Math Kangaroo

Math Kangaroo has its roots in a popular math competition started in Australia in the 1980s The idea was borrowed and re-envisioned in France in 1991 where the competition was named “Kangourou Sans Frontiéres” (Kangaroo Without Borders), in a nod to its Australian origins. The contest came to the US in 1998 via a private academy in Chicago. Several years later, the US competition had grown, and early organizers founded Math Kangaroo in USA, a not-for-profit charity organization. Today, more than 6 million students from 76 countries take the annual test. Representatives from around the world work together to select the problems for the international Math Kangaroo tests.

Math Kangaroo is administered on the 3rd Thursday in March each year. The Compass testing site offers three sittings: 10:00am, 1:00pm, and 4:30pm at its location in Herndon.

From the Math Kangaroo site, “All students grades 1-12 qualify for participation in Math Kangaroo if they are able to work independently, read, and answer a multiple choice test.” Students do not have to be enrolled or affiliated with Compass or homeschooled in order to take the Math Kangaroo test at the Compass site. As a public testing site for Math Kangaroo, Compass welcomes students from public, private, or parochial schools, virtual academies, hybrid schools, and homeschooling.

Students should register for the Math Kangaroo level that corresponds to their grade in school, by age, without grade-skipping or acceleration. A 15 year-old taking Precalculus in school should the 10th grade-corresponding Level 10 exam. Math problems included on the Math Kangaroo exam cover a range of applied math skills such as spatial relationships, patterns, logic/reasoning, puzzles, and other math challenges. Calculators are not allowed.

The Math Kangaroo test is 75 minutes long, regardless of level. Students in grades 1-4 receive 24 questions, and those in grades 5-12 have 30 questions. For scoring, 1/3 of questions are 3 points each, 1/3 are 4 points each, and 1/3 are 5 points each. The sum of earned points is the student’s result. The maximum possible score is 96 points for levels 1-4 or 120 points for levels 5-12.

All students receive a t-shirt, certificate, and small gift. Top-scoring students in the national pool receive medals by grade level. For example, if the highest score in Level 6 was 117 points, all 6th grade students earning 117 points would earn a gold medal. All students earning the next highest score, say 116 points, would earn a silver medal, and those earning the 3rd highest score would earn a bronze medal. Students who earn the three highest scores in their state are placed on a State Winners list and receive blue, red, and white ribbons. The national and state winners are awarded with the Certificates of Ranking and gifts such as books, games, gift cards, toys, college grants and mathematical summer camps. All t-shirts and small gifts are awarded the day of the test. Medals, ribbons, and advanced prizes are distributed through Compass.

Registrations are handled through the Math Kangaroo site. Look for the option to “Register for an In-Person Center (Public)”.

Registration fees are collected by Math Kangaroo. The cost is $21.00 per student for regular, on-time registration (through December 15) or $35.00 for late registration (December 16-31). Financial assistance may be available through Math Kangaroo. Compass receives no financial benefit from hosting MK.

The Math Kangaroo website includes many sample questions and practice resources.