Junior maths challenge 2025

[scisso]

Does anyone know when the results and boundaries get announced? How was this year’s paper in comparison to previous years?

DD sat it and thought some of them were quite hard so had to guess them, but she hasn’t done much of the past papers so doesn’t have much to compare against.

any insights would be very much appreciated.

It just seems crazy. There are maths exams already. When my DS came home with the paper yesterday and said he and a couple of others in his class had been asked to do it I looked it up. The point seems to be to test for natural ability instead of testing curriculum but if a considerable number of the pupils taking it have been prepped, it will prevent the challenge from finding the natural ability it exists to find.

FYI, my DD attends a selective all-through independent school in London, yet the school provides zero preparation for the JMC. They don’t even offer past papers for familiarisation, instead choosing to ‘secretly’ enter top-set girls into the exam on the spot.
It is her parent—aka me—who has had to take it upon myself to research all the UKMT-related information. In my view, the point of the UKMT challenges isn't just to identify raw, 'natural talent.' The belief that high-level maths requires being a genius who can ace maths Olympiads easily without training is a myth that needs to be debunked. The true purpose should be to encourage able maths students and enhance their mathematical reasoning through preparation. A JMC/IMC/SMC medal is not a GCSE/A-level grade; it offers very little tangible benefit for school admissions. The real value lies in the process—using the challenge as a tool to build problem-solving skills and a deeper love for mathematics. My DD always finds competition maths problems much more fun. It is the everyday school maths that is technically closer to the definition of 'intenstively tutored'—characterized by daily, repetitive, and monotonous drills.

It's not so much to test natural ability as much as it is to extend maths into areas that are not covered my the maths curriculum. It's a challenge not a test.

Some kids enjoy the challenge so let them crack on!

I believe I am the only parent at my DD's school who prepared for the JMC. In fact, I suspect half of the parents in the UK who actually prepared their children for JMC are in this MN thread!

It won't - my autistic DS was never prepped for olympiads but always got top marks, just because of the natural way autistic brain works.

As PP said, olympiads are not about advanced theoretical knowledge, it's more about mathematical creativity. You have to be a born mathmo to think that way and do really well at olympiads though ofc tutoring can improve results up to a certain point.

That's good to hear that most are also sitting it blind. If everybody was doing this it would make it senseless. I get that it isn't a traditional test but if it were just for the love of maths the children would just do maths questions at home or at school instead of taking them in a challenge against others. Also, if everyone were prepping, children who were sitting it blind would be at a distinct disadvantage. If only a few competitive types are prepping then it won't ruin it for naturally mathematically minded children.

I think most are sitting it blind. Kids may get a notification from the teacher the wk or so before that the test is coming up to say it's happening and a few of those may look at past papers. In some schools kids volunteer to take it or not, in some it's top set only, etc.

I learnt about it all when my DD came home this time last yr and told me she'd scored 130, then I started looking to see what it was all about.

I have read around wider and it seems some of the top boys schools specifically prep for it. Some have a dozen or more Olympiads every year in their cohort, kinda not surprising with the smartest kids and the practice.

Overall I think most kids wont be at a disadvantage through others prepping. At the top level and maybe Olympiad kids or those trying to go from Kangaroo to Olympiad prep happens, but for the rest there is little evidence anyone pays it much attention. I believe its still a strong test of natural ability and creativity over theory and all the prep in the world isn't going to make much difference.

What I do like about the UKMT exams is it's evidence of extra curricular stretch and is the main externally independently marked set of exams pre GCSE.

@swdd what's all this secrecy angle at the school? Aren't the kids who the school enters not forewarned to give them maybe a chance to prep a bit? At a London independent I'd expect them to be very able at Kangaroo level perhaps.

For what it's worth (bog standard rural state secondary school) we got a heads up the night before on school-home messaging app, with a link to the UKMT website. My DS took a look on the bus on the way into school so he had a vague idea of what it was all about. All very low key by the school and no prepping here!

I think my DD's school ethos doesn’t encourage competition, but promotes inclusivity instead. The JMC is extremely challenging for Year 5 students, so the school only allows the top set to take part. I believe this is the right decision, as it would be of no benefit to non-top set students and would only intimidate them. If the school made a big fuss about the JMC preparation just for the top set, those who don’t get to participate, together with their fee-paying parents, would feel it unfair. That’s why I think the school keeps it all very low-key.

In senior school, I know all Year 7 students take part, and they have a teacher-led club specifically for anyone who is interested.

@swdd That makes sense. It is early to have kids setted for maths in Yr5 too.

I must post again about parallel who have been doing free webinars for JMC prep. Bit unhelpful to only mention this now perhaps.
High quality free weekly problem, free math presenter led online circles and now a structured academy stream (low cost/free after exam to join) small group tutorials. Honestly the best free math resource out there for math strong.

https://parallel.org.uk/

DS (y8) agreed JMC "a bit harder" this year
For context he got to Kangaroo both in y6 & y7 but always makes a mistake or two on easier questions. 123 last year and was gutted not to get Olympiad because of insanely rising boundary in recent years.
He sat IMC for a try in Feb (hardest paper for 12+ years, oops) and got to Grey Kangaroo and then a silver
TBH I was hoping for harder JMC paper for him.
Not sure it was as big a relative difficulty increase as IMC, but parallel work has improved him no end.

Never underestimate pushy MC parents and indy schools thirst to coach their pupils/ 'add value' so I'd be very surprised if JMC Olympiad boundary drops below 115 this year

In DS state school the y7 & y8 top set math class sit JMC in maths lesson with a relaxed email out to parents a week or so before which helpfully mentioned the free parallel webinars.
Some friends looked at a past paper over weekend and found Wednesday quite tough whereas DS's Easter homework for parallel academy was a JMC and a Junior Kangaroo past paper.
While you dont need any extra topic* there's no exam in the world that is not improved on viewing a past paper or two

• The mathematicians who set it cannot help themselves however and basic but solid number theory like knowing prime factors I very helpful

Interesting. I notice some other parents on this thread, whose DC have previously qualified for the JMO, sat the IMC and achieved gold in the grey kangaroo or a merit in the Cayley Olympiad, think this JMC was significantly more than "a bit" harder than your @Statistico DS feels.

I agree Parallel is great and my DD used to be a regular user, but she has been so into chess recently that she watches it unfrequently now. I have unlocked levels 1 to 6 for her; since the content is often mixed, she frequently comes across harder questions. Nrich is another brilliant resource, but with so many interests, she simply doesn’t have enough time to do everything.
https://nrich.maths.org/students/secondary

Now that the paper and solutions are out, we can discuss more freely.

This paper takes substantially longer to complete than most of the other recent ones. Children at the top end who were already time pressured will probably have addressed 4-5 fewer questions than in the last two papers.

The first couple of "gimme" problems were no more difficult but were more tedious (took longer to do) than in recent papers.

Question 6 felt out of place. Problems involving combinatorics (listing all possibilities) rarely appeared before Question 16 in past papers.

Similarly with Question 7. Problems involving number theory (primes, parity), were rarely before Question 16 and usually after Question 21. Same with Question 11, although I thought Question 11 would have been easier than Question 7 for most children.

That said, none of the individual problems were more difficult than any that had appeared in other recent papers. It's just that there were more of the more difficult ones than in other recent papers, e.g., Question 21 could have been a Question 24 or 25.

My guess is that the Gold boundary will be around 75, Kangaroo around 85, and the JMO qualifying score will be around 105.

@swdd @Statistico

I'll try and add a bit more context for you. First of all I think it is difficult to some degree for those like my and Statistico's DD to perhaps call it right. In taking the IMC too in year 8, always knowing whatever the JMC was like this year is going to be easier than that exam, and conditioned to tacking harder questions.

My DD pre IMC took past papers at home under exam conditions, of course these were the prevailing difficulty at the time (subsequently blown out of the water in the 2026 IMC)

I've just looked back at my notes from the time to see how she did.

2021 IMC paper, attempted 22 all correct, score 117.
2023 IMC paper, attempted 23, 1 incorrect, score 118
2024 IMC paper, attempted 22, 2 incorrect, score 105
2025 IMC paper, attempted 23 all correct, score 123.

My DD may do better at home because she hasnt got the distractions of class. But still from what she tells me from this wks JMC I don't believe she'll score 117+, something she's obviously done above in 3-4 mock IMC exams.

So I'd conclude that the JMC this yr wasn't slightly more difficult than 2025 but a fair bit more difficult. It seems about similar difficulty to the last few years IMC's.

Anecdotally my DD spoke to a 2 top set girls yday, they both said they answered 10-12 and then all but gave up and started drawing. For the remaining questions one said she chose the answers "she felt most spiritually connected to" LOL.

As for 2 girls who were 2025 JMC Kangaroos they both guessed 7 so it seems very unlikely they'll be scoring the 100+ they did lasy year.

@user149799568

I just posted, looked to see if anything else was on the forum and i saw your post including this.

"Kangaroo around 85, and the JMO qualifying score will be around 105."

I think this prediction is spot on myself.

Glad to have stumbled upon Theos, I know DS did the JMC for the first time this year, I didn’t realise it was a big deal!
No idea how he did. The whole top set did it, I don’t think they prepared at all though.

The 2026 JMC paper and solution are available now on UKMT website！
https://ukmt.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/JMCPaper2026.pdf

https://ukmt.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/JMC2026__Solutions_and_Investigations__web_version_.pdf

Having looked at both the IMC and JMC 2026 papers, I’ve concluded that the JMC is actually harder! Your DD were right that after Question 6, almost all the questions stay at a similar difficulty level. The progression is quite strange: Question 23 is straightforward school-level algebra, whereas Question 7 is much more competition-style in nature.

@swdd What I'm seeing and hearing I don't believe that is the case.

The IMC this yr was universally brutal by the accounts of the top candidates but like i say in a different way to the JMC. The IMC seemed as normal till about Q16 and then ramped up horribly, in the JMC it seemed to be from Q6 but less markedly but of course more difficult. If I had to conclude anything it's that there is a chance some questions 6-15 of the JMC could have been more difficult than the same number ones in the IMC.

That said I just go off what I hear from my DD and read, I do know from this time last year @user149799568 is very good and on top of gauging the difficulty of the questions. I'll stick by what I alluded to earlier. The JMC this year seems closer to say 2023-2025 IMC's rather than previous years JMC's and this years IMC. If @user149799568 has the time available I'd appreciate if they could look at one of the 2023-2025 IMC papers and see how they think it compares to this years JMC.

If I had to conclude anything it's that there is a chance some questions 6-15 of the JMC could have been more difficult than the same number ones in the IMC. @Jonny234
That was my point: because of 6-15 hard questions, the resulting time-consuming and stress leaves students without enough time to properly address simpler problems, such as q23, which then appear difficult from a performance standpoint. I also agree that, given sufficient time for both, a student's IMC score would be lower than their JMC score.
For a student who has been through JMO and can easily handle the IMC, time pressure isn't a major issue. However, for my DD, who is younger and currently performing between the Kangaroo and JMO levels, the time constraint is a real challenge.

You were quoting me and not @Statistico

FYI. I looked into the IMC a lot post exam before the results arrived and you had 2 conflicting stories/ accounts. The first was a lot of people saying it was about the same as last year, and then a few saying it was brutal and nothing like they'd experienced before. On balance you'd think the majority was correct.

In actual fact both were correct. The gap was all in the nuance.

The majority (gold and below) who might answer the first 15 and then have a stab at a pick of the last few saw no discernable difference to past papers.

It was only the top performers, perhaps expecting to answer 23 or so actually felt how bad the last 8 or so were.

I agree with your theory. For example, some students in her class finished very early and left to play, so of course, they wouldn't appreciate the difficulty, though they definitely won't get a medal either. In fact, unless someone has prepared and has high expectations for themselves, they probably wouldn't even notice the difference in difficulty from past papers.

Actually I really like the general difficulty level of the JMC this year and believe it is good for stretching able students. However, I dislike the difficulty relative to the time constraints, as well as the way questions are organized and the unnecessary attempts to confuse participants. Take Question 20, for example: "In Kush’s Cake Shop, there are chocolate cakes, cherry cakes, cream cakes, and coffee cakes..." The problem itself is not that difficult, but it seems to create needless confusion by using highly similar and easily mistaken names. This also happens in the earlier, easier questions. Is it harder than the IMC? Of course not. But it is certainly more frustrating—even just looking at it gives me a headache.

Now that the paper and solutions are out, we can discuss more freely.
@user149799568

Somehow I missed your post.

This paper takes substantially longer to complete than most of the other recent ones. Children at the top end who were already time pressured will probably have addressed 4-5 fewer questions than in the last two papers.

Yes. My DD left 6 unanswered.

The first couple of "gimme" problems were no more difficult but were more tedious (took longer to do) than in recent papers.

And that is very time-consuming, which will affect their ability to handle the subsequent problems.

Question 6 felt out of place. Problems involving combinatorics (listing all possibilities) rarely appeared before Question 16 in past papers.
Similarly with Question 7. Problems involving number theory (primes, parity), were rarely before Question 16 and usually after Question 21. Same with Question 11, although I thought Question 11 would have been easier than Question 7 for most children.
Parity appears twice, in Q7 and Q11, while calculating the overlap appears three times: in Q14, Q23, and Q24. It isn't ideal for the same theme to appear more than once in a single paper.

That said, none of the individual problems were more difficult than any that had appeared in other recent papers.It's just that there were more of the more difficult ones than in other recent papers, e.g., Question 21 could have been a Question 24 or 25.
I agree. I believe my DD could solve most of them if given a reasonable amount of time. It is the way the paper is organized that lowers actual performance. It is supposed to be 15 easy questions followed by 10 hard ones, but now, 10 of those "easy" questions have become hard ones. Next time I would recommend reducing the total number of questions to 20—perhaps 5 easy and 15 hard ones.

My guess is that the Gold boundary will be around 75, Kangaroo around 85, and the JMO qualifying score will be around 105.
My estimate is probably 10 points less than your estimate.

The difficulty increasing is a good thing. Many on here last yr who had very able kids fell foul of one question having slightly ambiguous wording and fell below a threshold. I'd be annoyed if that happened to my DD.

This year is a lot better, however as I suspected all along (and discussed with my DD) it was more difficult than previous years and this will have come as a surprise for many candidates.

It was certainly a “challenge” this year. However, for it to be a meaningful challenge, any student at a Gold level or above (the top 10%) should ideally have enough time to at least address every question. What is the point of a beautiful, challenging problem if most students never have the time to think it through?
Sixty minutes for 25 questions is quite short, especially compared to the two hours allowed for only six problems in the JMO. Of course, in the JMO you have to show your full working, but even in the JMC, you still need time to work the solutions out. On the other hand, including too many easy, school-level questions defeats the purpose of the competition.
That is why I believe a 20-question format—consisting of 5 easy and 15 hard questions—would be ideal. This would give most students some initial confidence while differentiating the top performers based on their ability to solve hard problems, rather than their ability to beat the clock.