The Asian Pacific Mathematics Olympiad (APMO) is an international olympiad for mathematically gifted school students across Pacific-Rim countries. Its aims include challenging mathematical talent, encouraging olympiad activity and fostering exchange across participating countries.
The APMO competition uses one four-hour paper with five questions, each worth up to seven points. This is a full-proof environment: a plausible numerical answer without a rigorous argument is not enough.
For 2026, the APMO was held on 9 March in Oceania/the Americas and 10 March in Asia/the Western Pacific. The official report records 43 participating countries and 397 students; Singapore submitted ten official contestants.
What APMO preparation requires
- Olympiad number theory
- Combinatorics and invariants
- Euclidean geometry
- Algebra and inequalities
- Complete proof writing
The jump into APMO is not primarily a jump in syllabus breadth. It is a jump in depth, originality and proof control. Students must generate arguments under severe uncertainty rather than recognise a chapter technique.
A four-stage route
- Master national-level olympiad fundamentals.
- Build domain depth in number theory, combinatorics, geometry and algebra.
- Write full proofs and have them critiqued for gaps.
- Train four-hour endurance with carefully selected past APMO papers.
Singapore route
For Singapore students, APMO sits beyond ordinary school competition Mathematics and should be connected to the national olympiad training pathway rather than approached as an open-entry worksheet competition.
Official source checked 26 September 2026: APMO official site and the official 2026 report/regulations.
World Mathematics route: return to the World Mathematics Atlas for the wider map across competitions, school Mathematics, examinations, mathematical objects and university routes.