Mathematical Kangaroo (also known as International Mathematical Kangaroo, or Kangourou sans frontieres in French) is an international mathematical competition where over 92 countries are represented. There are twelve levels of participation, ranging from grade 1 to grade 12. The competition is held annually on the third Thursday of March. According to the organizers, the key competence tested by Mathematical Kangaroo is logical combination, not just pure knowledge of formulas.
The competition was established in 1991 by Andre Deledicq, a professor of mathematics at the University of Paris 7, and Jean-Pierre Boudine, professor of mathematics at Marseille. The idea comes from the Australian Mathematics Competition, initiated in 1978 by Peter O'Halloran. It is based on multiple-choice questions (MCQs), which were rarely used in France at that time, at least in mathematics. For this competition, Jean-Pierre Boudine and André Deledicq were awarded the 1994 d'Alembert prize of the Mathematical Society of France.
The competition has spread around the world. Pupils from Sweden first took part in 1999.By 2011, 860,000 pupils from 9,000 schools took part in Germany, having grown rapidly from 549,000 in 2007. In 2014, the competition was hosted in Latin America. In 2017, the Bulgarian association held a week-long Kangaroo summer camp In Canada, math contest clubs for elementary school children teach "questions typical of the Math Kangaroo contest", starting with those with a visual component and helping to develop logic and spatial reasoning. Students in Pakistan took part for the first time in 2005, the numbers increasing each year since.In 2009, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazettenoted that the competition was very popular in Europe and was "finding its way into the United States". Denmark first participated in 2015.
Exam Format : The competition is a multiple-choice test of 90 minutes. Students registering through their school will take pen and paper-based test whereas students registering at individual level might be offered the online mode of test. The Contest will be held at the student's own school (or at Open center for Individual Participants), to be administered by the assigned contact person. The paper contains 30 questions (except for Pre Ecolier and Ecolier papers, which has 24 questions) with 5 choices to each problem. The maximum score is 96 points for students up to 4th grade, and 120 points for other students. 1 point will be deducted for each incorrect answer, and no penalty for skipping a question. Each participant will receive an answer sheet (OMR Sheet) to record their answer, as well as blank sheets for calculation. All used and unused sheets must be returned to the invigilator or proctor at the end of the contest. Students can only bring a pencil or pen, eraser and geometry tools to the Contest. Student will not be allowed to use a calculator during the Contest.