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Rules

Eligibility

Although the NZOMO is targeted at New Zealand students in Years 8-11, all students, including those in other countries, who are not in the final two years of their normal pre-university schooling are able to participate.

Students outside of New Zealand will not be competing against New Zealand students.

Students register individually so do not need their school to participate.

Students not in New Zealand should read the explanation of New Zealand Year Levels on the right so they know what their equivalent NZ Year Level is.

Students must enter the correct division according to their year level. This means that students in Year 9 and below must enter the Junior Division and those in Year 10 and 11 must enter the Intermediate Division. Students cannot take part in both.

NZOMO Format

Both divisions will sit a paper containing 10 problems. The two papers are different, but some problems will appear in both papers. Each problem is worth 3 points, making for a maximal score of 30 points.

As the NZOMO is a mathematical Olympiad, students are expected to fully justify their answers and, if asked, write proofs. To understand what this means, read the files on the resources page.

Correct answers alone will generally receive only one point out of three.

Partial progress may be worth 1 point, so students should submit all their work, including that on problems that they have not solved completely.

Substantial progress may be worth 2 points, and so will mostly complete solutions with minor flaws.

The full 3 points will only be awarded only for complete solutions.

Explanation of New Zealand Year Levels

If a student is in their final year of pre-university schooling, they are considered New Zealand Year 13, and are not able to participate.

If a student is in their 2nd to last year of pre-university schooling, they are considered New Zealand Year 12, and are not able to participate.

If a student is in their 3rd to last year of pre-university schooling, they are considered New Zealand Year 11, and can participate in the Intermediate Division.

If a student is in their 4th to last year of pre-university schooling, they are considered New Zealand Year 10, and can participate in the Intermediate Division.

If a student is in their 5th to last year of pre-university schooling, they are considered New Zealand Year 9, and can participate in the Junior Division.

If a student is in their 6th to last year of pre-university schooling, they are considered New Zealand Year 8, and can participate in the Junior Division.

If a student is in their 7th to last year of pre-university schooling, they are considered New Zealand Year 7, and can participate in the Junior Division.

If a student is in their 8th to last year of pre-university schooling, they are considered New Zealand Year 6, and can participate in the Junior Division.

If a student is in their 9th to last year of pre-university schooling or earlier, they are considered New Zealand Year 5 or lower, and can participate in the Junior Division.

To convert from Australian School Year Level to New Zealand School Year Level, add one. For example, an Australian Year 9 student would be considered a New Zealand Year 10 student.

Test Conditions

Participants must work on the NZOMO problems by themselves in test conditions. This means:

You cannot receive help from anyone else.
You cannot use the internet for any kind of help. This includes, but is not limited to, searching, looking up definitions, and asking for help.
You cannot use any software with the ability to 'do' mathematics, even if you do not use the feature(s). Microsoft Excel, Python, Geogebra, Desmos, etc. are not allowed. Word and Paint are still permitted.

However, a parent/guardian or sibling may help you submit your work online. They may only help you submit your work; they must not read, comment on, or edit your work.

Calculators are allowed and might be useful, but should not be essential.

Student Solutions

Students should start each question on a new page and clearly indicate the problem number.

Student work must be submitted in accordance with the instructions.

Do not write your name, school, year level, country, or any other identifying information anywhere in your work. Do write your participant ID at the beginning of your work. This is to enable anonymised marking.

All responses must be written in English.

Awards

Students must submit their work by 4:15pm on Saturday the 9th of May in accordance with the instructions to be eligible for awards.

The students receiving 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each division will receive the corresponding award. Students placing in the Top 10/20/30, Top 10%, and Top 50%, as well as those who score the full 3 points on at least one problem, are likely to be recognised, with the exact format of awards to be finalised depending on the number of students participating.

Students outside of New Zealand will not be competing against New Zealand students for awards. Students outside of New Zealand will receive awards based on either:

their performance in comparison to other students outside of New Zealand; or
their performance in comparison to the New Zealand award boundaries, which are determined solely using the performance of New Zealand students;

with exact format to be finalised depending on participant numbers, geographic distribution, and performance.

Organiser Discretion

The Organiser has the discretion to enforce and change the rules at their discretion.

The Organiser may refuse to issue any student(s) with awards if they believe, for any reason, that they did not follow the rules.

In the case of a dispute, the Organiser's decision is final.

Publishing and Privacy Policy

All participating students consent to their Name, Year Level, School, and score to be published on this website if they do sufficiently well.

Student scores may also be shared with their schools if requested.

All participating students consent to their work, edited or not, featuring as part of the official solutions, with appropriate credit.

The NZOMO will not share your email address with anyone else, so you do not need to worry about spam email.

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