Every other CEMC contest your child has written is multiple choice, but the Euclid changes the rules entirely. No answer boxes to guess from, no five options to eliminate, just a blank page and a real mathematical argument to construct.
At TutorBoost, parents ask us about this shift constantly, so here’s the real format, how it’s scored, and why universities actually care about the result.
What Exactly Is the Euclid Contest?
The Euclid Contest is a senior-level math competition for Grade 12 students, run by the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing (CEMC) at the University of Waterloo.
Who Writes It, and Where It Sits in the CEMC Ladder?
Euclid is the final, most advanced contest in the CEMC series, typically written by students who’ve already progressed through Pascal Contest, Cayley, and Fermat in earlier grades. It’s written in April each year and runs 2.5 hours.
Why It’s Different From Pascal, Cayley, and Fermat?
Every earlier CEMC contest is entirely multiple choice. Euclid is the only one requiring full written mathematical solutions for a meaningful portion of the paper, a genuinely different skill than selecting the correct option among five.
How Is the Euclid Contest Actually Scored?
The marking system is genuinely different from anything earlier in the CEMC series, and understanding it precisely changes how a student should actually approach the paper.
Short Answer Parts vs Full Written Solution Parts
The contest contains 10 questions, each worth 10 marks, split into multiple parts. Some parts are short answer, worth 3 marks each, where a correct boxed answer earns full credit and partial marks are possible if work is shown.
Other parts require a full written solution, worth the remaining marks on that question, and these are graded specifically on completeness, clarity, and presentation, not just a correct final number. A correct answer that’s poorly explained genuinely will not earn full marks here.
Why Partial Marks Change How You Should Approach the Paper?
Because marks accumulate across partial completions, spreading effort across more questions often beats fully completing fewer.
A student who completes the short-answer parts and attempts the opening steps of eight different questions can realistically accumulate more total marks than a student who fully finishes only five questions and leaves the other five completely blank, since even a correctly set-up but unfinished solution often earns partial credit.
Why Does the Euclid Result Actually Matter for University?
This is where the stakes genuinely rise compared to every earlier contest in the series.
How University of Waterloo Uses the Result?
The University of Waterloo directly factors Euclid results into admissions and scholarship decisions for mathematics, computer science, and engineering programs. While it’s not a strict requirement for admission, a strong result can meaningfully influence both. This is a level of real-world weight none of the earlier CEMC contests carry.
What Honour Roll and Certificate of Distinction Actually Mean?
The top 25% of participants earn a Certificate of Distinction. Students scoring highly enough are placed on the national Honour Roll, and the very highest scorers receive individual recognition. Average scores across the full national cohort typically fall below 50% of available marks, a level of difficulty that builds directly on the algebra and functions work covered in What is MHF4U, which gives real context to what a strong result actually represents here.
What Does a Strong Written Solution Actually Look Like?
Proof-writing is its own skill, genuinely separate from knowing the underlying math, and it’s the same kind of justified, step-by-step reasoning covered in how to prove trigonometric identities, where showing why a step is valid matters as much as reaching the right answer.
The One Habit That Costs Students the Most Marks
Jumping straight into calculations before clearly defining what each variable represents is one of the most common habits that costs marks, even when the final answer ends up correct. CEMC’s own contest instructions explicitly warn against this: even when a calculator can find a numeric result directly, students are expected to show the algebraic steps that produced it, not just write the number down.
A Simple Example Showing the Difference
Consider solving x² − 5x + 6 = 0 for its roots. A weak response simply states “x = 2 or x = 3” with no working shown, which risks losing most of the marks attached to that part even though the answer is correct. A strong response instead writes: “We factor the left side as (x − 2)(x − 3) = 0.
Since a product equals zero only when one of its factors is zero, either x − 2 = 0 or x − 3 = 0, giving x = 2 or x = 3.” Same final answer, but the second version shows the reasoning a marker can actually award credit for, which is exactly what separates a strong Euclid solution from a technically correct but poorly presented one.
Final Thoughts
The Euclid Contest genuinely shifts the skill being tested, from selecting a correct answer to constructing and clearly presenting a real mathematical argument, and that shift is exactly why university programs weigh it so heavily.
At TutorBoost, we help students build this exact skill, connecting content knowledge to clear, well-justified proof-writing.
