Grades 5-6 paper · Math Kangaroo 2027
Math Kangaroo
grade 5 practice
Fifth grade is the year the Math Kangaroo paper changes shape. It grows from 24 to 30 questions, the time stays at 75 minutes, and the top score rises to 120. Your child now sits the grades 5-6 paper alongside sixth graders, and is ranked against fifth graders only.
Math Kangaroo 2027 for a grade 5 student
| What | Grade 5 |
|---|---|
| Competition day | Thursday, March 18, 2027 |
| Paper your child sits | Grades 5-6 (Math Kangaroo USA “Levels 5 & 6”) |
| Ranked against | 5th graders only, nationally and by state |
| Questions and time | 30 multiple-choice questions in 75 minutes, about 2 and a half minutes each |
| Points | 10 questions each worth 3, 4 and 5 points; top score 120; nothing lost for a wrong answer |
| Calculators | Not allowed |
| Level rule | Your child sits the level for their school grade; a lower level is not allowed |
| Regular registration | September 15 to December 31, 2026 ($20 per student) |
| Late registration | January 1 to February 1, 2027 ($35 per student) |
Source: Math Kangaroo USA's scoring rules, registration page, logistics page and 2027 host letter, checked October 21, 2026. Internationally, the Kangourou sans Frontières association's regulations call roughly this age band Benjamin, though each country groups its levels its own way.
Where grade 5 sits on the grades 5-6 paper
The biggest change is pace. 30 questions in 75 minutes is about 2 and a half minutes a question, against just over 3 minutes last year. Children who finished comfortably in fourth grade can run out of time in fifth.
The grades 5-6 paper is shared with sixth graders, so a fifth grader may meet some ideas a year ahead of class. Rankings are by single grade, so that does not count against them.
Scoring works the same way as before: a third of the questions at 3, 4 and 5 points each, and nothing lost for a wrong answer. Leaving a question blank is always worse than guessing.
The 6th grade page covers the other year on this paper: Math Kangaroo grade 6 practice.
How scoring works on the grades 5-6 paper
| Question value | How many | Points available |
|---|---|---|
| 3 points each | 10 | 30 |
| 4 points each | 10 | 40 |
| 5 points each | 10 | 50 |
| Whole paper | 30 | 120 |
A grade 5 student who answers every 3- and 4-point question correctly and misses all 10 of the 5-point ones scores 70 out of 120. Each 5-point question is worth about 4.2% of the top score, so the 5-point third of the paper carries the most weight. A wrong answer costs nothing, so a blank is never better than a guess.
Results are ranked among 5th graders only. The top 20 scores nationally and the top 3 in each state are listed, students who tie on the top score all rank first, and the percentile shows the share of 5th graders, in the state and in the country, who scored lower.
Math Kangaroo USA's own practice for this level includes online past exams by year and practice sets sorted by point value (3-point, 4-point and 5-point questions), plus PDF exams and written solutions going back to 1998. Find them on its grades 5-6 practice page.
Two grade 5 practice problems
Written by us in the Kangaroo style, five answer choices each. Try them before opening the answer.
How many whole numbers from 1 to 50 are multiples of 3 or multiples of 5 (or both)?
- (A) 16
- (B) 20
- (C) 23
- (D) 26
- (E) 33
Show answer
23. There are 16 multiples of 3 (3 up to 48) and 10 multiples of 5 (5 up to 50). The multiples of 15, which are 15, 30 and 45, are in both lists, so they have been counted twice. 16 + 10 - 3 = 23. Adding the lists without that correction gives the trap answer 26.
Half of a class walk to school, a third come by bus, and the other 4 children come by car. How many children are in the class?
- (A) 12
- (B) 18
- (C) 20
- (D) 24
- (E) 30
Show answer
24. A half plus a third is three sixths plus two sixths, which is five sixths. The car riders are the last sixth, so one sixth of the class is 4 children and the whole class is 6 times 4, which is 24. Check: 12 walk, 8 take the bus, 4 come by car.
What our grade 5 papers ask
Our five grade 5 papers are our own, hand-written on the SOF olympiad blueprint rather than the Kangaroo format: 50 questions for 60 marks in 60 minutes, ending with 5 Achievers questions worth 3 marks each. The thinking carries across. Across the five papers you will find:
- Counting with digits: how many three-digit numbers have digits that add to 5, or how often the digit 7 is written from 1 to 100.
- Fractions of fractions, such as two thirds of three quarters of 48.
- Counting rectangles in a grid and squares on a chessboard.
- Perimeter of shapes with a notch cut out, and area on a scale map.
- Working backwards through a chain of steps, and balance-scale and jug puzzles.
- Truth-teller and liar puzzles where only one child lies.
Every answer is explained, and every wrong option names the mistake that leads to it. For the official grades 5-6 past papers, go to mathkangaroo.org.
A practice plan for grade 5
- Time every practice paper from the start of the year. The new pace is the main thing to learn.
- Teach a two-pass approach: answer the questions you can do quickly, mark the rest, and come back. A third of the questions are worth 5 points, so do not leave too little time for the hard ones.
- Use our grade 5 papers for volume and the official grades 5-6 past papers on mathkangaroo.org for the real format.
Grade 5 Math Kangaroo questions parents ask
How many questions are on Math Kangaroo for grade 5?
30 multiple-choice questions in 75 minutes, up from 24 in grades 3 and 4. A third are worth 3 points, a third 4 and a third 5, so the highest possible score is 120.
Do fifth and sixth graders take the same Math Kangaroo test?
Math Kangaroo USA publishes one set of practice materials and past papers for "Grades 5-6 (Levels 5 & 6)". Rankings are by single grade: the top 20 nationally and the top 3 in each state at each grade.
When is Math Kangaroo 2027?
Thursday, March 18, 2027. Register by December 31, 2026 ($20 per student), or late between January 1 and February 1, 2027 ($35).
How much is each question worth on the grade 5 Math Kangaroo?
Ten questions are worth 3 points, ten are worth 4 and ten are worth 5. A fifth grader who gets every 3- and 4-point question right but misses all the 5-point ones scores 70 out of 120, so the 5-point questions carry the most weight.