Australia · Informatics olympiad pathway · Live online

AIO to IOI pathway in Australia

For a small number of Australian students each year, the Australian Informatics Olympiad is the first step of a much longer road. The Australian Maths Trust invites strong performers into its olympiad programs, a sequence of invitational contests, mentoring and camps from which Australia's team for the International Olympiad in Informatics is chosen. Very few students reach the end, and nobody can promise a place. What families can do is understand the steps, the calendar and the rules, so that a talented student knows what is coming. This page sets those out from the Trust's own pages and 2026 calendar, then teaches the skill that separates the later stages from the AIO: working out whether an algorithm is fast enough before writing it.

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From the AMT's programs page, 2026 calendar and eligibility rules · 7 October 2026

In short

Students who do well in the Australian Informatics Olympiad may be invited into the Australian Maths Trust's olympiad programs. In 2026 the informatics calendar ran from the Australian Invitational Informatics Olympiad in February, through FARIO, the Informatics Selection School and APIO, to the International Olympiad in Informatics in August, with the European Girls Olympiad in Informatics in May. Every stage after the AIO is by invitation.

For the invitational stages

Three courses for students aiming past the AIO

Deeper algorithms, harder contest practice, and the mathematical thinking olympiad problems lean on.

Problem Solving for Teens course thumbnail

IOIP / 01

Algorithms and data structures

Graphs, dynamic programming and efficient structures, taught for understanding rather than memory.

Open the syllabus →
Competitive Programming Course course thumbnail

IOIP / 02

Advanced competitive programming

Harder contest material for students who have outgrown school-level problems.

Open the syllabus →
Maths Olympiad & Competition Course course thumbnail

IOIP / 03

Olympiad maths

Proof, counting and invariants: the mathematical side of olympiad informatics.

Open the syllabus →

The steps

From one contest to an international team

The Trust describes each step on its own pages. This is the order they appear in, with the Trust's wording.

The informatics olympiad pathway, as the AMT describes it
StepWhat the AMT says
Australian Informatics OlympiadOpen entry through schools; "students who perform well in the AIO may be invited to participate in the AMT's olympiad programs"
Invitation"Students with strong performance at the Australian Informatics Olympiad may be invited to participate in special mentoring and participate in exclusive events."
Australian Invitational Informatics OlympiadA February contest for Australian and New Zealand students; "Around 40 students are invited to participate each year"
French-Australian Regional Informatics OlympiadHeld remotely between students from France, Australia, New Zealand and Belgium since 2004; "one of the main competitions used to select students" for the IOI team
Informatics Selection SchoolA camp the AIIO page calls "an important step in the pathway to representing Australia"
International Olympiad in InformaticsDescribed by the AMT as "the peak competition in computer science for high school students around the world"

Two points are easy to miss. First, every step after the AIO is by invitation; there is no way to enter the AIIO, FARIO or the selection school directly. Second, the Trust uses several contests and the camp together, rather than a single exam, to choose the team.

The pathway also includes the Asian Pacific Informatics Olympiad, which appears in the Trust's 2026 calendar, and, for girls, the European Girls Olympiad in Informatics with its own mentor program.

The AMT and Australian Science Innovations "do not permit students to participate in more than one Olympiad program" in a year. A student invited into both maths and informatics, or into a science olympiad, has to choose one subject for that year.

The Trust also notes that the programs are supported by an Australian Government grant for mathematics and informatics olympiads. Invitations, selection and team announcements are entirely the Trust's decisions.

Sources: AMT Olympiad and Pathways Programs, AIIO and FARIO pages, and the AIO page, read on 7 October 2026. We are independent of the AMT.

The 2026 calendar

What the informatics year looked like in 2026

The Trust publishes an Olympiad Program Calendar each year. These are the informatics entries for 2026, exactly as listed.

AMT 2026 Informatics Olympiad Program Calendar
ActivityTypeDatesLocation
AIIOExam12 FebruarySchool
FARIOExam6 to 8 MarchSchool
EGOI Mentor Program beginsProblem solving20 MarchCorrespondence
Informatics Selection SchoolCamp23 April to 1 MaySydney
APIOExam9 to 10 MaySchool
IOI Mentor Program beginsProblem solving9 MayCorrespondence
EGOIInternational event12 to 18 MayCesenatico, Italy
IOIInternational event9 to 16 AugustTashkent, Uzbekistan
Informatics School of ExcellenceCamp10 to 19 December (to be confirmed)Canberra

Read with the AIO's 2026 date of 27 August, the cycle is clear. A student does well in the AIO in late August, may be invited to the School of Excellence in December, then sits the AIIO in February and FARIO in March of the following year, before the selection school and APIO in autumn.

That means the real preparation for the invitational stages happens in the months after the AIO, not before it. Students who stop practising once the AIO is over are the ones who find February hardest.

The calendar is published year by year, and the 2027 version had not appeared when we checked. Dates and venues change, and the Trust's calendar is the only reliable source for them.

Several stages are sat at school or by correspondence rather than at a central venue. Families should expect a busy run from February to May for an invited student, alongside normal schoolwork.

Source: AMT, 2026 Olympiad Program Calendar (PDF), informatics section, read on 7 October 2026.

Who can be selected

Eligibility for Australia's IOI and EGOI teams

The Trust publishes eligibility criteria, valid from 1 October 2025. They are short and worth reading in full on the Trust's site.

International rules

Students must "meet all IOI regulations as stated in Section S2 of the IOI Regulations"; for EGOI, the EGOI regulations apply as well.

An Australian school

The criteria require that a student "be attending an Australian school".

Time to take part

Students must "have the capacity to participate in all Olympiad activities", which is why the calendar above matters.

The criteria also note situations the Trust considers individually, and ask students in them to contact the Trust directly. We do not advise on eligibility; the published criteria and the Trust's staff are the authority, and anyone unsure should ask the Trust before relying on an invitation.

Source: AMT, IOI and EGOI Eligibility Criteria (PDF), read on 7 October 2026.

The skill the later stages demand

An operations budget: is my algorithm fast enough?

The AIO already marks efficiency. In the invitational contests, almost every problem has an obvious slow solution and a hidden fast one. Strong students estimate the running time before writing a single line.

The idea is simple. Count roughly how many basic steps an algorithm takes for the largest input, then compare that with how many steps the computer can do in the time allowed. If the count is far too big, no amount of tidying the code will save it; a different algorithm is needed.

To make that concrete we timed a plain Python loop on our own laptop. It managed about 28 million simple steps per second. Faster languages such as C++ do many more, and contest machines differ, so treat the numbers below as an illustration of scale rather than a promise about any judge.

The table shows why the jump matters. For 1,000 items, even an algorithm that compares every pair finishes almost instantly. For 100,000 items the same pairwise approach takes about 353 seconds, roughly six minutes. For a million items it takes about 35,000 seconds, nearly ten hours, while a sort-based approach still finishes in under a second.

Olympiad problems are built around exactly this gap. The skill is to read the input limits in a problem statement, make this estimate in your head, and only then choose the method.

Rough step counts and time at 28 million steps per second (our laptop, plain Python loop)
Items (n)One pass: nSort-like: n log nEvery pair: n squared
1,0001,000 steps, under 0.001 sabout 10,000 steps, under 0.001 s1,000,000 steps, about 0.04 s
100,000100,000 steps, about 0.004 sabout 1.7 million steps, about 0.06 s10 billion steps, about 353 s
1,000,0001,000,000 steps, about 0.04 sabout 20 million steps, about 0.7 s1 trillion steps, about 35,000 s

Our measurement: a plain Python loop of 10 million additions took about 0.35 seconds on our laptop on 7 October 2026 (about 28 million steps per second). Step counts use log base 2. This is an illustration, not a statement about any contest's machines or limits.

Where a student stands

Four levels on the informatics pathway

Each level is about the kind of problem a student can solve reliably, not about awards.

Readiness levels for the informatics olympiad pathway
LevelTypical workThe sign it is secure
AIO entrantFirst AIO problems, brute forceSolves the easier problems and tests them properly
Strong AIOMost AIO problems, sorting and greedy methodsEstimates running time before coding
InvitationalGraphs, dynamic programming, data structuresSolves unseen problems under time pressure
Selection levelProof of correctness, advanced techniquesExplains why a solution is right, not just that it passes

Keeping it healthy

The pathway is long and selective. Students who enjoy problem solving for its own sake cope best with not being invited, which is the most common outcome.

Schoolwork and sleep come first; olympiad work should fit around them.

Related reading

Start with our AIO preparation page for the contest itself.

For the maths route, see the AMT competitions page.

The catalogue

Nine courses for olympiad-minded programmers

Grouped by depth. Each card opens a full outline.

I

Fluency

Languages contests accept

IOIP / L / 01

C++ for teens

The language most olympiad competitors use.

Open the syllabus

IOIP / L / 02

Python for teens

Quick to write, good for testing ideas.

Open the syllabus

IOIP / L / 03

Java for teens

Accepted at the AIO, strongly typed.

Open the syllabus
II

Algorithms

The core toolkit

IOIP / A / 01

Algorithms and data structures

The ideas every round tests.

Open the syllabus

IOIP / A / 02

Competitive programming for teens

Judged practice problems.

Open the syllabus
III

Beyond

For the invitational stages

IOIP / X / 01

Advanced competitive programming

Harder contests and techniques.

Open the syllabus

IOIP / X / 03

Maths through coding

Number theory explored in code.

Open the syllabus

How coaching runs

One-to-one and small-group olympiad coaching

Our coaches work from India, behind every Australian time zone. An 8 pm session in Sydney during daylight saving begins at 2.30 pm India time, which suits senior students who train in the evening.

After the AIO

September to January, when invitational preparation really happens.

Weekly coaching

Problem sets with written solutions reviewed.

Contest simulations

Timed sets under realistic conditions.

Estimate first

Every problem starts with an operations budget.

Prove, then code

Students explain why a method is correct before writing it.

Groups

Fifteen to twenty students of similar level.

One-to-one coaching

The usual choice at this level.

Honest feedback

Clear advice on readiness, without inflating it.

No selection promises

Invitations and teams are the Trust's decisions alone.

Student work

Projects from our students

Work learners built for themselves, apart from any contest. See more in the student labs.

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Misti

A chatbot that answers mathematics and programming questions, built and deployed by a student.

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GuardianX

An assistant that helps a young person recognise unsafe situations online.

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Web app

SkyCast

A weather forecasting site with live conditions for any location.

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Fees

Fees

Families in Australia pay monthly in US dollars, the rate we charge everywhere outside India, with no deposit and no minimum term. The Trust's programs are separate and by invitation.

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Group batch

USD 100

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  • Fifteen to twenty students at one level
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  • Solutions reviewed in depth
  • A certificate at the end
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One to one

USD 150

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  • A coach for one student
  • Built around the pathway calendar
  • A weekly time that suits you
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Questions about the pathway

What families of olympiad students ask

How does a student get from the AIO to the IOI?

Students who do well in the AIO may be invited into the AMT's olympiad programs. From there, invitational contests such as the AIIO and FARIO, the Informatics Selection School and APIO lead to selection of Australia's IOI team.

What is the AIIO?

The Australian Invitational Informatics Olympiad, a February contest for invited Australian and New Zealand students. The AMT says around 40 students are invited each year.

What is FARIO?

The French-Australian Regional Informatics Olympiad, held remotely between students from France, Australia, New Zealand and Belgium since 2004. The AMT calls it one of the main competitions used to select the IOI team.

Can a student enter the invitational contests directly?

No. Every stage after the AIO is by invitation from the AMT.

Who is eligible for the Australian IOI team?

The AMT's criteria require students to meet the IOI regulations in Section S2, attend an Australian school, and be able to take part in all olympiad activities.

Can a student do the maths and informatics olympiads in the same year?

The AMT and Australian Science Innovations do not permit participation in more than one olympiad program in a year, so students choose one subject.

What is an operations budget?

A quick estimate of how many basic steps an algorithm needs for the largest input, compared with what a computer can do in the time allowed. It shows before coding whether an approach can possibly be fast enough.

Where was the IOI in 2026?

The AMT's 2026 calendar lists the IOI as 9 to 16 August in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Can you get my child selected?

No one can promise that. We teach algorithms and contest skills; invitations and selection are decided by the AMT.

Are you connected with the AMT?

No. We are an independent online school, and the facts here come from the AMT's published pages.

Related pages

More for Australian competitors

The contest that starts the pathway and the competitions around it.

AIO preparation

Format, judging and a testing habit.

AMC, AIO and CAT

The Trust's school competitions compared.

Bebras practice

Code-free computational thinking.

Competitions calendar

The school-level contests by month.

Maths olympiad tutoring

The parallel maths route.

Coding classes in Australia

Our main Australian page.

Start here

Book a free olympiad coaching session

Tell us your student's year level, AIO experience and language. The free session works through a real problem, including the operations budget, and ends with candid advice about readiness.

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WhatsApp us · +91 91233 66161 · connect@modernagecoders.com

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