The Canadian Innovation Math Contest - 2024, popularly known as CIMC-2024, is an initiative by Competitive Kids STEM to provide students across the globe with an opportunity to showcase their talent and develop their skills. The contest is designed to challenge and promote problem-solving, critical thinking, reasoning, and abstract or spatial thinking for the students.

Learning mathematics through problem-solving activities is the most efficient way for students to develop mathematical skills that will prepare them for future challenges. This contest is designed to challenge and promote problem-solving, critical thinking, reasoning, and abstract or spatial thinking for the students. Learning mathematics through problem-solving activities is the most efficient way for students to develop mathematical skills that will prepare them for the future.

• Contest Duration: 75 Minutes
• Eligibility: Grades 2-10 (Grade 1 Students, if interested, may write the Grade 2 contest.)
• Contest Dates:
• School Proctored: April 22 - May 3, 2024
• Individual Student: Unproctored, May 4 - May 8, 2024

• Format: Online
• Proctoring: Proctored by teachers. The same grade contest in a school must be conducted on the same day and preferably at the same time for all students. Teachers may split students into reasonable batches if a school grade has many students. However, the contest for all students should be done on the same day
• Contest Levels - Nine levels, Grades 2-10, each level is specific to a grade.
• Contest Duration - 75 Minutes
• Calculators - No one should use a calculator in this contest.
• Contest Format (one unified test):
• Part A - Mental Math (100 points): 15-25 questions focused on "Practical Mental Math." Students may use our online drills to practice questions in this section to improve their accuracy and speed.
• Part B - Problem-Solving (100 points): 15-25 questions as per the syllabus for the appropriate grade level. The last few problems will require a deeper understanding of the topics.
• Logistics: The test will be taken online. Once you start the test, you will have the time specified above to complete it.
• Practice tests are also available before the competition for further preparation.

The curriculum is generally based on a school grade-level curriculum emphasizing problem-solving. As this is a contest, you can expect a few questions from higher grades to check student's understanding of advanced concepts.

GRADES 2-4

• Routine and non-routine concepts, including patterns, arithmetic, elementary geometry, introductory counting techniques, word problems, divisibility tests, spatial visualization, logic problems and simple cryptarithms

GRADES 5-6

• Routine and non-routine concepts, including patterns, arithmetic, introductory algebra, elementary geometry, introductory counting techniques, introductory number theory, word problems, divisibility tests, spatial visualization, logic problems and simple cryptarithms

GRADES 7-8

• Routine and non-routine concepts, including patterns, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, introductory coordinate geometry, number theory, introductory combinatorics, word problems, divisibility tests, spatial visualization, logic problems and cryptarithms

Grade 9-10

• Arithmetic and high school algebra, including functions, Geometry of triangles, quadrilaterals, and circles, Counting and Probability, Number Theory, Non-routine problem-solving

Per our "Learn, Complete, and Win" philosophy, we offer free practice content to all students. This content aligns well with the Canadian curriculum. Although practicing these questions is not mandatory, it provides an additional enrichment opportunity for the students.

The content focuses on "Practical Mental Math." The main objective is to help students apply theoretical math concepts in practical situations. All the questions will have detailed solutions for validation. The following topics are included:

• Addition & Subtraction Rules (Grades 2+)
• Multiplication Rules (Grades 2+)
• Gaps and Intervals (Grades 2+)
• Sequence & Series (Grades 2+)
• Counting (Grades 2+)
• Odd and Even Numbers (Grades 2+)
• Ordinal Numbers (Grades 2+)
• Division & Remainders (Grades 3+)
• Consecutive Numbers (Grades 3+)
• Square Numbers (Grades 3+)
• Divisibility Rules (Grades 3+)
• Averages (Grades 3+)
• Unit digits (Grades 3+)
• Difference of Squares (Grades 3+)
• Integers (Grades 5+)
• Percentage (Grades 5+)
• Ratios (Grades 5+)
• Factoring(Grades 5+)
• Absolute Value (Grades 5+)
• Exponents (Grades 5+)

Sample Practice Questions

• In a lucky draw, winners will get the money equal to the number written on a token they pick from a jar. This jar has tokens with the first 16 odd numbers written on them. What is the total money that all winners will get? The difficulty level will be adjusted by changing the numbers as well.
• To celebrate the first birthday of "CK Robo," CKSTEM plans to release a comic book to showcase his first year on planet Earth. You are requested to write the third chapter of this book. This chapter starts on page number 32 and ends on page number 52. How many pages in this book are you required to write?
• Canada Post deployed robots to deliver letters in Canada's capital city, Ottawa. The east side of the town has negative integers as house numbers, while the West side has positive integers as house numbers. Parliament House, also known as the House of Commons, is assigned a very special number, i.e. 0. One Robot delivered letters to all houses numbered from −28 to 24 in increasing order, including Parliament House. How many houses did this robot visit?

• Gold Awards: Top 1% of students for each contest level. The award includes a customized medal & e-certificate.
• Silver Awards: Top 2-3% of students for each contest level. The award includes a customized medal & e-certificate.
• Bronze Awards: Top 4-6% of students for each contest level. The award includes a customized medal & e-certificate.
• Honors Award: up to the top 10% of students in each participating school based on the minimum cut-off. It includes a customized medal & e-certificate. Individual participants will also be eligible for this award.
• Certificate of participation: Given to all participants​.

* Due to resource constraints, only personalized e-certificates will be sent to students and teachers outside Canada. We intend to provide everyone with the opportunity to participate and gain experience.

Please use the school grade you attended/will attend in January 2024 as your contest grade. You will be disqualified if you use the wrong contest grade.

• If you are a school staff interested in participating, contact us at info@ckstem.org. We will get you started within a week.
• If you are an individual participant, you can enroll here. You must create the first if you don't have an account at our contest portal already. You can find instructions to create your account account at https://www.competitivekids.org/blog/registration.

You can download the Canadian Innovation Contests (CIC) brochure from here.

You can download the Canadian Innovation Math Contest (CIMC) 2023 sample practice questions from here.

You can find the latest news, tools, and tops about CIMC here.