Eligibility and Registration Inquiries
Can home schools or tutoring and coaching organizations participate?
Yes. The COMC is Canada’s premier national mathematics competition that is open to any student with an interest in and grasp of high school math. All exams are marked and final scores are returned to the teacher.
To qualify as official participants, students and schools must meet the official Eligibility requirements, which includes writing the exam at an Official Competition Writing Centre (OCWC). Most conventional schools will be approved as Official Competition Writing Centres.
New/Unassessed
All new organizations that have registered with us as well as existing organization (periodically) are assessed by CMS staff for suitability as OCWC locations. When you first register, you may see this status. For most conventional schools, it usually take a couple of days to assess your status.
Unofficial Only
If your school doesn’t meet our needs to be designated as an Official Competition Writing Centre, your account will show that your location status is “Unofficial-only.” If that’s your school’s situation, you have three options:
- (Default) Your students could continue to participate as unofficial participants. This means that you’d still receive the exams in the morning on the date of the exam (via email as PDF files to print), and would supervise the exam for your students at your own location, and return the exams to us for marking. We’d release the results to you at the same time as all other schools. However, your students’ exams will be considered unofficial so they do not qualify for merit-based prizes or official recognition based on their results.
2. You could find a nearby OCWC (usually another conventional school in your city) that would be willing to host your students for the writing of the competition. If your students write the competition at an OCWC and are proctored by a teacher affiliated with an OCWC, they would then be considered “official” participants and would qualify for merit-based prizes and official recognition. You would still order the exams and would be the only one receiving the detailed results for all your students, but the exams would be sent to the OCWC school and supervised by the people there. We’ll also email you a “teacher copy” on the Monday following the exam in case you want to work through it yourself or with your students the following week.
3. If you have already paid for some exams and do not want to participate after all (unofficially, or at a nearby OCWC), then you can request a refund before the deadline.
If you are a teacher or proctor whose school has been deemed unofficial-only, and you believe your school should be an Official Competition Writing Centre and have documentation that could reverse the status of your account (such as proof of Provincial education certification), please reach out to us at competitions@cms.math.ca
Temporarily Official
Schools who have been accepted as temporarily official for 2022: Organizations must have an unaffiliated provincially licensed teacher to proctor the exam. They must send us their education license, and be available to receive the exams and return the exams to the courier on the day after the exam takes place.
What does “Unofficial-only” mean? What does “Official Competition Writing Centre” mean?
Beginning in 2018, CMS strengthened the requirements as to where students can write the COMC exam. In order for the results to be considered “official” and earn merit-based prizes and recognition, students need to write at an Official Competition Writing Centre (OCWC). All schools are assessed to see if we can approve them as an OCWC. Most conventional schools are already approved so returning schools will not see a difference. Schools that don’t meet our requirements can run the exam unofficially (but receive their exams digitally, rather than as paper copies), or be approved as temporarily official.
For more information, read this page.
How do I get around the “Unofficial-only” restriction for my students?
You can contact us. Your location can become official if you have a proctor that is a certified teacher under the Ministry of Education or a Professor from a Canadian University that is not affiliated with your organization. If this is not an option, we’ll do our best to find a nearby school that we’ve certified as an Official Competition Writing Center. If that school is willing, your students could join theirs to write the competition.
For more information, read this page.
My school is not registering for the COMC. What are other options to register for the competition?
All registrations for the COMC must come from schools, through teachers or proctors. Individual students (and their parents) may ask any nearby school if they are participating in the COMC and if they are willing to add an exam in order to have the student participate at the school on exam day. The CMS has writing centres across Canada at our partner universities for students who cannot write in their own school. In 2022, writing centres may offer this as an option (in person only). The registration page will include this information when it is available.
What grade levels can write the COMC?
There are no grade eligibility requirements for the COMC. However, the difficulty level of questions is based on the mathematics curriculum taught in Canadian senior secondary grades and CÉGEPs. Some questions require a degree of understanding beyond the curriculum. To see potential topics and past exam questions, visit the Getting Ready page.
What are the registration steps?
Teachers will use an existing school account or create a new school account to place an exam order online. Exams are shipped to the school by courier.
What is the minimum number of students that a school can register?
A minimum of 3 digital (PDF) exams per school in Canada, and a minimum of 5 for paper copies. For international schools, a minimum of 8 exams applies to both paper and digital (PDF) exams.
What is the deadline for registration?
Registration for print exams closes at 11:59 PST on Tuesday, October 11th. Registration for digital delivery closes at 11:59 PST on Sunday, October 23rd.
Modes of writing the 2022 COMC
Teachers may choose from two modes in which their students may write the 2022 COMC:
Print option
Printed exams are delivered to the school and written by students under supervision at the school. Written exams are then returned by courier.
Digital Delivery option
Exams are delivered to the school electronically (by email) and are printed by the teacher. Students then write the exams under supervision at school, and the written exams are returned by courier.
Exam Format and Procedures
What is the date and location for the COMC?
The 2022 COMC will be held on Thursday, October 27th in Canada and the Americas (anywhere in North/South American time zones), and on Friday, October 28th elsewhere in the world. The exam is held locally (usually in your school) at a location arranged by the teacher or organizer coordinating the competition.
The CMS recommends the exam be taken during school hours. We are asking that schools in Western Canada write the exam in the morning, and schools in Eastern Canada write in the afternoon.
Is the COMC an online or paper-based exam?
It is a paper-based exam. During the pandemic, the CMS did temporarily offer online COMC exams, but as things are opening back up we will be discontinuing online exams in order to preserve the integrity of this prestigious exam.
How long is the exam?
The competition is 2.5 hours (150 minutes).
Are calculators, mobile phones, and dictionaries permitted?
No. Calculators and mobile phones are not permitted. Under supervision, dictionaries are permitted during the exam.
I have a special needs student. Do you provide the exam in special formats?
The CMS will try to accommodate students who require an alternative exam format. Please notify the CMS office as soon as possible if you are supervising a student who needs a special exam format.
How can students prepare for the exam?
The CMS will post a sample practice problem each week, starting the first week of September. Solutions are posted the following week when the next problem is posted.
Please see the Problem of the Week page.
Students can also practice using an archive of past exams and the official solutions.
What is the exam format?
The COMC exam is the same for students at all grade levels and consists of three sections:
Four introductory questions worth 4 marks each. Partial marks may be awarded for work shown.
Four more challenging questions worth 6 marks each. Partial marks may be awarded for work shown.
Four long-form proof problems worth 10 marks each. Complete work must be shown. Partial marks may be awarded.
There are 80 marks overall.
Where are the exams sent for marking?
Schools in Canada: a courier will arrive at each school on the day after the exam (Friday, October 28) to pick up the package of exams. Each school will have a sufficient number of pre-paid courier envelopes, which are pre-addressed to one of the COMC marking partner institutions.
Schools outside Canada: the CMS will provide you with a Canadian address where you will need to send the exams by courier at your own cost.
Important: Only exams arriving by the deadline of Monday, November 7th will be eligible for awards.
Is the exam available in French?
Yes. Teachers can specify how many exams in English and/or French they require when placing the order.
Payment and Shipment Inquiries
Our school ordered several exams and find that we need more (but fewer than the minimum order size). Can we avoid the minimum order size somehow in this case?
Yes, if your previous order is paid and the exams have not been shipped, we can accommodate you. Please email us at contests@cms.math.ca. All orders for a given school are shipped together.
What is the registration deadline and how do I pay?
Online payment is preferred. Online credit card purchases are processed using Paypal (a Paypal account is not required, but can also be used). Payments can also be made by cheque or money order received by the deadline.
All orders have to be paid by Sunday, October 23, 2022. The CMS reserves the right to cancel any order which remains unpaid after the payment deadline. If you anticipate your payment will be late, please contact us at contests@cms.math.ca.
How do I know that the payment cheque was received?
Once payment is received, a receipt is automatically emailed to you. You can also log into your school account and see the order status, and reprint an invoice or receipt.
Can I pay online for my order even if I originally said I’d pay by cheque?
Yes. Log into your school account, find the order and click “Details / Pay Now”. Please also email us and let us know if you do this.
When are the exams shipped to the teachers/organizers?
All paper copies of exams are shipped by courier one week before the competition.
The school paid for the exams, but some students will not write the exam. Can we decrease the order and get a refund?
If the order size is reduced prior to printing and shipment of the exams, we will refund the cost of the canceled exams, less a 10% administration fee. If you wish to reduce your number of exams after they have been shipped, we will not issue a refund.
Can we get the shipment tracking number to estimate the arrival time for the exams?
All exams should arrive by Tuesday, October 25th at the latest. Please contact the CMS office at +1 613-733-2662 ext. 710 or email contests@cms.math.ca if you have not received your exams by then.
If I register by the deadline, will that leave enough time for shipping the exam internationally?
Yes, the exam will be sent by international courier service and will arrive on time.
Login and account inquiries
I am sure my school has a School ID and password but we have forgotten it.
School accounts are associated with the email addresses of the past organizer and/or the department head. If one of those email addresses is known to you, you can trigger a password reset email message to that email address by using the “Forgot your log-in information” function on the login page. In addition to resetting your password, this function can help you find all School IDs associated with your email address.
If you are unable to access to those email accounts, or you do not know what they are, then please contact the CMS office by telephone at +1 (613) 733-2662 ext. 777 or email contests@cms.math.ca
How do I update the school’s address information?
Please email the CMS office to change a school address. Log into your school account and click on “Review school information” to see what is on file. Include your school ID in your email.
May I change the address after I submitted the payment?
For security purposes, the CMS will only ship to addresses that have been confirmed from authenticated schools. Please ensure the shipping address is correct before placing your order.
Is it possible to adjust/change the contact information for the school?
Once you log into your school account, click on “edit contact information”.
I moved to a different school, how can I remove my name from the previous school’s profile?
Email the CMS and include the previous school name, location, your email address and the school ID.
How can I find out if my school already has an account?
Please email or phone the CMS office at +1 (613) 733-2662 ext. 777 and we will be happy to assist you.
The school registered in previous years. Do we use the same login information?
Yes.
The Results
How do schools obtain the students’ participation and award certificates?
When the final results are announced, teachers/organizers will be able to log in to their accounts to download and print participation certificates for all of their students.
Awards certificates are only provided for official participants who achieve a high ranking, and are available for teachers/organizers to download and print. For students in Canada, award certificate plaques or portfolios are mailed to their schools.
How do I get my score?
Teachers can access all their students’ scores online using their school account once marking is complete. Individual scores are not shown publicly for privacy reasons.
If one or more students’ scores are unavailable, please contact the CMS office by email at comc@cms.math.ca.
Will I get a certificate?
When the final results are announced, teachers/organizers will be able to log into their accounts to download and print the certificates for all students. For those students who have earned award(s), the certificate lists all the awards the student earned. For students who did not earn specific awards, the certificate is based on which quartile their scores fall into:
1st quartile = Performance with Distinction
2nd quartile = Performance with Honours
3rd or 4th quartile = Certificate of Participation
Will I get a plaque?
The CMS no longer issues student plaques. Students now receive a student portfolio (certificate in a commemorative folder). All students who earn a Gold, Silver or Bronze in non-grade specific categories at the regional or provincial level are eligible to receive a portfolio. All students who receive a Gold, Silver, Bronze or Honourable Mention on any of the Canada lists including grade-specific lists will also receive a portfolio.
School plaques are only given to schools in Canada where at least one student is being sent a student portfolio.
Will I receive a prize for competing?
Anyone writing the COMC in Canada is eligible for a random draw participation prize.
Did we answer your question? If not, please email us.
If you have a suggestion for a question you think should be on this page, tell us that too!