Grades 5-6 paper · Math Kangaroo 2027
Math Kangaroo
grade 6 practice
Sixth grade is the older year on the Math Kangaroo grades 5-6 paper: 30 questions, 75 minutes, a top score of 120. Your child has usually met the format once already, so this is the year to work on the hardest problems, the ones worth 5 points.
Math Kangaroo 2027 for a grade 6 student
| What | Grade 6 |
|---|---|
| Competition day | Thursday, March 18, 2027 |
| Paper your child sits | Grades 5-6 (Math Kangaroo USA “Levels 5 & 6”) |
| Ranked against | 6th 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 6 sits on the grades 5-6 paper
A sixth grader has a year of the 30-question pace behind them, and most ideas on the grades 5-6 paper should now be familiar from school. Our grade 6 papers add ratio, percentages and remainders.
Rankings are by single grade, so a sixth grader is compared with sixth graders. The top 20 scores nationally and the top 3 in each state are listed at each grade.
Sixth grade is also when many children start looking at AMC 8. Kangaroo practice and AMC 8 practice reward the same habit: look for the idea that makes the arithmetic short.
The 5th grade page covers the other year on this paper: Math Kangaroo grade 5 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 6 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 6th 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 6th 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 6 practice problems
Written by us in the Kangaroo style, five answer choices each. Try them before opening the answer.
In a chess club the ratio of boys to girls is 3 to 5. After 8 more boys join, there are equal numbers of boys and girls. How many girls are in the club?
- (A) 5
- (B) 12
- (C) 15
- (D) 20
- (E) 24
Show answer
20. Write the club as 3 parts boys and 5 parts girls. The 8 new boys make up the 2-part gap, so one part is 4 children. The girls are 5 parts, which is 20. Check: 12 boys + 8 = 20 boys, equal to the 20 girls.
What is the smallest whole number greater than 1 that leaves a remainder of 1 when divided by 2, by 3, by 4, by 5 and by 6?
- (A) 31
- (B) 61
- (C) 121
- (D) 361
- (E) 721
Show answer
61. One less than the number must divide exactly by 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. The smallest number that does is their lowest common multiple, 60, so the answer is 61. Multiplying 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 = 720 and adding 1 gives the trap 721.
What our grade 6 papers ask
Our five grade 6 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:
- Remainders and lowest common multiples: the smallest number leaving 4 when divided by 9 and by 12.
- Area of a path around a rectangular garden, and shapes with equal perimeters.
- Ratio problems where adding the same amount to both numbers changes the ratio.
- Percentage profit and loss, such as a shirt sold at a 10% loss.
- Speed, distance and time: a train passing through a tunnel, a tank filling while it leaks.
- Pigeonhole and logic arguments: tilted squares on a dot grid, islanders who lie.
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 6
- Spend most practice time on the 5-point problems in past papers. They are a third of the paper and carry the most points.
- Keep the timing honest: 30 questions in 75 minutes, about 2 and a half minutes each.
- Mix our grade 6 papers with the official grades 5-6 past papers on mathkangaroo.org, then talk through every wrong option, not just the right answer.
Grade 6 Math Kangaroo questions parents ask
What is a good Math Kangaroo score for grade 6?
Math Kangaroo does not set a pass mark. It publishes national and state rankings and percentiles at each grade, out of a top score of 120. A useful practice target is finishing the 30 questions with time left to check.
Is Math Kangaroo good preparation for AMC 8?
They are different competitions, but both are multiple choice and both reward spotting a shortcut over long calculation. Many families use Kangaroo in grade 6 as a first timed competition before AMC 8.
When do I need to register for Math Kangaroo 2027?
Regular registration is September 15 to December 31, 2026 ($20 per student). Late registration is January 1 to February 1, 2027 ($35). The competition is Thursday, March 18, 2027.
What does my sixth grader's Math Kangaroo percentile mean?
It is the percentage of students in the same grade whose scores were lower. Math Kangaroo USA reports two percentiles, one against the state and one against the whole country.