AimsThe UK Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge introduces computer science to students. It is designed to get students excited about computing and computational thinking.
Have a go at past competitionsAll previous competitions are available to try without registering or logging in.
The last competition is available as a timed self-marking trial competition. The earlier competitions are available to dip into and try any question which is instantly marked. Just click here: challenge.bebras.uk Answer Books
2015 UK Bebras Challenge Statistics
* Teams count as one student
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Age Group
Kits Castors Juniors Intermediates Seniors Elite TOTAL |
Participated
990 1,825 9,459 18,067 6,639 2,266 39,246 |
Max. Score
80 120 180 180 180 180 |
Mean Score
52.8 71.6 85.8 76.1 84 97.6 |
No. Achieving Max. Score
13 7 11 29 35 25 |
Audience
There are six competitions this year. Unlike many other competitions this is suitable for students of all abilities:
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England and Wales:
Elite: Years 12 & 13 Seniors: Years 10 & 11 Intermediates: Years 8 & 9 Juniors: Years 6 & 7 Castors*: Years 4 & 5 Kits*: Years 2 & 3 |
Scotland:
Elite Years S5 & S6 Seniors: Years S3 & S4 Intermediates: S1 & S2 Juniors: Years P6 & P7 Castors*: Years P4 & P5 Kits*: Years P2 & P3 |
Northern Ireland:
Elite: Years 13 & 14 Seniors: Years 11 & 12 Intermediates: Years 9 & 10 Juniors: Years 7 & 8 Castors*: Years 5 & 6 Kits*: Years 3 & 4 |
* Castors and Kits can enter individually or as small teams (up to 4)
Dates
Any 40 minute period during the second week of November.
Format
The contest is completed online in schools under the supervision of teachers. More information for teachers is available.
- For Elite, Higher, Intermediate and Juniors there are 18 multiple-choice questions to be attempted in 40 minutes. No team entries allowed. This is now a complete as many as you can competition!
- Castors will have 10 questions to attempt in 40 minutes. Individuals or small teams can enter.
- Kits will have 6 questions to attempt in 40 minutes. Individuals or small teams can enter.
Changes in 2015
A few changes have been made to the competition this year due to the fact that students are getting better.
The main ones are these:
The main ones are these:
- Castors and Kits quiz remains the same format.
- To accomodate improving standard of entries each year the competition is now an "Answer as many questions you can in a given time competition. Most students are NOT expected to finish all questions in the time available. If too many do this year we will add more questions in future years!
- The time allowed is reduced to 40 minutes and there will be 18 questions available to attempt.
- The Hall of Fame will now consist of the top 25 Best in School students in each age category – only one student from each school will be able to feature in each age category. This is to discourage students from attempting to collaborate within a school!
- There will be a celebration event and final round for the top achieving students in Oxford during the week-end of 16th-17th January 2016. It is hoped that students and families will be catered for.
Content
UK Bebras is a problem solving contest with a focus on computational and logical thinking. Questions are inspired by topics in computer science but only require some basic reasoning ability. Connections to Computer Science are described in the solutions to all past contests.
Registration
Registration for 2015 is now open! Teachers wanting to become School Coordinators so that they can enter students from their school should register online. If you are already a Coordinator from a previous year, please login ad check your details to ensure that the information we already hold for you is correct.
The deadline is Friday, 30th October, 2015. Please note that you are then free to enter students right up until they take part during Bebras week – however, a little earlier is much wiser!
Thanks to the generous support of our sponsors the competition is FREE to enter for all schools.
In previous years it has been found that allowing schools to register later did not allow the school enough time to thoroughly test their systems. This is not very difficult and basically comes down to testing students have the permissions necessary to allow all school student accounts to access the competition site from within the school. It sometimes entails adding the site address to an allowed list. Details of how to do this are given to School Coordinators on registration.
The deadline is Friday, 30th October, 2015. Please note that you are then free to enter students right up until they take part during Bebras week – however, a little earlier is much wiser!
Thanks to the generous support of our sponsors the competition is FREE to enter for all schools.
In previous years it has been found that allowing schools to register later did not allow the school enough time to thoroughly test their systems. This is not very difficult and basically comes down to testing students have the permissions necessary to allow all school student accounts to access the competition site from within the school. It sometimes entails adding the site address to an allowed list. Details of how to do this are given to School Coordinators on registration.
Contest Preparation
The UK Bebras Challenge exposes students to a new subject and way of thinking so there isn't a need to prepare for the contest. However, you can get a feel for the style of the problems by viewing past contests and sample questions.
Results
School Coordinators will be able to access their students results online in the following week.
Awards
We emphasise participation but also recognise top performing students.
There will be the following types of certificates available:
In addition, we will publish the top scoring students in each age category on this website in our Hall of Fame. (Permission will be sought through the school prior to this.)
There will be the following types of certificates available:
- Certificate of Participation
- Certificate of Distinction
- Best in School
In addition, we will publish the top scoring students in each age category on this website in our Hall of Fame. (Permission will be sought through the school prior to this.)
Quick Links
Sponsors
