Grades 2 to 8 · Fall 2026 and spring 2027 · 20 problems, 45 minutes
The Noetic Learning Math Contest, or NLMC, is a twice-yearly problem-solving contest for grades 2 to 8 in which every grade gets its own set of 20 problems and 45 minutes. Most of the problems are word problems that reward a clear picture of the situation more than fast arithmetic. Below we set out the 2026 to 2027 contest from Noetic Learning’s own pages, read on 31 October 2026, and then teach the tool we lean on most for this contest: the bar model, with three worked examples and ten problems we wrote for grades 3 to 5.
Teaching math and coding live since 2020 · 10,000+ students · grades K to 12
In short
The Noetic Learning Math Contest (NLMC) is a semiannual problem-solving contest by Noetic Learning for grades 2 to 8: 20 problems in 45 minutes, or 50 online, with a separate set for each grade. Schools enter teams of up to 30; families can use the At-Home Edition. Modern Age Coders teaches contest problem solving live online, in a batch or 1-on-1, through our Elementary Mathematics course.
Learn with a teacher
Elementary math first, since most entrants are in grades 2 to 5, then problem solving and the middle school contest course.
The contest
Noetic Learning describes the NLMC as "a semiannual problem-solving competition for elementary and middle school students." Students solve 20 problems on their own in 45 minutes, or 50 minutes online, and each grade from 2 to 8 has its own problems.
| Feature | What Noetic Learning publishes |
|---|---|
| Grades | 2 to 8 |
| How often | Twice a year, fall and spring |
| Problems | 20, solved independently |
| Time | 45 minutes on paper; 50 minutes for the online version |
| Problem sets | Each grade has its own problem set, ensuring fairness. |
| Formats | Traditional paper-pencil or online |
| Where | At each registered school, on a day the team leader picks in the window |
| Team | Up to 30 students from the same grade and school; no minimum |
| Team score | The sum of the top six scores |
| Size | More than 65,000 students in the 2025 to 2026 school year |
Twenty problems in 45 minutes is 135 seconds each, or 2 minutes 15 seconds, by our arithmetic. Online, 50 minutes gives 150 seconds, or 2 and a half minutes. That is enough to read a word problem twice and draw it, but not enough to puzzle aimlessly.
For a second grader, that pace is a real stretch. Practice is less about speed than about having a reliable first move on every problem, which is where bar models help.
Because "Each grade has its own problem set", a third grader competes only with other third graders nationally. Mixed-grade teams are allowed when necessary, but Noetic says they "must register under the highest student’s grade level", so a grade 4 student on a grade 5 team sits the grade 5 problems.
Check which level your child will sit with the team leader before practicing.
Sources: Noetic Learning Math Contest, Contest Details and FAQ pages, read 31 October 2026. Modern Age Coders is not connected with Noetic Learning.
The calendar
The fall 2026 contest runs from Thursday, November 12 to Wednesday, November 25, 2026, and the spring 2027 contest from Thursday, April 1 to Thursday, April 15, 2027. Fall team registration closed on October 22, with late registration open to November 5, 2026.
| Step | Fall 2026 | Spring 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Team registration deadline | Thursday, October 22, 2026 | Thursday, March 11, 2027 |
| Late registration, with a late fee | To Thursday, November 5, 2026 | To Thursday, March 25, 2027 |
| School contest window | Thursday, November 12 to Wednesday, November 25, 2026 | Thursday, April 1 to Thursday, April 15, 2027 |
| At-Home Edition window, online | Friday, November 27 to Friday, December 4, 2026 | Friday, April 16 to Friday, April 23, 2027 |
| Awards shipped to team leaders | About 2 to 3 weeks after the contest | About 2 to 3 weeks after the contest |
On 31 October 2026 the fall deadline had passed but late registration was still open until November 5. A teacher who wants a team in the fall contest has a few days; otherwise the spring contest, with a March 11, 2027 deadline, is the next chance.
Student names are needed by the roster deadline, which Noetic says is usually one week before the contest starts.
Because the contest runs twice, a student can sit in November, work on the gaps over the winter, and sit again in April. Comparing the two raw scores is one of the clearest progress checks available at this age.
Our plans below assume exactly that rhythm.
Sources: Noetic Learning Contest Details and At-Home Edition pages, read 31 October 2026. Times on the organiser’s pages run from 8:00 to 17:00 on the first and last days.
Awards
The top 10 percent of participants in each grade earn a National Honor Roll medal, and the top 50 percent a National Honorable Mention ribbon. Each team’s highest scorer gets a Team Winner medal, and every participant gets a digital certificate.
| Award | Who qualifies |
|---|---|
| Team Winner Medal | The highest scorer on each team |
| National Honor Roll Medal | The top 10 percent of all participants in each grade |
| National Honorable Mention Ribbon | The top 50 percent of all participants in each grade |
| Digital Award Certificate | All award recipients |
| Digital Mathlete Certificate | All contest participants |
| Web recognition | All National Honor Roll and Honorable Mention recipients |
| Team Achievement Plaque | The top 10 percent of teams in each grade; after-school institution teams excluded |
How the team score works, with our numbers. Noetic says "The team score is calculated using the sum of the top six scores of a team". Suppose a grade 4 team of nine students scores 17, 15, 15, 14, 12, 12, 10, 9 and 6 out of 20. The team score uses only the top six: 17 + 15 + 15 + 14 + 12 + 12 = 85. The other three scores do not lower it. That is why Noetic notes that a team of fewer than six can still enter but weakens its chance at the team plaque, while individual awards are unaffected.
Half of each grade receives the ribbon. For a child entering a contest for the first time, that is a fair target that rewards steady practice rather than rare talent.
The medal for the top 10 percent is a stretch goal for children who already enjoy hard problems.
We cannot promise a ribbon or medal, because awards depend on every student in the grade nationally. We teach the thinking and share honest progress with families.
A child who leaves the season able to draw any comparison problem as bars has gained something that lasts well beyond one contest.
At-Home Edition
Yes, through the At-Home Edition, an online version with its own window after each school contest. The parent acts as team leader. At-Home scores are not official and do not qualify for awards, but students receive a raw score and a national percentile.
Noetic says the At-Home Edition gives students "valuable feedback, including their raw score and national percentile." For a homeschooled child or one whose school does not enter, that comparison is hard to get any other way.
Use it as a snapshot, not a verdict. A second snapshot in spring tells you far more than the first one alone.
Give the full 50 minutes online in a quiet room, with paper for drawing. No hints, no calculator unless the procedure allows one, and no looking up answers.
Afterwards, go through the problems your child missed by type, not one by one, and bring the types to class.
Sources: Noetic Learning At-Home Edition and How to Participate pages, read 31 October 2026. Check the individual procedures document for tools allowed.
Official practice
Noetic Learning sells official past problems and solutions for each grade, offers free sample problems by email, and includes three practice tests with each team registration. Its own advice is to practice from previous tests.
The parents’ FAQ says: "The best way to prepare for the contest is to practice the problems from the previous tests." The past-tests page lists official problem sets by grade from Fall 2023 to Spring 2026, and it is clear about use: "You are NOT authorized to transmit or distribute the documents outside your home or classroom." So we never share or copy them. Families who buy them use them at home; in class we teach with our own problems and help a student review the official ones they have tried.
| Material | How to get it |
|---|---|
| Sample problems | Free, emailed after a request on the sample problems page |
| Practice tests | Three per contest, included with a school team registration; two for At-Home |
| Past contest problems and solutions | Sold by grade, for home or classroom use only |
| Online test review | In the student portal after the window, for online takers |
Sources: Noetic Learning FAQ, Past Tests and sample problems pages, read 31 October 2026. Prices are on the organiser’s site and not repeated here.
The bar model
A bar model turns the words of a problem into rectangles whose lengths show the quantities. Comparison, part-whole and fraction problems, which fill elementary contests, become a picture with one unknown piece. This is our main teaching tool for the NLMC.
| Problem type | Cue words | How to draw it |
|---|---|---|
| Part and whole | "Altogether", "in all", "the rest" | One long bar split into parts |
| Comparison | "More than", "fewer than", "times as many" | Two bars, one under the other, with the difference marked |
| Equal shares | "Each", "equally", "groups of" | A bar cut into equal units |
| Fraction of | "One third of", "the rest" | A bar in equal units, some shaded |
| Before and after | "Gave away", "then had" | Two bars for before and after, with the change shown |
Worked example 1 (ours, grade 3): comparison with a total. Ava and Ben have 60 stickers together. Ben has 12 more than Ava. How many does each have? Draw Ava’s bar, then Ben’s bar the same length plus an extra piece labelled 12. Take the 12 away: 60 minus 12 = 48 is two equal bars, so Ava has 24 and Ben has 24 + 12 = 36. Check: 24 + 36 = 60.
Worked example 2 (ours, grade 4): times as many. Mia read 3 times as many pages as Leo. Together they read 36 pages. How many more pages did Mia read? Leo is one unit and Mia is three, so four units are 36 and one unit is 9. Mia read 27, Leo 9, and the difference is two units, 18 pages. Notice the question asks for the difference: the bar shows it directly as two units, with no need to find both totals first.
Worked example 3 (ours, grade 5): fractions of the rest. A bag of marbles: one third are red, and one half of the rest are blue. The other 15 are green. How many marbles are in the bag? Draw a bar in three units; one is red. The remaining two units split in half: one unit blue, one unit green. So one unit is 15 and the bag holds 45. The phrase "of the rest" is the trap: one half of the whole would give a different, wrong picture.
A second or third grader cannot yet write 2x + 12 = 60, but they can draw it. The bar model is algebra in pictures, and it scales: the same drawing works with bigger numbers and fractions in grades 4 and 5.
In a 2 minute 15 second budget, a quick bar is often faster than any other first move.
The teacher reads the problem, the student draws, and nobody calculates until the bars match the words. Most mistakes show up as a drawing that does not fit the story, which is far easier to fix than a wrong number.
Then the student writes a new story for the same drawing. If they can, they understand it.
Practice set
Written by our teachers. They are not NLMC problems and not drawn from any Noetic test. Try them at the contest pace: about 2 minutes 15 seconds each.
| No. | Answer | Drawing or idea |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21 | Comparison bars: 50 minus 8 = 42, two equal bars |
| 2 | 21 feet | Units 1 + 2 + 3 = 6; one unit is 7 |
| 3 | 24 dollars | Four units, three left: three units are 18 |
| 4 | 14 | Comparison bars: 24 minus 4 = 20, two bars of 10 |
| 5 | 110 | Pair 2 with 20, 4 with 18: five pairs of 22 |
| 6 | 27 | 6 x 7 = 42, then 42 minus 15 |
| 7 | 3/4 | Cut each pizza into 4; each friend gets one piece from each |
| 8 | 81 square meters | Side 36 / 4 = 9 |
| 9 | 7 packs | 6 packs give 36, not enough; round up |
| 10 | 43 | Mother is 35 now and 8 years pass |
Problem 9 catches students who divide 40 by 6, get 6 and something, and stop at 6. Problem 10 catches anyone who multiplies 15 by 5; the age gap stays the same, it does not scale.
Problem 3 tempts students to take a quarter of 18. The bar shows that 18 is three quarters, not the whole.
After these, request Noetic’s free sample problems, or use the practice tests that come with the team registration, under contest timing.
In class we look at which type each missed problem was, and draw that type again with fresh numbers of our own.
Plans
Our plans for one live class a week, built around the published windows.
| Stretch | Dates | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Fall sprint | November 2 to 11, 2026 | Part-whole and comparison bars; one practice test |
| Fall contest | November 12 to 25, 2026 | The school sits it; At-Home takers wait for November 27 |
| Winter | December 2026 to February 2027 | Fractions of the rest, patterns, counting and geometry |
| Spring build | March 2027 | Mixed sets of 20 at contest pace, twice |
| Spring contest | April 1 to 15, 2027 | Compare the raw score with the fall result |
Bars for adding and comparing; reading carefully.
Times-as-many and fraction bars; multi-step problems.
Ratios, percent and early algebra, still drawn first.
Readiness
Our own description of how young problem solvers grow. It is not a Noetic Learning measure.
| Stage | What you notice |
|---|---|
| 1. Reads | Reads the whole problem before doing anything |
| 2. Draws | Sketches bars without being asked |
| 3. Checks | Puts the answer back into the story |
| 4. Explains | Tells you why a wrong answer is wrong |
At home, ask "can you draw it?" whenever your child is stuck on a word problem. It is the most useful question in elementary math.
Compare the fall and spring raw scores, but praise the drawings as much as the totals.
Before you calculate, look at your drawing and the words side by side. Do they match?
If you finish early, check the problems where the question asked for "how many more".
The catalogue
Live online classes taught by one consistent teacher, privately or in a batch.
NCP / ELM / 01
Grades 1 to 5, in depth.
Open the syllabusNCP / ELM / 02
Puzzles and logic.
Open the syllabusNCP / ELM / 03
Patterns and spatial play.
Open the syllabusNCP / MID / 01
MOEMS, MATHCOUNTS and more.
Open the syllabusNCP / MID / 02
Ratios to early algebra.
Open the syllabusNCP / MID / 03
From bars to equations.
Open the syllabusNCP / EXT / 01
Cleaner calculation.
Open the syllabusNCP / EXT / 02
Python and numbers.
Open the syllabusNCP / EXT / 03
Data and chance.
Open the syllabusHow lessons run
Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience, weekend mornings or weekdays.
Weekdays
Short sessions after school, any US time zone.
Weekends
Relaxed morning sessions.
1-on-1
At one child’s pace.
Bars before any arithmetic.
Every problem, every time.
Our own, at contest pace.
What clicked and what is next.
Live online in every state.
Fifteen to twenty, or one child.
Student work
When older students meet code, the same patterns return; browse the student labs page.
AI and ML
An AI nutrition coach that reads what you eat and works you toward a target.
AI and ML
A chatbot that answers mathematics and programming questions, built and deployed by a student.
AI and ML
An assistant that helps a young person recognise unsafe situations online.
Web app
A weather forecasting site with live conditions for any location.
Fees
Contest registration is handled with Noetic Learning by the team leader or parent; our fee covers classes only. Billing is monthly, so you can fit classes to the fall or spring contest.
Free first class
USD 0
no card required
Group batch
USD 100
a month, billed in US dollars
One to one
USD 150
a month, billed in US dollars
What families say
Parent reviews from Google, unedited.
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"Modern Age Coders has been a game-changer for me. I struggled to grasp IT concepts and coding before joining, but their classes transformed everything. I can now confidently write complex programs with ease."
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Student
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"One of the most wonderful education centres out there. Education is not limited to school syllabus but focuses on skill development."
Vansh Agarwal
Student
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"My child Dhairya is really enjoying the Modern Age Coders classes. This is his first online class and he eagerly looks forward to it. I can already see his improvement, and the teachers are very cooperative."
Sonam Oswal
Parent of Dhairya
★★★★★
"Modern Age Coders have wonderful teachers who teach in a clear, easy and practical way. The teacher boosts students' confidence and inspires them to learn without hesitation."
Sonu Goyal
Parent
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"I highly recommend this computer coding class! The teachers are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about coding."
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Parent
Questions from parents and teachers
It is a semiannual problem-solving competition for students in grades 2 to 8, run by Noetic Learning. Students solve 20 problems independently in 45 minutes, or 50 minutes online, and each grade has its own problems.
Noetic Learning lists the fall 2026 window as November 12 to 25, 2026, and the spring 2027 window as April 1 to 15, 2027. The team leader chooses the day within the window.
There are 20 problems, solved within 45 minutes on paper or 50 minutes online. By our arithmetic that is about 2 minutes 15 seconds per problem on paper.
A team has 30 or fewer students from the same grade and the same school, with no minimum. The team score is the sum of the top six scores.
National Honor Roll medals go to the top 10 percent of all participants in each grade. The top 50 percent receive a National Honorable Mention ribbon, and each team's highest scorer gets a Team Winner medal.
Yes, through the At-Home Edition, online, from November 27 to December 4, 2026 or April 16 to 23, 2027. Scores are not official and earn no medals, but students get a raw score and a national percentile.
Noetic Learning emails free sample problems on request and sells official past problems and solutions by grade. School teams also receive three practice tests with each registration.
No. Noetic says its documents may not be distributed outside the buyer's home or classroom, so we teach with problems we write ourselves and help students review official sets they own.
Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience, weekend mornings or weekdays.
No. Modern Age Coders is an independent online school with no link to Noetic Learning or the NLMC. Families and teachers register for the contest with Noetic Learning directly.
Elsewhere on this site
Other contests for these ages and math help grade by grade.
A spring contest open from grade 1.
The whole season of dates.
Word problems and early fractions.
Multi-step problems and multiplication.
Live help beside a puzzle-heavy curriculum.
For grade 6 to 8 Noetic students.
Part of the guide: US math and coding competitions guide
More guides: US state math tests by state · US gifted and selective school tests · US math placement and college readiness tests · Homeschool and school math curricula guide
Start here
Tell us your child’s grade and whether they are sitting the fall or spring contest. The teacher draws a couple of word problems with them as bars and tells you what to practice next.
To see what a lesson feels like, read how we teach, or explore every course.
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