Oxford University Computing Challenge
Date
Round 1 Th 25 May 2023
Round 2 Th 8 June 2023
Time
60 minutes
Cost
AUD$8 per student
The Oxford University Computing Challenge (OUCC) helps students develop skills to produce programmed solutions to computational problems.
Participants will need to be familiar with Blockly or other coding languages (depending on the division).
The OUCC is a two-round competition. The first round is an open competition and builds on the principles used in the Computational and Algorithmic Thinking (CAT) competition. The second round is by invitation only. It is extended to students who have performed well in the first round and is used to identify suitability for the AMT’s high-performance programs.
Key Dates
- Round 1 entries close: We 24 May 2023
- Round 2 entries close: We 7 June 2023 (invitation only)
Sign Up
Find out how to register your students for this competition.
Divisions
- Upper Primary – Australian Years 5 and 6
- Junior – Australian Years 7 and 8
- Intermediate – Australian Years 9 and 10
- Senior – Australian Years 11 and 12
The Oxford University Computing Challenge is run internationally by UK Bebras. Check their website for recommended age groups to find the right practice test to suit your students, as the divisions listed above are different to the UK competition.
QUESTION AND ANSWER FORMAT
12 tasks in three sections
Upper Primary and Junior divisions – All tasks are Blockly
Intermediate and Senior divisions – All tasks are code submissions
Topics
Topic Area One
- Strings, output and input
- Mathematical and logical operators
- Conditionals
- Loops
- Functions
- Lists and arrays
- File input/output – Intermediate and Senior only
- Classes and objects – Intermediate and Senior only
Topic Area Two
- Logical thinking
- Algorithmic thinking
- Decomposition
- Pattern identification
- Abstraction
- Evaluation
- De-bugging
More Information
Round 1
Section A 5 tasks of 4 marks
Section B 5 tasks of 6 marks
Section C 2 tasks of 8 marks
Total 66 marks
Round 2
Section A 2 tasks of 4 marks
Section B 5 tasks of 6 marks
Section C 5 tasks of 8 marks
Total 78 marks
Note that it is expected that very few students will have the time to solve all problems.
A distinction is awarded for scoring 40 or above. A merit is awarded for scoring 25 or above.
The Oxford University Computing Challenge is run internationally by UK Bebras. For information and practice material go to their website.
*Note that the UK Bebras divisions do not align with the AMT OUCC. Check their website for recommended age groups to find the right practice test to suit your students.