International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO): Parent & Student Guide for IP Aspirants

Q: What does International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO): Parent & Student Guide for IP Aspirants cover?
A: The official structure of the IMO, eligibility and scoring rules, and how national selections work.

TL;DR
The International Mathematical Olympiad is a two-day, six-problem contest (three problems per day, each marked out of seven) with individual scores out of 42 and medals awarded in an approximate 1:2:3 gold:silver:bronze ratio set by the Jury IMO official regulations.
Delegations of up to six pre-university students (under 20 on 1 July, not yet in tertiary education) are selected and registered by each country’s national organiser; check your national olympiad site for qualifier dates and training details.

Status: IMO official site/regulations checked 2025-11-30 - format remains two 4 h 30 min days with 3 problems/day, 7 points each; medal ratio guideline (1:2:3) and team size $≤6 students$ unchanged; 2025 host listed as Kazakhstan, 2026 U.S. (per current site).

Use it alongside our IP Maths tuition hub so contest proof drills reinforce the same vectors, calculus, and number-theory habits your school assessments demand.

Registration quick answer (Singapore): Students don’t apply to IMO directly. Countries send national teams selected via their own olympiad pathway (in Singapore, through SMO → NTST → NTTP). See the official IMO site for structure and contacts: https://www.imo-official.org/

1 Why parents of IP students should care

• Curriculum stretch: IMO problems on number theory, combinatorics and geometry extend far beyond the H2 syllabus and overlap with H3/Further Math content.