is for high school students residing in the United States, in teams of five or six, with teammates from the same school or the same established mathematical organization. The online edition is open to high school students and below anywhere in the world; the team rules do not apply, students may register individually, and organizers combine solo entrants and incomplete teams.Register by Feb 18
May9–102027MATHCOUNTS Competition SeriesMATHCOUNTS is the most prominent team-based middle-school math competition in the United States and one of the few with a complete school-to-chapter-to-state-to-national ladder. For Irvine families the value goes beyond the trophy: a chapter or state placement is a record local private high schools and gifted programs genuinely notice, and the team and countdown formats build the speed and composure that pure problem-set practice never develops.MiddleStudents enrolled in grades 6-8, with a lifetime limit of three years of participation. Public, private, charter, virtual, and homeschools may register; tutoring and enrichment centers are not eligible to register teams. If a student's school does not register, the student may enter as a Non-School Competitor (NSC), capped at 14 per school.Register by Dec 15

Dates to be announced

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