Helping your child
Maths olympiads for primary school in Singapore
The short version
The RMO, APMOPS and NMOS are run by Singapore secondary schools for primary pupils: the RMO for P4 to P6; APMOPS for P5 and P6; and NMOS for P5 only. Your child enters through their primary school, except APMOPS at P5, which a parent registers for, and there is no calculator in the RMO, APMOPS and NMOS. SASMO, run by SIMCC, takes P1 to P6. In 2026 the papers ran from April to July.
- Olympiads
- 4, P1 to P6
- Papers
- April to July
- You register
- APMOPS at P5
· Sources
- 28 Jan: RMO entries openyour school enters youEntries
- 1–15 Feb: APMOPS entriesyou registerYou register
- 20 Feb: NMOS entriesuntil 20 Mar · your school enters youEntries
- 9 Apr: RMO Round 1Online, in school · 20 questions, 1 hPaper
- 18 Apr: APMOPS Round 1Online: P6 in school, P5 at home · 30 questions, 2 hResults 1 MayPaper
- 7 May: RMO Round 2Written, at Raffles Institution · by invitation, the top 2% to 3% of Round 1Results 15 MayPaper
- 14 Jul: NMOS paperWritten, in school · 35 questions, 1 h 30 minResults within 10 working daysPaper
SASMO: SIMCC publishes no dates, so ask your school. 2027: Organisers publish the dates from January.
Which maths olympiads can my child take?
It depends on the level. At P1 to P3, SASMO. At P4, the RMO (Junior) and SASMO. At P5, the RMO (Junior), APMOPS, NMOS and SASMO. At P6, the RMO (Open), APMOPS and SASMO.
The RMO, APMOPS and NMOS are run by Singapore secondary schools, and SASMO by SIMCC. Each organiser publishes its own rules every year.
How does my child enter a maths olympiad?
Through their primary school, except APMOPS at P5, which you register for yourself. The school picks who takes part in the RMO and NMOS, and a parent cannot register a child on their own:
Registration of students is through their respective MOE Primary Schools. Individual / private registration is not allowed.
Participants can only register via their respective primary schools. Please approach the school Mathematics Department for registration.
For APMOPS, a P6 child is entered by the school. A P5 child is registered by a parent, with details the school sends, and sits the paper online at home:
Registration is to be carried out by parents of P5 students and to be completed on or before 15 February 2026.
At home or at another preferred and suitable venue of participating Singapore P5 students.
SIMCC's website does not say how a child enters SASMO. Ask your child's school.
When are the maths olympiads, and when are the results out?
From April to July, with entries from January to March. The 2026 dates, from each organiser:
- RMO: 9 Apr (Round 1), 7 May (Round 2); results 15 May.
- APMOPS: 16 Apr (Round 1, P6), 18 Apr (Round 1, P5), 30 May (Invitation Round, P6); results 1 May.
- NMOS: 14 Jul (the paper); results within 10 working days.
Each organiser publishes the next year's dates early in the year. SIMCC publishes no SASMO dates on its website.
What is a maths olympiad paper like?
Timed papers of 20 to 35 questions, with no calculator in the RMO, APMOPS and NMOS. SASMO takes a mark off for each wrong multiple-choice answer, and APMOPS takes none off:
1 point deducted for each wrong answer
There will be no deduction of marks for error or omissions.
Here is a real olympiad question, from the RMO 2025 Round 1 paper, which Raffles Institution publishes free on its website:
The total marks of twenty-five students in a test is 2025 and no two students have the same mark. Among them, the highest mark obtained is 94 and all marks are integer values. Find the smallest possible mark.
Question 4 of the paper, worth 4 marks.
Raffles Institution's own working starts from one idea:
In order to find the lowest possible marks, every other student has to score as high as possible.
So the other 24 students score 94, 93, 92 and so on down to 71: 1,980 marks in all. The smallest possible mark is 2,025 − 1,980 = 45. Writing the marks out in order is a systematic list, the same heuristic school problem sums use.
- See the heuristic taught. The systematic list, worked step by step on a school problem sum. Systematic list
- Past papers, from the organisers. The last two years' Round 1 questions and solutions, free on Raffles Institution's website. Sample questions for both rounds, on Hwa Chong's APMOPS website. Past questions in the NMOS Solution Books, sold at the NUS Co-op. RMO past papers
Do maths olympiad results help with DSA?
They can show a talent, but each school decides what it looks for. 7 secondary schools list Mathematics itself as a DSA talent area, all of them Integrated Programme schools:
Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)Queenstown · boysIP7
Catholic High SchoolBishan · boysIP7M
Hwa Chong InstitutionBukit Timah · boysIP6M
Raffles Girls' School (Secondary)Toa Payoh · girlsIP6
Raffles InstitutionBishan · boysIP6
Temasek Junior CollegeTampines · co-edIP8
Victoria SchoolBedok · boysIP8
Raffles Institution, for one, names no olympiad in its criteria. It asks for talent beyond a child's age group, and holds its own selection test:
This talent area is for students who demonstrate interest and talent in either Malay Language, Mathematics or Science, beyond the abilities of children in their age group, and/or have a history of consistently high academic accomplishment.
Meeting all criteria does not guarantee the student will be shortlisted or given an offer.
NUS High, which runs NMOS, says only this:
NMO∑ is an excellent platform for students to showcase aptitude in mathematics. Participants who show outstanding performance will be noted.
Is olympiad maths in the PSLE syllabus?
Partly. Olympiad papers start from school maths and go beyond it. SIMCC says its SASMO papers touch on both:
carefully developing contest papers which touch on both school and Olympiad maths
The ways of thinking an olympiad question needs are the heuristics school problem sums use too: a systematic list, working backwards, guess and check. SASMO's syllabus adds non-routine problems at every level; for P5 and P6:
Non-routine problem solving (including number patterns, divisibility tests, spatial visualisation, logic problems and cryptarithms)
- Working backwards. Start from the end of the story and undo each step, worked on a school problem sum. Working backwards
- Guess and check. Make a sensible guess, check it, and improve it, worked on a school problem sum. Guess and check
Where StudyLah fits
StudyLah practises the MOE primary syllabus, P1 to P6. It does not set olympiad papers. Its problem sums are taught with the same heuristics, step by step, which is the ground an olympiad question stands on.
- The heuristics, one by one. Each method with a worked school problem sum. Problem-solving methods
- See how a question gets taught. Ten minutes, no account. Three exam-standard questions with the working shown afterwards. Try it free
Questions about maths olympiads
Which maths olympiads can my child take at each level?
At P1 to P3, SASMO. At P4, the RMO (Junior) and SASMO. At P5, the RMO (Junior), APMOPS, NMOS and SASMO. At P6, the RMO (Open), APMOPS and SASMO.
Can I register my child for NMOS myself?
No. NUS High School takes entries only through primary schools, and only for P5. Ask your child's school maths department.
Are calculators allowed in maths olympiads?
No, in the RMO, APMOPS and NMOS: each organiser's rules forbid them. SIMCC's SASMO pages do not say.
When are the NMOS results out?
Within 10 working days of the paper, through the school.
What happened to RIPMWC and SMOPS?
They were renamed. RIPMWC is now the Raffles Mathematical Olympiad (RMO), run by Raffles Institution, which started it in 1996. SMOPS became APMOPS in 2002, run by Hwa Chong Institution.
Does SASMO take off marks for wrong answers?
Yes, in its multiple-choice section: 1 point off for each wrong answer, none for one left blank. Every child starts with 15 points so no score goes below zero.
What is the youngest level for a maths olympiad?
P1, for SASMO. Then the RMO at P4; and APMOPS and NMOS at P5.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of these, read on the day shown.
- 1Raffles Institution, Raffles Mathematical Olympiad (RMO) 2026, read 30 October 2026RMO’s own rules
- 2Hwa Chong Institution, Asia-Pacific Mathematical Olympiad for Primary Schools (APMOPS) 2026, read 30 October 2026APMOPS’ own rules
- 3NUS High School of Mathematics and Science, National Mathematical Olympiad of Singapore (NMOS): rules, FAQ and awards, read 30 October 2026NMOS’ own rules
- 4SIMCC, SASMO: Singapore and Asian Schools Math Olympiad, read 30 October 2026SASMO’s own rules
Now the practice has to happen.
These guides tell you what usually goes wrong. Your child's own practice tells you what's going wrong for them. StudyLah does the second part, and shows you the answer.