Math Kangaroo Scoring: 3, 4 and 5 Points, Max 96 or 120

See the weighting on real tasks: free Math Kangaroo practice questions, each one cited to the paper and task number it came from.

Math Kangaroo does not score "number correct out of number asked." A paper pays 3 points for each task in the first third of the booklet, 4 for the middle third, and 5 for the last third.

In the USA, that is the whole system. Math Kangaroo USA's official scoring page states it plainly: no points are taken away for an incorrect answer, and there is no starting score. So:

• Grades 1–4: 24 questions, 8 per third, maximum 96 (8×3 + 8×4 + 8×5).
• Grades 5–12: 30 questions, 10 per third, maximum 120 (10×3 + 10×4 + 10×5).
• A wrong answer and a blank answer both add nothing. Neither subtracts.

Many other countries follow the international rules of Kangourou sans Frontières (KSF), which add a starting score and a penalty. That second system is described in a note further down. If you are preparing for the USA contest, you can ignore it.

The thirds follow the paper, not a fixed task number

It is tempting to memorise "tasks 1–10 are worth 3." That is true only on a 30-task paper, where the thirds are ten, ten and ten. On a 24-task paper the thirds are eight, eight and eight. Task 9 is therefore worth 4 on a 24-task paper (it is the first item of the middle third) and 3 on a 30-task paper (it is still in the first third).

If you mark a past paper at the kitchen table, look at how many tasks that booklet had, divide it into three equal blocks, then assign 3, 4 and 5.

The last third is where the paper separates people. Five points each is a statement that a correct late item should move the total more than a correct opener. Under an unweighted count, the easiest tasks would score the same as the hardest. Weighted, they do not.

A worked example (USA rules)

Take a 24-task grades 3–4 paper. First eight all right: 8 × 3 = 24. Middle eight with six right and two wrong: 6 × 4 = 24, and the two wrongs cost nothing. Last eight with three right: 3 × 5 = 15. Total: 24 + 24 + 15 = 63 out of 96.

The tick count is 8 + 6 + 3 = 17 of 24, or 71%. The weighted score is 63 of 96, or 66%. The gap is the five missed 5-point tasks: the points you never reached were the expensive ones.

Guessing under USA rules

Because a wrong answer costs nothing, an unanswered question can only lose you points. A guess on a five-option task has a one-in-five chance of adding its 3, 4 or 5 points and no downside. The practical rule for the USA contest is: leave nothing blank in the last minutes. Spend your real time on tasks you can solve, and guess the rest.

That changes under the international rules, which is the main reason to know which system your paper uses.

Note: the international (KSF) rules

Under the rules most KSF member countries use:

• You start with one point per task — 24 on a 24-task paper, 30 on a 30-task paper.
• Each wrong answer costs a quarter of that task's value (−0.75, −1 or −1.25).
• A blank answer costs nothing.

The starting score exists to offset the penalty, so the lowest possible score is 0 and a 30-task paper runs from 0 to 150. A random guess on five options has an expected value of zero on these papers (one fifth of the points minus four fifths of a quarter of them), so a guess is worth making only if you can rule out at least one option. National organisers can and do vary details, so the instructions on your paper are the final word.

Paper lengths in My Path's bank

My Path's Kangaroo items come from real past papers, and the bank holds papers from more than one edition, so these lengths describe our bank, not the USA contest:

Level	Paper length in our bank	Thirds	Maximum (3/4/5 points, no start points)
1–2	not in our bank	—	—
3–4	24 tasks	8 / 8 / 8	96
5–6 (2020–2021)	30 tasks	10 / 10 / 10	120
5–6 (2022–2025)	24 tasks	8 / 8 / 8	96
7–8	30 tasks	10 / 10 / 10	120
9–10	30 tasks	10 / 10 / 10	120
11–12	30 tasks	10 / 10 / 10	120

The one to watch is Level 5–6: Math Kangaroo USA sets 30 questions for grades 5–6, while our 2022–2025 papers at that level have 24. The same "task 9" is a different point value across that cut, which is why each item stores the length of the paper it came from.

What My Path reports after a session

Every item carries the points its paper gave it. The review screen shows a weighted score: points earned as a percentage of points possible for the items in that sitting, not ticks over items. You also see correct, wrong and skipped counts, which drive retry-wrong.

A 20-item sitting drawn from early and late thirds will not have the same denominator as another 20-item sitting from the same level. Two students who both "got 14 right" can have different weighted scores if one person's 14 were openers and the other's were late 5-point tasks. That is the system working.

My Path applies no wrong-answer penalty, the same as the USA contest. A wrong pick adds nothing and subtracts nothing.

If you sat a whole paper of one level — every task, in one sitting — the points possible are that paper's maximum, so your points earned are your USA-scale score, out of 96 or 120, and My Path can report that contest-scale total. Shorter sittings get no contest-scale total. A 10- or 20-item drill is not a paper, and scaling it up to 96 or 120 tells you nothing about a real sitting.

Why unweighted percentages mislead

Suppose a 20-item session contains eight 3-point openers, seven 4-point middle tasks and five 5-point closers. Possible points: 8×3 + 7×4 + 5×5 = 24 + 28 + 25 = 77. Get all five closers wrong and everything else right, and the tick rate is 15/20 = 75% while the weighted score is 52/77 = 68%.

The reverse also happens. A student who only attempts early items and gets them right can look accurate on a "percent of attempted" figure and still have a weak contest-shaped total. This is why preparation should be read in points: retry the 4s and 5s you missed, and use a timer if the issue is that the last third is never reached rather than reached and failed.

How this sits next to General Math

General Math can serve Kangaroo items when the grade and topic match, because those items live in the wider maths bank. When it does, the item still carries its points; items without a paper value count as one point each. Do not read a General Math percentage as a Kangaroo score.

Practise and look at points, not ticks

The cheapest way to see the weighting work is the free set: ten real tasks for your level — 3–4, 5–6, 7–8, 9–10, 11–12 — each cited to the paper and task number, with the point value on it. No account, no payment. Score it by hand and the 3/4/5 split stops being abstract.

For longer configurable sittings there is the Kangaroo card on Education, on the Student or Monthly plan via plans. My Path is a practice bank and is not affiliated with Kangourou sans Frontières, Math Kangaroo USA or any national organiser.