The Bayridge Elementary Computer Competition started in 2021.  It is a friendly team competition for grades 7 and 8 where students race to solve a series of problem solving questions that involve computational thinking.  Students do not need any experience in coding or programming to solve these questions and participate in the contest. The goal of these questions is to expose students to these types of problems entirely through pencil, paper, and calculator without having to learn how to “code”.  Questions are designed to provide students with an introduction to computer science topics appropriate to their grade level, while providing an interesting situation as to what might motivate using that particular set of problem solving skills in the real world. 

How Does the Competition work?

The 4th annual contest will take place at Bayridge Secondary School on Wednesday, June 4th, 2025.  Grade 7s should arrive for the competition at 3:30 and the grade 8s should arrive at 5:15 so they can join us for dinner and hear our keynote speaker.  Your school is invited to send teams of 3 to participate in the competitions. Here is the tentative schedule for the night:

• 2:45 to 3:30 – BCSP high school students help get everything ready for the event

• 3:30 to 3:45 – grade 7s come in and get settled

• 3:45 to 4:00 – go over rules and make sure all teams are set to go

• 4:00 to 5:00 – grade 7s compete

• 5:00 to 5:15 – scores tallied, winning teams announced, prizes given

• 5:15 to 5:30 – grade 7s get pizza dinner, grade 8s arrive and get pizza dinner as well

• 5:30 to 6:00 – keynote speaker (TBA)

• 6:00 to 6:15 – grade 7s leave and grade 8s get ready for their competition

• 6:15 to 6:25 – go over rules and make sure all teams are set to go

• 6:25 to 7:25 – grade 8s compete

• 7:25 to 7:35 – scores tallied, winning teams announced, prizes given 

• 7:40 to 8:00 – clean up

Teams will have 1 hour to complete as many questions as they can.  They will have 3 attempts per question and if the team correctly answers the question on their first attempt, they will receive 5 points and be given the next question. If they correctly answer the question on their second attempt, they will receive 4 points, and if they correctly answer the question on their third attempt they will receive 3 points. If the team is unable to answer the question correctly on their third attempt, they will receive 0 points and move onto the next question. At any time they may choose to pass/skip a question/attempt and move onto the next question, however they will receive 0 points for passed/skipped questions and they cannot return to them later.