At pickup, another parent says her daughter “does math olympiad” now. That night you type “math olympiad for kids” into the search bar and get a dozen names back. Math Kangaroo, MOEMS, Noetic, the AMC 8 and MATHCOUNTS all show up. None of the results says which one a second grader can enter, which one needs a school team or which is still open this year.
So you pick the name you’ve heard most, or you sign up for all five so nothing gets missed. Both moves treat “math olympiad” as one test. For a US child it is at least five contests, each with its own grades, entry route and deadline.
Registration for the Noetic contest closes on October 22, 2026, both for school teams and for its at-home version. A MOEMS team that registers by October 15 pays $200, and after November 1 the same team pays $300. Math Kangaroo costs $20 until December 31 and $35 after that, and its 2027 remote and virtual options had already closed by early October. A third grader handed an AMC 8 paper faces 25 questions in 40 minutes, written for students in grade 8 and below. She may come away thinking contests aren’t for her, when the paper was simply meant for older kids.
Short answer: we’d start most kids in grades 1–5 with Math Kangaroo, since any child from kindergarten up can enter it through a public center without a school team. From grade 4, add MOEMS if a school or home-school team exists, and from grade 6 look at MATHCOUNTS and the AMC 8.
Math Olympiad for Kids: What Does It Actually Mean?
For a child in the US, “math olympiad” usually means one of a handful of problem-solving contests sorted by grade. Math Kangaroo starts in kindergarten and Noetic in grade 2. MOEMS begins in grade 4, while MATHCOUNTS and the AMC 8 cover middle school. The right one for your child comes down to their grade and whether they need a school team to get in.
Parents often call this group the “junior math olympiad”, though no US contest goes by exactly that name. One of them even carries the word in its own name: MOEMS stands for Math Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools, and it runs two divisions, one for grades 4–6 and one for grades 6–8.
The International Mathematical Olympiad is a high school contest; in the US, the first step toward its team is the AMC 10 or AMC 12. If your child is drawn to that world later, our list of the world’s top competitions, from the IMO down covers it. For a child in grades 1–8, you only need to choose this year’s contest.
Which Math Olympiad Fits Your Child’s Grade?
Start here, because the grade rules out most of the list before you read a single rulebook. Each row below comes from the 2026–27 rules on the organizer’s own site.
| Grade | Contests open to your child | How most families get in |
|---|---|---|
| K–1 | Math Kangaroo (kindergartners take the grade 1 paper) | A school center or a public center |
| 2–3 | Math Kangaroo and Noetic | Kangaroo at a center. Noetic through school or the At-Home Edition |
| 4–5 | Math Kangaroo · Noetic · MOEMS Division E | MOEMS needs a team: a school, home school or institute |
| 6 | All of the above, plus MOEMS Division M · MATHCOUNTS · the AMC 8 | The overlap year. MATHCOUNTS also takes non-school competitors |
| 7–8 | Math Kangaroo · Noetic · MOEMS Division M · MATHCOUNTS · the AMC 8 | The AMC 8 runs through a school or a competition site |
A few rules sit behind that table. Math Kangaroo places your child at their school grade, and entering at a lower level isn’t allowed. Kindergartners are the one exception that works in their favor: they sit the grade 1 paper, so a five-year-old who loves puzzles can take part. The AMC 8 is open to any student in grade 8 or below who is under 15.5 years old on the day, but it focuses on middle school topics, which is why we only list it from grade 6.
Reading this from Australia or New Zealand? APSMO runs a Maths Olympiad for Years 5–6 (Junior Division) and Years 7–8 (Senior Division), with Maths Quest and Maths Explorer for Years 1–4. Math Kangaroo travels well too: its questions are set by an international committee (AKSF), so the same contest runs far beyond the US.
How Hard Is a Math Olympiad, Really?
Each of these is harder than schoolwork. The formats for younger children ease that in a few ways: Math Kangaroo takes no points off for a wrong answer, MOEMS gives five problems at a time, and the fast timed tests come later, in middle school.
On contest day:
- Math Kangaroo: 75 minutes of multiple choice, with 24 questions for grades 1–4 and 30 from grade 5. Questions are worth 3, 4 or 5 points, and a perfect paper scores 96 or 120.
- MOEMS: five contests across the school year, each with five problems.
- Noetic: 20 problems in 45 minutes (50 minutes online), with a separate set for each grade.
- AMC 8: 25 questions in 40 minutes, covering counting and probability, proportional reasoning and elementary geometry, with some beginning algebra near the end.
- MATHCOUNTS: the Sprint Round alone is 30 problems in 40 minutes, with no calculator.
On Math Kangaroo, a third of the questions are worth 5 points and a wrong answer costs nothing. So a young child who can’t finish every question still leaves with a real score. The bigger change between elementary and middle school contests is speed. Math Kangaroo gives about two and a half minutes per question, the AMC 8 about a minute and a half, and the MATHCOUNTS Sprint Round a little over a minute. A child who is slow and careful will feel at home in the first long before the third.
Can Your Child Enter Without a School Team?
For most of these contests, yes. The way in is different for each one, so here they are side by side.
- Math Kangaroo. If your school hosts, ask it for the Center Invitation Code. If it doesn’t, register at a public center in your own state, which accepts students from any school. For 2027, registration for remote and virtual centers had closed by October 6, 2026, so plan on an in-person or proctored online center. Our guide on how to register for Math Kangaroo and find a public center walks through the sign-up screens.
- Noetic. The At-Home Edition exists for students whose school isn’t running the contest. You act as the team leader, your child tests online, and it costs $29. The score isn’t official and there are no awards, but your child still gets a raw score and a national percentile. Here is how the Noetic contest works, grade by grade.
- MOEMS. Teams can come from public, private, parochial and home schools and from institutes, so a home-school group or a local math center can run one. Individuals can take part only with restrictions, so contact MOEMS directly if that’s your situation. A team can have up to 35 students. Our MOEMS guide for parents (divisions and team setup) has more detail.
- AMC 8. Parents don’t register with the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) directly. Ask your school first. If it can’t host, MAA suggests local colleges, math circles and learning centers, and it publishes a public list of this year’s competition sites.
- MATHCOUNTS. Students without a school team can register in the fall as non-school competitors and compete as individuals. This is getting your child into MATHCOUNTS without a school team, step by step.
What Does It Cost, and What’s the Next Deadline?
Dates and fees below are for the 2026–27 cycle, read from each organizer’s site on October 6, 2026.
| Contest | Test dates | Fee | Next deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Math Kangaroo | Third Thursday in March (March 18 in 2027) | $20 per student. $35 from January 1 | December 31 for the $20 rate. Late entry closes February 1 |
| MOEMS | Five contests from November 2026 to March 2027 | $200 per team by October 15. $250 by October 31. $300 after | October 15 |
| Noetic school team | November 12–25 and April 1–15 | $129 per team of up to 30 | October 22 (late entry to November 5 for $25 more) |
| Noetic At-Home | November 27 to December 4 and April 16–23 | $29 per student | October 22 for fall. March 11 for spring |
| AMC 8 | January 21–27 | Set by the host site | Find a host now |
| MATHCOUNTS | School rounds from November. Chapter rounds in February | Ask your school or chapter | Registration is open now |
If you only act on one row this week, make it the earliest deadline that fits your child’s grade. For a fourth grader whose school runs MOEMS, that might be a short email to the teacher before October 15. For a first grader, it’s the Math Kangaroo form, any evening before December 31.
So Which One First? What We’d Do at Each Grade
Each pick below follows from the grade table and the entry routes above.
- Kindergarten and grade 1: Math Kangaroo, and nothing else this year. It runs on a single day in March at a center near you, with no team to find.
- Grades 2–3: Math Kangaroo. If the school runs Noetic, add it. If it doesn’t, the At-Home Edition makes a low-key second try in the fall or spring.
- Grades 4–5: choosing between Math Kangaroo and MOEMS, we’d pick MOEMS Division E when a school or home-school team exists, because five small contests spread over the winter give a child more chances to try. Without a team, stay with Math Kangaroo and keep Noetic as the alternative.
- Grade 6: the overlap year. Choose one of MOEMS or Math Kangaroo, and take a first look at MATHCOUNTS.
- Grades 7–8: MATHCOUNTS and the AMC 8, with Math Kangaroo still open if your child enjoys it.
You can prepare for a first contest without paying for anything. All three elementary organizers give practice away: Math Kangaroo has free sample questions and practice pages by grade, MOEMS posts a problem of the week and a sample contest for each division, and Noetic shares sample problems and past problems. When you want a week-by-week routine, use a step-by-step prep plan for a first olympiad. For more problems at their level, there are sample math olympiad questions by grade.
Think back to that conversation at pickup. You now know what “math olympiad” meant, which contest your child can sit this year, how they get in without waiting on the school, and the one date that matters next. That fits on a sticky note on the fridge, and you can write it tonight.
The rest is a little practice in the right style. Gonit started from the same search: its founder went looking for practice for his son’s olympiad prep in grade 6 and found theory books, with no structured practice. So the app is a sequence of original olympiad-style questions sorted by grade, topic and difficulty. There are 10,000+ of them across grades 1–12. It works as practice in the style of Math Kangaroo, MOEMS and the AMC 8, though it isn’t connected to any of those contests.
FAQ
Which math olympiad is best for kids?
For most children in grades 1–5 we’d start with Math Kangaroo. It’s open from kindergarten, runs once a year in March and takes students from any school at public centers. From grade 4, MOEMS is a good second choice when a team exists.
How difficult is math olympiad?
Harder than class math, by design. Math Kangaroo takes no points off for wrong answers, so a guess never costs anything, and MOEMS gives just five problems at a time. Fast timed tests like the AMC 8 come later, in middle school.
What grade is math olympiad for?
It depends on the contest. Math Kangaroo runs from kindergarten to grade 12 and Noetic from grade 2 to 8. MOEMS covers grades 4–8, MATHCOUNTS grades 6–8, and the AMC 8 is for grade 8 and below.
How do I prepare my kid for a math olympiad?
Start with the organizer’s free sample questions at your child’s grade and solve a few together each week. The prep plan linked above has a week-by-week version.
Make Preparing for Math Olympiad Simple!
Related guides
- AMC 8 Practice Test: How to Practice the Right Way
- How to Qualify for the IMO in the USA
- How to Solve Math Olympiad Problems: The Complete Guide
Mikha Piregu is a Content Writer with experience spanning educational content, including math and math olympiad topics, as well as advocacy writing, research-based articles, and SEO-driven web content. He creates high-quality blog content, web copy, and feature articles that support brand visibility, audience engagement, and long-term organic growth through data-informed storytelling. Skilled in WordPress, WooCommerce, and modern digital tools, Mikha adapts content across various platforms, including blogs, websites, campaigns, and advocacy initiatives, with clarity and purpose.
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