Mathematical Competition for Girls

Competition date: Tuesday 22nd September 2026

The Mathematical Competition for Girls was introduced in 2025 as a new opportunity designed to inspire and challenge young female mathematicians across the UK.

Why? Over the last twelve years, the Mathematical Olympiad for Girls (MOG) has become our most popular Olympiad, with entries reaching nearly 5,000 in 2024. Starting in 2025, this new competition, the Mathematical Competition for Girls (MCG) will run alongside MOG, allowing even more girls to engage in mathematical problem solving. The questions for the MCG will be similar in style and level to the MOG answer-only questions, with some questions shared between the two papers.

Please note: students cannot sit both the MCG and MOG.

Here is the summary of the two competitions:

Competition	Question Format	Length	Number of Entries
Mathematical Competition for Girls	5 answer-only questions	90 minutes	4 free, unlimited at £4 each
Mathematical Olympiad for Girls	2 answer-only and 3 full-answer questions	2 ½ hours	2 free, 2 at £25 each (not all in final year)

Update to MOG/MCG Eligibility
August 2026

UKMT has reviewed the eligibility criteria for our girls’ competitions (the Mathematical Olympiad for Girls, and the Mathematical Competition for Girls) following the UK Supreme Court judgment last year in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers.

The purpose of these competitions is to encourage and support participation by girls in advanced mathematics competitions. Having taken legal advice, UKMT has concluded that, under the Equality Act 2010 as determined by the Supreme Court, eligibility for these competitions must be based on biological sex. Consequently, our past practice of accepting entries by transgender girls to the girls’ competitions can no longer continue.

UKMT remains committed to treating all students, staff and volunteers with dignity and respect without exception and provides a comprehensive range of competitions for all young people.

How it works

Purchase entries

Sit challenge

Receive results

For full information on how to host the Mathematical Competition for Girls please visit the Competition Handbook.

Instructions

The use of blank or lined paper for rough working is allowed; squared paper, calculators and measuring instruments are forbidden.

Use a B or an HB non-propelling pencil to record your answer to each problem as a three-digit number from 000 to 999. Pay close attention to the example on the Answer Sheet that shows how to code your answers.

Read the questions carefully, they tell you exactly what to enter on the answer sheet. For example, if you have found three solutions to an equation, you may be asked to enter the largest one, or the sum of the three.

The questions in this paper have been arranged in approximate order of difficulty with the harder questions towards the end. You are not expected to complete all the questions during the time. You should bear this in mind when deciding which questions to tackle.

Questions have multiple parts. Earlier parts are designed to help you with the main part of the problem, by asking you to consider special cases or intermediate results. It is therefore important to consider how the parts are connected.