The UK's entry-point maths challenge for Year 8 and below — and the only one of the three with no penalty for guessing.
England, Wales and Overseas: Year 8 and below. Scotland: S2 or below. Northern Ireland: Year 9 or below. source
5 marks for each correct answer to questions 1-15, and 6 marks for each correct answer to questions 16-25, for a maximum of 135. Nothing is deducted for a wrong answer, and a blank scores 0 - so on the JMC there is never a reason not to guess. That is the opposite of the Intermediate and Senior challenges, which both penalise wrong answers. source
The headline competition date reads 2027, but other text on the same pages still references 2026 deadlines. Treat the 2027 date as the next cycle and confirm against UKMT before relying on it.
Papers are copyright of the organiser, so we point you to the source rather than hosting copies.
Original CREST Champs problem sets built to match this competition's format, timing and difficulty — our own content, so you can sit one today rather than waiting for the real date.
No. UKMT states plainly that you will not lose marks for getting a question wrong, and a blank scores 0 — so an educated guess is always worth making. Be careful not to carry that habit upward: the Intermediate Challenge deducts 1 mark on questions 16-20 and 2 marks on questions 21-25, and the Senior Challenge deducts 1 mark for every wrong answer.
Year 8 and below in England, Wales and overseas; S2 or below in Scotland; Year 9 or below in Northern Ireland. Entry is through your school, which orders papers in packs.
Strong scores lead to the Junior Kangaroo or the Junior Mathematical Olympiad. UKMT sets the thresholds each year rather than fixing them in advance, so they move with the paper.