Junior Mathematical Olympiad Preparation

In short

The Junior Mathematical Olympiad is run by the UK Mathematics Trust and is described by UKMT as a "2 hour Challenge consisting of 6 Olympiad style questions". It falls on 15 June 2027. Eligibility is "England, Wales and Overseas: Year 8 and below", "Scotland: S2 or below" and "Northern Ireland: Year 9 or below". Entry is by invitation based on a qualifying score in the Junior Mathematical Challenge, sat on 5 May 2027, or by discretionary entry; UKMT says around 1,200 students qualify from the JMC each year and that automatic qualifiers pay nothing. The Junior Kangaroo falls on the same day, 15 June 2027. Schools enter pupils; families cannot, and neither can we. What we teach is the mathematics and the writing the paper asks for, live online. The first class is free; a group place is USD 100 a month and one-to-one teaching USD 150.

Where to start

Three courses for a Year 7 or Year 8 olympiad candidate

Choose by what the pupil can already write down, not by what they can work out in their head.

Maths Olympiad & Competition Course course thumbnail

JMO / 01

Olympiad and competition maths

The core: unfamiliar problems, and solutions written so that someone else is convinced.

Open the syllabus →

Middle School Mathematics Mastery course thumbnail

JMO / 02

Middle school maths mastery

The algebra, geometry and number the olympiad questions are built out of.

Open the syllabus →

JMO / 03

Maths through coding

For the pupil who likes checking a claim on a thousand cases before trying to prove it.

Open the syllabus →

The paper

Six questions, two hours, and no options

Facts read at UKMT's own pages on 20 September 2026.

The Junior Mathematical Olympiad, as UKMT publishes it
Part	What UKMT says	What it means for a pupil
Format	A "2 hour Challenge consisting of 6 Olympiad style questions"	Twenty minutes a question, and every one written out in full
Date	15 June 2027	Six weeks after the Junior Mathematical Challenge on 5 May 2027
England, Wales and Overseas	"Year 8 and below"	Usually Year 8, sometimes a very strong Year 7 or younger
Scotland	"S2 or below"	The Scottish stages, not translated year groups
Northern Ireland	"Year 9 or below"	One year higher than England and Wales, matching the NI school year
How to get in	"by invitation based on a qualifying JMC score, or by discretionary entry"	The Challenge in May is the normal route
How many	"Around 1,200 students qualify from the JMC each year"	A small paper: the whole country fits in a large school hall
Cost	Automatic qualifiers are free; discretionary entries carry a fee set by UKMT	We do not print the fee; UKMT publishes it in pounds

The Junior Kangaroo is sat on the same day, 15 June 2027. It is the other follow-on from the Junior Mathematical Challenge and it is multiple choice, which makes it a different kind of afternoon entirely. A pupil and a teacher should know which paper is coming, because preparing for one is not preparing for the other.

Around 1,200 qualifiers is worth holding onto as well. Whatever a pupil scores in June, being in that room at all puts them among a few hundred per year group nationally.

Two hours for six questions is generous by exam standards and tight by olympiad standards. Most pupils will not finish all six, and that is normal and expected: a full, correct, well-written solution to three questions is a good paper.

The temptation this creates is the one to resist. A pupil who writes hurried partial answers to all six usually scores less than one who writes three properly, because olympiad marking rewards complete arguments, not coverage.

Sources: UKMT competitions calendar and the Junior Mathematical Olympiad page, read 20 September 2026. Modern Age Coders is not connected with the UK Mathematics Trust.

The method

Forty examples are not a proof

The single idea that separates a Challenge pupil from an Olympiad pupil, in one worked case.

Take the expression n × n + n + 41 and try whole numbers. At n = 0 it gives 41, a prime. At n = 1, 43, prime. At n = 2, 47, prime. Keep going. It is prime at n = 3, at n = 10, at n = 25, at n = 39. Forty values in a row, every single one prime. Any reasonable twelve-year-old would now say the rule always gives primes, and any reasonable twelve-year-old would be wrong.

Our run of 20 September 2026: the first forty-one values
n	n × n + n + 41	Prime?
0	41	Yes
1	43	Yes
10	151	Yes
25	691	Yes
39	1601	Yes, the fortieth in a row
40	1681	No: 1681 is 41 times 41

Why it fails at forty

Put n = 41 in and every term has a factor of 41; at n = 40 the same thing happens a step early. Once you see it, the failure is obvious. Before you see it, forty examples look like certainty.

What the JMC teaches

That the right answer is among five printed options, so checking a couple of cases and choosing is a good strategy. It is a good strategy, for that paper.

What the JMO wants

A sentence explaining why nothing else is possible. Examples can support an argument; they can never be one.

This is the conversation to have in the week after the Challenge results arrive, and it takes about ten minutes. Most pupils find it genuinely startling, which is the point: the habit of trying cases until convinced is exactly what has served them well until now.

The follow-up question is the useful one. If forty cases are not enough, what would be? The answers a twelve-year-old can reach are already real mathematics: try every possibility when there are few enough, split into cases that cover everything, or find the reason rather than the pattern.

Our demonstration was checked in code before it went on this page, which is itself the smaller half of the lesson. Testing a claim on a thousand cases is a good way to decide whether to believe it. It is not a way to prove it, and the pupils who go furthest learn to want both.

For a pupil who enjoys that side, the same instinct runs straight into programming: the British Informatics Olympiad is built on it.

The values were computed by us on 20 September 2026 and checked individually: every n from 0 to 39 gives a prime, and n = 40 gives 1681, which is 41 squared.

How to practise

Write one solution properly, not six answers quickly

Olympiad preparation looks slow from the outside and is. Six weeks is enough if it is spent on the right thing.

What moves a JMO score, and what does not
Worth doing	Why	Not worth doing
Writing full solutions to problems already solved	The writing is the part being marked, and it is the part nobody has practised	Working more problems and never writing any up
Reading UKMT's published solutions	They model the standard of explanation expected	Only checking whether the final answer matched
Working one hard problem for an hour	Olympiad questions are meant to resist a first look	Twenty quick questions to feel productive
Learning to say "suppose not"	Half of junior olympiad questions yield to assuming the opposite	Memorising named techniques by rote
Stopping when it stops being fun	A tired twelve-year-old learns nothing and remembers the mood	Daily drilling in the fortnight before

The most common mistake families make is to buy harder material. The mathematics in a JMO question is rarely beyond a good Year 8 pupil; it is the packaging that is unfamiliar. A pupil who can already do the arithmetic and the algebra needs practice at unpacking, not at topics.

The second most common is to treat June as an exam. It is not one: nothing depends on it, no school place turns on it, and a pupil who enjoys it will come back next year at a higher level.

UKMT publishes past papers and full solutions free on its own site. That archive is better than any purchased course, and it is the reason we do not reproduce a single UKMT question here or in our lessons: the real ones are already available from the people who wrote them.

What a teacher adds is reading. A pupil can tell whether their answer is right; they usually cannot tell whether their explanation is convincing, and that is the thing worth an hour a week of somebody else's attention.

The route

Where the JMO sits, and what follows it

The junior olympiad is one rung of a ladder that reaches the international olympiad, and almost nobody climbs it in a straight line.

The UKMT junior and intermediate route, with 2026-27 dates
Round	Date	Who sits it
Junior Mathematical Challenge	5 May 2027	Year 8 and below, entered by the school
Junior Kangaroo	15 June 2027	A follow-on from the Challenge, multiple choice
Junior Mathematical Olympiad	15 June 2027	Around 1,200 qualifiers, six written questions
Intermediate Mathematical Challenge	27 January 2027	The next year group up
Cayley, Hamilton and Maclaurin	18 March 2027	The intermediate olympiads, by school year

A Year 8 pupil who sits the JMO in June moves into the intermediate rounds the following year, where the same habit of writing proofs is worth even more. The Cayley, Hamilton and Maclaurin papers are the next stop, split by school year rather than by score.

Nothing about the ladder is compulsory and no rung is a verdict. Plenty of strong mathematicians sit one olympiad, find it uncomfortable, and come back to it at sixteen.

For a pupil in Scotland, the Scottish Mathematical Challenge runs alongside all of this on its own timetable and marks explanations too, which makes the two a good pairing.

And the whole year, every competition we could confirm with its organiser, is laid out on the competitions calendar.

Getting ready

Four rungs from a right answer to a closed argument

Progress here is measured in what a pupil writes, not in topics covered.

From answer to proof
Stage	Rung	The sign it is secure
Year 6 to 7	1. Confident arithmetic	Algebra and fractions do not slow the thinking down
Year 7	2. Unfamiliar problems	Will sit with a problem for twenty minutes without asking for a hint
Year 7 to 8	3. Written solutions	Writes an explanation a classmate could follow without being told
Year 8	4. Closed arguments	Can say why no other answer is possible, not just that this one works

If June is close

Take three problems the pupil has already solved and write them up properly. That is the fastest available gain, and it takes an evening.

Do not add topics in the last fortnight. Nothing in a junior olympiad needs content a Year 8 pupil has not met.

After the JMO

The intermediate rounds follow the next year, and the writing habit is worth more at every level above this one.

Pupils who enjoy proving things often take to programming for the same reason, which is what maths through coding is built around.

The full list

Maths and computing courses for junior olympiad candidates

Arranged by what a pupil is ready for, with the syllabus behind every card.

I

The mathematics

Years 6 to 9

JMO / M / 01

Olympiad and competition maths

Unfamiliar problems and the writing that finishes them.

Open the syllabus

JMO / M / 02

Middle school maths mastery

Pre-algebra and geometry, argued not drilled.

Open the syllabus

JMO / M / 03

Primary maths, Years 1 to 5

For a younger pupil whose foundations still wobble.

Open the syllabus

II

Speed and accuracy

For the Challenge rounds

JMO / S / 01

Mental maths for kids

Calculation that stops costing thinking time.

Open the syllabus

JMO / S / 02

Vedic maths

Speed methods for the arithmetic underneath.

Open the syllabus

JMO / S / 03

11 plus maths preparation

Timed upper primary work, for a younger candidate.

Open the syllabus

III

Checking claims

Where maths meets code

JMO / C / 01

Maths through coding

Test a claim on a thousand cases, then prove it.

Open the syllabus

JMO / C / 02

Python and AI for kids

A first typed language for a curious Year 7.

Open the syllabus

JMO / C / 03

Algorithms and data structures

Reasoning about method, in code.

Open the syllabus

IV

Looking ahead

Years 9 and up

JMO / N / 01

High school mathematics

Algebra through to calculus, for a pupil racing ahead.

Open the syllabus

JMO / N / 02

GCSE maths

Foundation and higher, to the board the school uses.

Open the syllabus

JMO / N / 03

Python from start to finish

For the pupil who wants to build as well as prove.

Open the syllabus

How lessons run

An hour a week, with somebody reading the write-up

Lessons are live on video from India, where the clock runs five and a half hours ahead of Britain in winter and four and a half in summer. Times are agreed and kept in UK time.

Early weekday evening

The usual slot for Years 7 and 8.

Weekend morning

For a long session on one problem.

Holiday weeks

Short and frequent, while school is out.

Solutions read closely

The teacher reads what the pupil wrote and says where a reader would stop being convinced.

Our own problems

Written by us in the olympiad spirit. UKMT past papers stay where UKMT publishes them.

Five to ten pupils

Small enough for every solution to be looked at, large enough for two methods to meet.

Time to be stuck

Being stuck for twenty minutes is the work, not a sign that something is wrong.

One to one on request

For a pupil working far above their year, or one who will not speak in a group.

No result promised

No qualification, medal or score is promised by us, and nobody honest promises one.

Student work

What our students build

Four published projects by students at our school, none of them competition entries. More on the student labs page.

AI and ML

NutriLife

An AI nutrition coach that reads what you eat and works you toward a target.

by Bhavya · Open it

AI and ML

Misti

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

by Harshit · Open it

AI and ML

GuardianX

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

by Vivaan · Open it

Web app

SkyCast

A weather forecasting site with live conditions for any location.

by Krish

Fees

A monthly rate in US dollars, the same outside India everywhere. No joining fee and no fixed term.

Free first class

USD 0

no card required

A real lesson on a real problem
An honest read on the level
No card details

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Group batch

USD 100

a month, billed in US dollars

Five to ten pupils at one level
The same teacher each week
Written solutions marked
A certificate at the end

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One to one

USD 150

a month, billed in US dollars

One pupil with one teacher
Aimed at the specific gap
For pupils far ahead of their year

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Junior Mathematical Olympiad questions

What parents and pupils ask

When is the Junior Mathematical Olympiad in 2027?

UKMT's competitions calendar gives 15 June 2027, six weeks after the Junior Mathematical Challenge on 5 May 2027.

Who is eligible?

UKMT publishes it by nation: Year 8 and below in England, Wales and overseas; S2 or below in Scotland; Year 9 or below in Northern Ireland.

How does a pupil qualify?

By invitation based on a qualifying score in the Junior Mathematical Challenge, or by discretionary entry. UKMT says around 1,200 students qualify from the JMC each year, and that automatic qualifiers pay nothing.

What is the paper like?

UKMT describes a two-hour challenge of six olympiad-style questions. There is nothing to choose from: each answer is written out in full, and the reasoning is what is marked.

Is it harder than the Junior Mathematical Challenge?

It is different rather than simply harder. The content is within reach of a strong Year 8 pupil; what is new is being asked to prove that no other answer is possible.

How many questions should a pupil expect to finish?

Not all six, usually. Three complete, well-written solutions is a good paper, and hurried partial answers to all six generally score less.

What else falls on the same day?

The Junior Kangaroo, also on 15 June 2027, which is the multiple-choice follow-on from the Junior Mathematical Challenge. A pupil should know which paper they are sitting.

How should we prepare?

By writing up solutions to problems the pupil has already solved, reading UKMT's published solutions for the standard of explanation, and spending a long time on single problems. Not by adding topics.

Do you use UKMT past papers?

No. UKMT publishes its own past papers and full solutions free, which is the right place for them. Our practice problems are written by us in the same spirit.

What do classes cost?

The first lesson is free. After it, a group place is USD 100 a month and one-to-one teaching USD 150, with nothing to join and no minimum term.

Related pages

More for young mathematicians

The rungs above and below, and the whole competition year in one table.

UK competitions calendar 2026-27

Every contest we could confirm, month by month.

Primary Maths Challenge

The rung below, for ages 9 to 11.

Scottish Mathematical Challenge

Marks for the explanation, on a Scottish timetable.

British Informatics Olympiad

The same instinct, applied to programs.

Coding classes in the UK

Four school systems, and every UK page.

Choosing an online class

What to ask any provider before paying.

Start here

Book a free olympiad lesson

Tell us the year group and whether your child has sat the Challenge. The free lesson works on one real problem, all the way to a written solution.

Rather read first? Syllabuses sit on the course pages, the teaching method on how we teach, and the order of topics on the roadmap.

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

WhatsApp costs a UK mobile nothing and usually reaches us first. Our number is Indian, as we say on every page, and there is no office in Britain.

Three courses for a Year 7 or Year 8 olympiad candidate

Olympiad and competition maths

Middle school maths mastery

Maths through coding

Six questions, two hours, and no options

Forty examples are not a proof

Why it fails at forty

What the JMC teaches

What the JMO wants

Write one solution properly, not six answers quickly

Where the JMO sits, and what follows it

Four rungs from a right answer to a closed argument

If June is close

After the JMO

Maths and computing courses for junior olympiad candidates

The mathematics

Olympiad and competition maths

Middle school maths mastery

Primary maths, Years 1 to 5

Speed and accuracy

Mental maths for kids

Vedic maths

11 plus maths preparation

Checking claims

Maths through coding

Python and AI for kids

Algorithms and data structures

Looking ahead

High school mathematics

GCSE maths

Python from start to finish

An hour a week, with somebody reading the write-up

Solutions read closely

Our own problems

Five to ten pupils

Time to be stuck

One to one on request

No result promised

What our students build

NutriLife

Misti

GuardianX

SkyCast

Fees

Rated 4.9 across 547 Google reviews

What parents and pupils ask

When is the Junior Mathematical Olympiad in 2027?

Who is eligible?

How does a pupil qualify?

What is the paper like?

Is it harder than the Junior Mathematical Challenge?

How many questions should a pupil expect to finish?

What else falls on the same day?

How should we prepare?

Do you use UKMT past papers?

What do classes cost?

More for young mathematicians

UK competitions calendar 2026-27

Primary Maths Challenge

Scottish Mathematical Challenge

British Informatics Olympiad

Coding classes in the UK

Choosing an online class

Book a free olympiad lesson

Keep exploring Modern Age Coders

More maths tuition

Learn more

From the blog

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