CLMC 2026
Overview
CLMC -> COMC -> CMO -> IMO
The Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) is excited to announce the launch of our newest mathematical competition open to students in grades K-12, and suggested for students in grades 7-12: the Canada Lynx Mathematical Competition (CLMC)! The CLMC is an inclusive national math contest that provides feedback upon the completion of the exam to help develop students skills in math. This competition was created to foster an interest in mathematics among students regardless of their skill level, to increase student confidence in their math abilities, and to present mathematics as a fun and playful subject to students. The CLMC will be available via PDF delivery or online via Crowdmark.
The CLMC is 90 minutes long, consisting of 15 multiple-choice questions.
The competition takes place at the end of September or beginning of October each year. This allows teachers to use the CLMC as an excellent tool to assess their students at the beginning of the school year! It also serves as great practice for students with advanced mathematical skills who wish to participate in the higher-challenge (and written solutions!) Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (COMC) that takes place later in October.
By participating in the contest, students can earn a chance to win cool prizes and awards. The COMC, in turn, is the primary gateway to the elite invitation-only tournaments, such as the Canadian Math Olympiad (CMO) and Canada’s team for the International Math Olympiad (IMO).
For information about how the CLMC fits in our overall competition programme, see the Competitions Advancement.
Want to know more about our namesake, the Canada Lynx cat?
About the Canada Lynx (cat)
The Canada lynx may look like a slightly larger version of your housecat, but make no mistake, these boreal predators are ferocious! With big eyes and super hearing, Canada lynx are excellent night hunters. But they are not fast runners, so they have to be sneaky when it comes to catching prey. Usually, they find a hiding spot and wait for prey to come near — then they pounce. Some lynx will sit still for hours just to snatch a bite!
The Canada lynx has a short body, small tail and long legs. In winter, it sports a fur coat that is thick, long and grey. In summer, its coat is short, thin and light brown. Canada lynx look like they have wide faces, thanks to long patches of fur that grow out from their cheeks. They are most easily recognized by the black tips of their bobbed (short) tails and the long tufts on their triangle-shaped ears.
The Canada lynx closely resembles its southern forest-dwelling relative, the bobcat, but the truth is in the tail. Lynx tails are completely black-tipped, while bobcat tails have a white ring below the black tip. Canada lynx also have large, thick-furred paws that act like snowshoes, which help them hunt during winter.
Canada lynx live in forested areas throughout Canada, Alaska and parts of the contiguous United States. They make their dens underneath fallen trees, tree stumps, rock ledges or thick bushes. Canada lynx are territorial animals, and males live alone most of the time.
[source]
Registration
Normally, all registration is done by teachers or school staff using their Portal accounts.
Registration will open on this page on September 1st.
Participating Schools & Organizations
Independent Students
Only for students whose school is not participating.
Parents: If you have not already, please reach out to your child’s school and ask if they are interested in creating a school account and hosting students for the competition.
For students whose schools are not participating through a teacher, we plan to offer a limited number of spaces hosted by some of our university partners. These students must pre-register and pre-pay to attend one of these Open Writing Centres located at the universities.
Further information about these (locations, times, etc.) will be posted here when available.
*Registrations have not opened for independent student registration yet, they will be opening on or around September 10th.
Paper or Online Exams
This year, students will write the Lynx competition on paper, or online using Crowdmark.
Online: Some schools will choose to participate in the competition 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.
Each school will pre-select an agreed “start time” for their online session in its Portal, prior to the competition.
Please see our Teacher Guide for Online Students
PDF: Using the Competition Portal, schools or organizations will download PDF question booklets as well as individually-identified student answer sheets and print these before exam day. These will be available a few days before the competition date for teachers to download and print.
At the end of the exam, the proctor collects the student answer sheets, scans them and uploads them to the portal’s “upload area” for official marking.
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 Sept 24th. We reserve the right to cancel unpaid orders.
Paid orders cannot be modified or refunded.
Poster
The CMS hopes to encourage students to challenge themselves in mathematics through the CLMC! Please consider downloading and printing any of the materials below for display at your school or promoting the competition online.
8.5″ x 11″
11″ x 17″
