Competitions · Mathematics · MATHCOUNTS
MATHCOUNTS, the US middle-school mathematics series.
A four-level knockout for students in grades 6 to 8, running since 1983 and reaching a national final that has been televised. Its questions are set with the involvement of professional engineers rather than academic mathematicians, which is why the style is applied and fast rather than abstract.
At a glance
What MATHCOUNTS is, and how a student moves through it.
MATHCOUNTS is a progression rather than a single paper: four levels, each selecting for the next, over a season that runs from August to May.
- Organiser
- The MATHCOUNTS Foundation. Its founding sponsors were the CNA Foundation, the National Society of Professional Engineers and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
- Running since
- 1983
- Who competes
- Students in grades 6 to 8
- Structure
- Four levels - school, chapter, state and national - each qualifying for the next, ending in one individual national champion and one winning state team
- Rounds
- Four at each level: Sprint, Target, Team and Countdown
- Style
- Questions are set with professional engineers involved, so they lean applied and reward speed. This is the clearest difference from AMC, which is set by academic mathematicians
- Entry route
- Through a school, whose coach registers a squad. Students without a participating school register as non-school competitors and compete as individuals
- Squad size
- A school may send up to 14 competitors to the chapter round: four who sit both the team and individual rounds, and ten more who sit the individual rounds only
- Scale
- Around 250,000 middle-school students work through MATHCOUNTS material each year and roughly 100,000 compete
- Season
- Registration opens in August, chapter competitions run in February, state in March and the national final in May
The rounds
Four rounds testing four different things.
The calculator rule is the quickest way to read what each round is for: where it is banned, the round is about arithmetic fluency and speed.
Sprint Round
Individual and written: thirty questions in forty minutes, one mark each, with no calculator. Eighty seconds a question makes this a test of accuracy at speed, and it is where a well-drilled student separates from a merely capable one.
Target Round
Individual and written, worked in four pairs of questions with six minutes for each pair, calculator permitted. Removing the arithmetic burden shifts the test onto reasoning: these are longer, multi-step problems rather than quick ones.
Team Round
Four students, ten questions, twenty minutes, calculator permitted. Two minutes a question across a squad means the round is decided by how the work is divided quite as much as by whether the mathematics is known.
Countdown Round
Head-to-head on a buzzer with forty-five seconds a question and no calculator. Either side may buzz at any point, and a wrong answer hands the remaining time to the opponent - which makes judging when to commit part of the skill.
The four levels
How the field narrows from a classroom to 224 finalists.
Each level selects for the next. The funding at national level is worth noting: qualifying students do not pay to attend.
| Level | How it works | When |
|---|---|---|
| School | Schools and non-school groups register in the autumn and coaches prepare students with MATHCOUNTS material. From November, coaches run a school competition, formally or informally, to select who goes to the chapter round. | August to January |
| Chapter | Around 500 chapter competitions are held across the United States. A school may enter up to 14 students; non-school competitors take part as individuals. | February |
| State | Students who place at chapter level advance, including non-school competitors qualifying individually. Every state and territory holds one, and there is no additional entry fee at this level. | March |
| National | The top four from each state and the District of Columbia are fully funded to attend. Those 224 students form four-person state teams and also compete individually for the national title. | May |
The most recently published cycle ran chapter competitions from 1 to 28 February 2026, state competitions from 1 to 31 March 2026, and the national final in Orlando, Florida on 10 and 11 May 2026. The pattern repeats annually; confirm the current season with the organiser.
Season rhythm
The dates that decide whether a school can take part.
Almost everything that can go wrong with a MATHCOUNTS season goes wrong in the autumn, because registration closes months before anyone competes.
Registration and materials open
Coaches register and receive the preparation resources for the year.
Early-bird registration closes
Coach resources are released and registration opens for non-school competitors.
Regular registration closes
The last general opportunity to enter the season at all.
Competitor details confirmed
Coaches submit which students are competing and in which rounds.
Chapter competitions
Roughly 500 of them, held across the United States.
State, then the national final
State rounds through March; the national final over two days in May.
Math Club
The year-round programme alongside the competition.
Not every school wants a competition squad. The club programme is the other half of MATHCOUNTS, and it is recognised and rewarded separately.
Silver level
For clubs holding at least five activities in the programme year. Silver clubs are recognised on the MATHCOUNTS website and receive a banner, pencils and certificates, with entry to a prize draw of US$100 across twenty winners.
Gold level
For Silver clubs that complete a creative, collaborative Gold project. Gold clubs are recognised on the website and receive a banner, pencils and certificates, plus entry to a draw of US$200 across five winners.
Gold Honor Roll
Volunteers from the sponsoring organisations select nine outstanding Gold projects for the Honor Roll. Those clubs receive US$250, certificates and specific recognition on the MATHCOUNTS website.
Preparation
How Hanlin prepares students for MATHCOUNTS.
MATHCOUNTS rewards a different set of habits from AMC, and students who arrive from AMC preparation usually need the difference explained before they train for it.
Speed as a trained skill
Eighty seconds a question in Sprint, and forty-five in Countdown, mean mental arithmetic and pattern recognition have to be automatic. This is drilled deliberately, because it does not arrive as a by-product of harder mathematics.
Applied phrasing
The engineering influence shows in how questions are worded: quantities, rates and real situations rather than abstract statements. Students practise turning that phrasing into equations quickly, which is where the time is usually lost.
Rehearsing the team round
Twenty minutes for ten questions across four students is a logistics problem as much as a mathematical one. Squads practise splitting the paper, checking each other and deciding fast when to leave a question alone.
Buzzer practice for Countdown
Countdown is the round students find hardest to prepare for alone, because the judgement it tests is when to commit. It is trained head-to-head, under the real forty-five-second rule, or it is not trained at all.
Why Hanlin
Preparation for MATHCOUNTS at Hanlin is taught by full-time subject tutors, on a course tier chosen by placement paper rather than by year group.
Programme formats
Five ways this is taught.
Group size is the whole difference between these. It decides how much of the tutor's attention a student gets and how far the course can bend to them, so it is worth choosing rather than accepting.
| Format | Group size | What it suits |
|---|---|---|
| One-to-one | One student | Content, pace and emphasis set by what this student actually needs rather than by a syllabus. The only format that can be rebuilt mid-course. |
| Small group | Three to eight | Opens at three. Frequent discussion, and the tutor can slow down or move on according to what the group has absorbed. Most students chasing a higher award are taught in this one. |
| Class | Eight to twelve | Taught by the subject lead or a medal coach. Less back-and-forth, so it suits a student who will say when something is unclear. |
| Large class | Ten to twenty | For students in the middle of the placement range, and a way to try a competition before committing. Students often move to a small group or to one-to-one afterwards. |
| Past-paper class | No cap | Past papers worked through in sequence in the weeks before the sitting. Free to students already enrolled. |
Course length for MATHCOUNTS is set after a placement paper. The gap between where a student is and what the paper asks for is what the course has to close, and that gap is not the same for two students in the same year group.
How it runs
Six steps, four people on your side.
The same process for every student, so that nothing depends on one tutor remembering to do it.
Step 1Pre-course assessment
A placement paper before anything is booked, so the course tier is chosen on evidence rather than on a year group.
Step 2Tutor matching
A subject tutor is matched to the result, and their full background is provided before you agree to it.
Step 3Plan and group
A study group opens with four people on one student: the tutor, a planner, a supervisor and an academic manager.
Step 4Scheduled teaching
The teaching office sets the timetable around the competition date and school term, and teaching begins.
Step 5After-class reports
What was covered, and how the student handled it, reported after every lesson.
Step 6Homework follow-up
The teaching assistant and the form teacher both check that homework is done, which is where most preparation quietly fails.
Free resource pack
Past papers and preparation pack
The same material our own MATHCOUNTS students work from. Scan the code, say what you need, and an advisor sends it.
Tell an advisor which competition and year group, and the material comes back the same day. Free, and you do not have to enrol in anything. If we do not already hold what you need, we will go and find it.
- PDFPast papers, every year the organiser has released
- PDFWorked solutions, where the organiser publishes them
- PDFThe syllabus on one page - every topic, and how heavily it is examined
- PDFEntry checklist and the dates for the current cycle
Teaching team
Who would teach it.
Three of the twenty-two tutors on the published Hanlin roster - the ones whose subject this is.
Dr Zhang
PhD in theoretical mathematics from the University of Rochester and a postdoctoral fellow at the Shanghai Center for Mathematical Sciences at Fudan. An AMC-accredited coach, ASDAN-accredited for DMM and ITCCC, and an accredited UKMT BMO2 and PUMaC coach. His students have gone on to read mathematics and physics at Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Caltech and Cambridge.
Dr Zhuang
PhD in mathematics from the University of Denver, working in mathematical logic, after a first degree in applied mathematics at Southeast University. A repeat conference speaker on his research, with three years lecturing and assisting on undergraduate mathematics at Denver.
He
A Cambridge master's after a computer science degree with a mathematics minor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a US high school GPA of 4.13. Six years overseas and teaches entirely in English, across AMC, Math League, AP Computer Science and AP Calculus.
Where it is taught
Hanlin learning centres.
Teaching runs from Hanlin's own centres in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hangzhou, and online for students elsewhere.
Talk to an advisor
Everything Hanlin does for MATHCOUNTS, in one conversation.
Entry, planning, coaching and the past papers. An advisor will tell you which of these a student actually needs, including when the answer is none of them.
Competition entry and planning
Which competitions suit this student, in what order, and by when - then we handle the registration, including the ones that can only be entered through a school or a centre.
Competition coaching
Taught by full-time subject tutors, on a course tier chosen by placement paper rather than by year group.
International curriculum tutoring
IB, AP, A-Level, IGCSE and the US high school curriculum, taught alongside school and timed around the exam calendar.
Competition past papers, free
A large library of past papers, mark schemes and syllabus breakdowns across every competition on this site. No charge and no enrolment.
Scan to add an advisor
Say which competition or course you are asking about. Replies in Chinese or English.
Or call +86 21 6352 6630FAQ
MATHCOUNTS, briefly answered.
What students and families ask before entering a season.
Who is eligible for MATHCOUNTS?
Students in grades 6 to 8. It is a United States national programme, entered through a participating school whose coach registers a squad, or as a non-school competitor for students without one.
How is MATHCOUNTS different from AMC 8?
Style and structure. MATHCOUNTS questions are set with professional engineers involved and lean applied and fast; AMC 8 is a single written paper set by academic mathematicians. MATHCOUNTS also runs as a four-level knockout with team and buzzer rounds, which AMC has no equivalent of.
What are the four rounds?
Sprint - thirty questions in forty minutes, individual, no calculator. Target - four pairs of questions, six minutes a pair, calculator allowed. Team - four students, ten questions, twenty minutes, calculator allowed. Countdown - head-to-head on a buzzer, forty-five seconds a question, no calculator.
How many students can a school enter?
Up to 14 at chapter level: four who sit both the team and individual rounds, and up to ten more who sit the individual rounds only.
Is there a cost to advance?
Students who qualify for the state round pay no additional entry fee. Those who reach the national final - the top four from each state and the District of Columbia - are fully funded to attend.
When does the season run?
Registration opens in mid-August and closes in mid-December. Chapter competitions run through February, state competitions through March, and the national final over two days in May.
What is the Math Club programme?
A year-round alternative to the competition track. Clubs holding at least five activities reach Silver level; those completing a creative collaborative project reach Gold; and nine outstanding Gold projects are selected each year for the Gold Honor Roll, which carries a US$250 award.
How large is the field?
Around 250,000 middle-school students work through MATHCOUNTS material in a given year and roughly 100,000 compete. The national final is held over two days and has been broadcast on television.
Related
Other competitions at this age.
What students in grades 6 to 8 usually enter alongside or after MATHCOUNTS.
MATHCOUNTS enquiries
The season is decided in August, not in February.
Registration closes months before the first competition, so the useful conversation happens early. Tell us the student’s year group and whether their school takes part, and an advisor will map the route and the preparation against the season.