CJMC 2024
Overview
Canada Jay Mathematical Competition (CJMC) is a Canadian math competition open to students in grades K-8. This competition has been created by mathematicians from across Canada. It was renamed in 2022 from the original name Canadian Mathematical Gray Jay Competition (CMGC) to match the renaming of the Canada Jay bird.
The CJMC is 90 minutes long, consisting of 15 multiple-choice questions based on the grades 5-8 curriculum.
The problems are meant to be a fun fall activity for students and teachers to complement their math curriculum and build students’ problem solving skills. The CJMC offers engaging problems that allow for discussion after the competition and get students excited about math. The competition has 15 questions which take place over 90 minutes. It consists of 3 blocks of 5 questions with an increasing level of difficulty from beginning to end.
Want to know more about our namesake, the Canada Jay (bird)?
About the Canada Jay (bird)
In North America, official scientific, English, and French bird names are adjudicated by a dedicated committee of what is now known as the American Ornithological Society or “AOS” (and before 2016 as the American Ornithologists’ Union or “AOU”). “Canada Jay,” restored as the official English name in 2018, goes back to at least the early 1800s. In fact, by using “Gray Jay’ in its 1957 checklist, the AOU needlessly violated one of its own stated naming principles, namely that “traditional vernacular names should be retained whenever possible.” When a group of mostly Canadian ornithologists pointed out this error in late 2017 and proposed that “Canada Jay” be restored as the official name, the AOS graciously agreed and formally announced the restoration, a few months later, in July 2018.
– Dan Strickland, world expert on the Canada Jay
On November 16, 2016, at their College of Fellows Annual Dinner in the Canadian War Museum, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS) stunned many Canadians (and some folks elsewhere in the world, too!) by choosing the third-place Canada Jay over the first-place Common Loon as their candidate to be Canada’s national bird. But you could not find a more Canadian bird. First, as a member of the corvid family (crows, ravens, magpies and jays), it is one of the smartest birds on the planet. Its brain-to-body ratio is equivalent to that of the chimpanzee and dolphin and nearly rivals that of the human. Second, the Canada Jay is extremely tough and hardy. By not leaving the country in winter, it has adapted itself to not only surviving our harsh Canadian winters but breeding then as well. This bird is known to incubate its eggs at -30 Celsius! Third, Canada Jays are extremely friendly, readily coming down to perch on open hands, even without food, and on ski poles, cameras and spotting scopes, without any training whatsoever. Fourth, unlike many songbirds in the world, Canada Jays are not promiscuous and the mates do not cheat on each other. The pair remains together year-round, often flying together everywhere and even perching side by side, touching each other. So, we’ve got “smart,” “hardy,” “friendly” and “loyal.” What better way to describe the typical Canadian, eh?
– David M. Bird, Emeritus Professor of Wildlife Biology, McGill University, and Leader of Team Canada Jay
Date
This year’s CJMC competition will take place on Thursday, November 21st in Canada and the Americas (anywhere in North/South American time zones), and on Friday, November 22nd elsewhere in the world.
Registration
* Last day for registrations is November 15th.
Participating Schools & Organizations
Normally, all registration is done by teachers or school staff.
Prior to 2023, we had an older system. It’s still online so schools wanting to access their historical information still can.
- The new Portal system doesn’t have the old years’ data on it, but the old system is still running. You can access the old portal here.
- Remember: Teachers log into the old portal using their old school ID codes and their old passwords.
- One cannot register for new competitions using the old system.
Independent Students
Only for students whose school is not participating.
Some of our university partners are hosting an Open Writing Centre (OWC) for students whose schools are not participating through a teacher.
If this describes you, then you use the Independent Student Portal below, choose an OWC with space available and pay for it online by PayPal or credit card.
The OWCs are In Person which means students gather at a designated time and room at the university where the competition will be administered. Further information about Independent Students is in our Student FAQ.
Note: Your spot is reserved only if you’ve paid for it.
Alternate registrations for in-person CJMC competition:
- University of Toronto: registration is through their Outreach program
- University of Alberta: contact sgraves@ualberta.ca for registration information
Rates and Delivery Methods
Online | PDF Delivery | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
School Location | Cost/exam | Minimum order size | Cost/exam | Minimum order size |
Canada | $12 CAD | 3 | $12 CAD | 3 |
Outside Canada | $15 USD | 5 | $15 USD | 5 |
Payments and Cancellations: All payments are due by November 15th. We reserve the right to cancel unpaid orders.
Paid orders cannot be modified.
Online or On Paper
Some schools will choose to participate in the Canada Jay using our “Online” option. This is where students are assembled in a classroom with a teacher/proctor and computers or tablets where the questions appear and they record their responses. This uses the Crowdmark system.
Teachers: please see our CJMC Teacher Guide for Online Students
Alternatively, schools can write the competition on paper instead. The students receive a printed booklet with the questions and response choices as well as a Student Answer Sheet where they record their own responses. The CMS can send these materials to the teacher/proctor as PDF files (“PDF Delivery”) which are uploaded directly to the Competitions Portal for teachers to download and print. When schools use the paper method instead of the online method, they are required to scan the student answer sheets and upload those scans to CMS for official marking and certification.