Brainiacs English Olympiad Mechanics The Brainiacs English Olympiad is a globally renowned competition aimed at promoting creativity, communication, and linguistic excellence among students from Grade 3 to Grade 12.
CategoriesGrades 3-4, Grades 5-6,Grades 7-8, Grades 9-10,Grades 11-12
Preliminary Round ISeptember 19, 2026Registration deadlineSeptember 17, 2026
Preliminary Round IISeptember 26, 2026Registration deadlineSeptember 24, 2026
Global FinalNovember 2-8, 2026Registration deadlineOctober 10, 2026
Welcome to the Brainiacs English Olympiad!
Join us!50 Q Preliminary90 + 40 Q Global Final
75 min Preliminary120+120 min Global Final
English only
Mechanics
CATEGORIES
- Category 1: Grades 3 and 4
- Category 2: Grades 5 and 6
- Category 3: Grades 7 and 8
- Category 4: Grades 9 and 10
- Category 5: Grades 11 and 12
All five categories follow the identical structure, so the qualification threshold means the same thing at every grade.
PRELIMINARY ROUND
The Preliminary Round identifies students whose control of English is strong enough for the Global Round. It measures grammatical accuracy at sentence level, breadth and precision of vocabulary, and the ability to locate, connect and infer information in a short written text.
The two online rounds are identical in structure but feature different question sets. Students who did not qualify for the Global Round in the first online round, or who missed it, may participate in the second.
Results. The first round's results are published on September 21, 2026, the second round's on September 28, 2026.
Format. 50 questions in 75 minutes: 15 easy at 1 point, 20 normal at 2 points and 15 difficult at 3 points, for 100 points in all. An incorrect or unanswered question carries no penalty. The questions are multiple choice — reading passages and fill in the blanks — and multiple response, and they assess grammar, vocabulary and reading comprehension.
Participants scoring 40% or higher qualify for the Global Round. All participants receive a Certificate of Participation.
Recognition. 40-49 Honorable Mention Certificate, 50-74 Bronze Medal, 75-89 Silver Medal, 90-100 Gold Medal.
GLOBAL ROUND
The Global Round is held at Xiamen University Malaysia from November 2 to 8, 2026. Registration deadline: October 10, 2026. It runs over two consecutive examination days and covers all four skills — Use of English, Reading, Writing and Listening. Each participant receives a tablet and a headset.
Day 1 — Use of English and Reading. This day measures receptive control of English: the ability to understand and manipulate the language accurately. It evaluates grammar across a continuous text rather than isolated sentences, word families and derivation, collocation, and reading at four levels — core meaning, specific detail, inference, and how a text is organised. 90 questions in 120 minutes for 100 points, with no negative marking.
Use of English — 50 questions in four parts, 45 minutes, 50 points.
| Part | Task | Questions | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part 1 | Multiple-choice cloze: a text with four-option gaps | 15 | 15 |
| Part 2 | Open cloze: one word per gap, no options (typed on the tablet) | 15 | 15 |
| Part 3 | Word formation: the correct derived form of a given root word (typed on the tablet) | 10 | 10 |
| Part 4 | Collocation and word choice, four options | 10 | 10 |
Reading — 5 passages with 40 questions, 75 minutes, 50 points.
| Passage | Task | Questions | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passage 1 | Multiple matching: headings to paragraphs — gist | 7 | 7 |
| Passage 2 | Multiple choice — detail and inference | 8 | 8 |
| Passage 3 | Gapped text: restore removed sentences — text structure | 7 | 14 |
| Passage 4 | Multiple matching: statements to sections of a text | 8 | 8 |
| Passage 5 | Multiple choice: detailed comprehension and inference | 10 | 13 |
Day 2 — Listening and Writing. This day measures comprehension of spoken English and the ability to produce organised, accurate written English. Listening covers short functional exchanges, holding and recording information from a sustained monologue while listening, and essential points, speaker attitude and specific detail in extended natural speech. Writing asks whether the task set was actually done, whether the response is organised and coherent, and how wide and accurate the vocabulary and the grammar are. 120 minutes in all for 100 points, with no negative marking.
Listening — 40 questions in four parts, 60 minutes, 50 points.
| Part | Task | Plays | Questions | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part 1 | Short dialogues and monologues, multiple choice | Twice | 10 | 10 |
| Part 2 | Monologue with note-taking gap-fill (typed on the tablet) | Twice | 10 | 10 |
| Part 3 | Longer conversation — gist, attitude, detail — multiple choice | Once | 10 | 15 |
| Part 4 | Extended talk, mixed multiple choice and gap-fill (typed on the tablet) | Once | 10 | 15 |
Audio is delivered individually through the headset. Every participant completes a playback check before the section begins and spare headsets remain available; a participant whose equipment fails for technical reasons is guaranteed a re-sit of the affected part at the end of the session.
Writing — two tasks typed on the tablet, 60 minutes, 50 points. Task 1 is guided: a defined prompt with content points that must all be covered, 20 minutes for 20 points. Task 2 is extended: an open prompt where the candidate chooses the structure and the content, 40 minutes for 30 points.
| Category | Task 1 length | Task 2 length |
|---|---|---|
| Category 1, Grades 3-4 | 30-50 words | 60-80 words |
| Category 2, Grades 5-6 | 50-70 words | 90-120 words |
| Category 3, Grades 7-8 | 70-90 words | 130-160 words |
| Category 4, Grades 9-10 | 90-120 words | 170-200 words |
| Category 5, Grades 11-12 | 100-130 words | 200-250 words |
EVALUATION
Use of English, Reading and Listening are marked automatically on the tablet, with open questions checked against a pre-approved list of accepted answers. Writing is evaluated by AI against the scoring guide below, which the organisers publish in advance.
| Band | Task and Content | Structure and Clarity | Vocabulary | Grammar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Does everything the task asked, with relevant detail and a suitable tone. | Well shaped and easy to follow from beginning to end. | Varied, well-chosen words that fit the context. | Varied sentences, almost always correct, well punctuated. |
| 4 | Does what the task asked; one point may be covered only briefly. | Clear shape and sensible order; linking is correct but comes from a small stock. | Good word choice, with occasional slips that never confuse the reader. | Good variety; mistakes appear in harder sentences but never confuse. |
| 3 | Covers most of what was asked; one point missing or barely touched. | Has a beginning and an end; order mostly sensible; linking is basic. | Enough words for the task but repetitive, with some wrong choices. | Mostly simple sentences; mistakes are frequent in the longer ones. |
| 2 | Several required points missing or misread; drifts off the topic, or too short. | Order is unclear; ideas rarely connect; the reader has to work. | Narrow and repetitive; wrong words make some parts hard to understand. | Simple sentences only; mistakes often make meaning unclear; weak punctuation. |
| 1 | Barely engages with the task; mostly off-topic, or far too short. | No structure the reader can detect; ideas do not connect. | Very few words available; meaning is mostly lost. | Very little control; meaning is mostly lost. |
| 0 | Nothing written, or nothing to do with the prompt. | Nothing written, or too little to judge. | Nothing written, or too little to judge. | Nothing written, or too little to judge. |
RECOGNITION
Medals are awarded on the percentage distribution of participants' final rankings: the top 10% receive Gold, the next 20% Silver, the next 30% Bronze and the following 15% an Honorable Mention. The Organizing Committee may change the medal thresholds or the award distribution depending on the number of finalists and their overall performance, and award recipients receive an official Brainiacs Olympiad medal and certificate.
LANGUAGES
All questions and tasks in both rounds are in English.
Syllabus
Papers stay inside the world a young child already has words for — the house, the classroom, animals, weather, meals, the street outside. Sentences are short and a story is told in the order it happened.
1 · Grammar and sentence structure
- Nouns and articles — singular and plural, including the plurals that break the rule
- Pronouns — subject, object and possessive forms
- The present simple and the present continuous, and knowing which one a sentence needs
- The past simple of the verbs children meet first
- have got, and there is against there are
- Questions and negatives built with do and does
- Adjectives and adverbs, and comparing one thing with another
- Prepositions of place and time
- Quantity — some and any, and nouns you cannot count
- can for what you are able to do, must for what you have to do
- Joining two ideas with and, but, because, or, so
- and other structures within A1, reaching A2 in the hardest questions
2 · Vocabulary development
- Everyday topic vocabulary — family and home, school, food, clothes, colours and numbers, animals, weather, the body, the town, and free time
- Numbers, days, months and seasons, times and dates
- Opposites, and words that mean nearly the same thing
- Knowing what a word means, not only recognising it — a question may offer four short definitions of an everyday word
- Word building with prefixes and endings that leave the root unchanged, of the kind that turns teach into teacher or sun into sunny
- The words that go together — the verb that belongs with a common noun
- and other vocabulary within A1, reaching A2 in the hardest questions
3 · Reading comprehension
- Read short stories, short factual passages, and a notice or poster
- Picking out what a text states: who, what, where, when, how many
- Deciding what a story is mainly about, and choosing the best name for it
- Working out why something happened, and how somebody feels, when the text does not say so directly
- Giving each paragraph of a short factual text the heading that fits it
- Putting a sentence that has been taken out of a story back where it belongs
- Deciding which of four children a statement belongs to
- and other reading at this level
4 · Listening comprehension
- Understand short spoken exchanges between two people on everyday subjects
- Understand a short announcement or a set of instructions
- Catch specific information — names, places, times, numbers, prices and objects
- Complete notes while listening, writing one word, a number or a time
- Work out how a speaker feels when they do not say so directly
- Understand a recording played only once, taking notes as it runs
- and other listening within A1, reaching A2 in the hardest questions
5 · Written expression
- Write a short notice or message that covers four content points you are given
- Describe a person, a place, or what you do in a day
- Begin sentences with a capital letter and close them with a full stop
- Join simple ideas with and, but, because and so
- Choose words that suit the person you are writing to
- Keep to the length you are given
- and other writing within A1, reaching A2 in the hardest questions
6 · Question types
- At this category, Listening Parts 1 and 3 offer three answers to choose from. Every other multiple-choice question offers four
7 · Recommended focus
- Read short stories out loud. Nearly every question is answered by one or two sentences of the text, so reading each line properly is worth more than reading quickly
- Work through the A1 vocabulary lists
- Practise hearing something twice and writing down one word, a number or a time
- Practise a notice and a short description, then count the words
Download
Sample papers & materials
Practice with these examples to understand the format, sharpen your skills, and prepare for the challenges ahead.
