Can a parent register a child for MATHCOUNTS directly?
Only as a non-school competitor, and only when the child's school of record will not register for the Competition Series and will not support participation through the school. In that case the Foundation says "the parent/guardian of an NSC must register online and pay with a credit card," from 5 November 2026, at $75 by the regular deadline or $85 late. Otherwise entry is through the school, which can register up to fourteen competitors. Home-schooled students use the Foundation's Home School Participation Form instead.
What are the MATHCOUNTS dates for 2026-27?
From the Foundation's critical dates page: early-bird registration by 3 November 2026, non-school competitor registration opening 5 November, the regular deadline 15 December 2026, Chapter competitions 1 to 28 February 2027, State competitions 1 to 31 March 2027 and the national competition 9 to 10 May 2027 in Washington DC. The school round runs inside the school between August and January.
What are the four rounds?
Sprint: thirty problems in forty minutes with no calculator. Target: four pairs of problems with six minutes per pair and a calculator. Team: ten problems in twenty minutes, taken by the four official team members. Countdown: head to head at up to forty-five seconds a problem without a calculator, optional at the school, chapter and state levels. We train each round in its own shape, because the skills differ.
We live outside the United States. Can my child take part?
Only if the child attends a school abroad affiliated with the US Departments of Defense or State; the Foundation lists those alongside the fifty states and territories and no other route. For a family in India, the UAE, the UK or Singapore, MATHCOUNTS is not an option, and we say so before anyone pays. Our Math Kangaroo, AMC and CEMC pages cover contests with wider reach.
How much does it cost to enter?
The Foundation publishes school fees of $42 per student early bird by 3 November 2026, $48 regular by 15 December and $53 late, with a 50% discount for Title I schools, and non-school competitor fees of $75 regular and $85 late, with no Title I discount. Full refunds carry a $50 fee and non-school registrations are not refundable in 2026-27. Those are the Foundation's figures, paid to it; our own monthly fee is on this page.
Is MATHCOUNTS the same as AMC 8?
No, but they share most of their mathematics and the same age group. AMC 8 is one 40-minute multiple-choice paper in late January run by the MAA; MATHCOUNTS is four rounds across a season run by the MATHCOUNTS Foundation, with a team element and a head-to-head final. Most of our middle-school competition students sit both, and the preparation overlaps heavily; our AMC page covers the other.
Do you use past MATHCOUNTS competitions?
Yes. The Foundation publishes past competitions and a coach handbook, and we use them for placement, weekly timed sets and the two full rehearsals, then send families to the Foundation's own resources rather than reproducing papers here. Every set a student sits is reviewed problem by problem in the next class.
Can my child practise the Team round without a school team?
Yes, as training. Only a school's official team of four takes the Team round for a team score, so a non-school competitor does not score on it, but we rehearse it in the batch anyway because dividing problems by strength teaches every student which problems are theirs in the Sprint.
What happens after the Chapter competition?
The top four individuals in each chapter advance to the State competition in March, and the top four in each state, including non-school competitors advancing as individuals, earn a trip to the National competition in May, where they form four-person state teams and compete for the individual title. Our batch continues through State for students who advance.
What happens after I send the form?
A mentor calls within a few hours, asks which grade your child is in and whether the school is registering, and books a free demo class at a time that suits you. The demo is a real session: a few Sprint problems with a clock, one Target pair, and a Countdown question for fun, with the teacher showing the reasoning rather than the answer key. There is no card, no enrolment fee and no pressure on the call.
