April 2026 Contest — Grade 3
The April 2026 North Star contest paper for Grade 3 has 12 questions and a 45-minute limit. Two sample questions with worked solutions are below, and you can take the whole paper online for free — no account, no sign-up.
- Grade
- Grade 3
- Questions
- 12
- Time limit
- 45 minutes
- Contest
- April 2026
- Subject
- Mathematics
- School year
- 2025-26
Before you start
- The timer starts when you press Start and runs for 45 minutes.
- Answer the 12 questions in any order; each is multiple choice.
- Your answers are marked as you go. Nothing is saved to an account, so finish in one sitting.
Sample questions
The first and last questions from this paper, with their worked solutions.
Question 1 — Mathematical Applications
Imagine you have a calendar for July, 2027 but someone accidentally erased every single date except for one! If the only number left is July 15th, can you find out what day of the week the very first day of the month (July 1st) was?
- A.Monday
- B.Tuesday
- C.Wednesday
- D.Thursday
- E.Friday
Show the worked solution
Step 1 — Read the image:
The image shows a calendar grid with columns labeled for each day of the week: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun.
The only number shown on the calendar is "15", which is located in the column under "Thu" (Thursday). This means July 15th is a Thursday.
Step 2 — Solve:
We want to find out what day of the week July 1st was.
Since there are 7 days in a week, the same day of the week repeats every 7 days.
If we count backward by 7 days from July 15th, we find the previous Thursday: 15 - 7 = 8. So, July 8th was a Thursday.
If we count backward by another 7 days from July 8th, we find the Thursday before that: 8 - 7 = 1. So, July 1st was also a Thursday.
Step 3 — Select:
Since July 1st was a Thursday, the correct option is D.
The answer is D
Question 12 — Mathematical Applications
During the month of January (which has 31 days), Sam's pet hamster Peanut hibernated for exactly 2 weeks. Which calculation gives the number of minutes Peanut was awake during January? 🐹
- A.(31 − 7×2) × 24 × 60
- B.(31 − 7×2) × 24 × 60 × 60
- C.(30 − 7×2) × 24 × 60
- D.(31 − 7×2) × 24
- E.(31 + 7×2) × 24 × 60
Show the worked solution
To find the number of minutes Peanut was awake during January, we can break the problem down step by step:
1. Find the number of days Peanut was awake:
January has 31 days.
Peanut hibernated for 2 weeks. Since there are 7 days in 1 week, 2 weeks is equal to 7 x 2 days.
Subtracting the hibernation days from the total days in January gives the number of days Peanut was awake:
31 - 7 x 2
2. Convert days to hours:
There are 24 hours in 1 day.
To find the number of hours Peanut was awake, we multiply the number of awake days by 24:
(31 - 7 x 2) x 24
3. Convert hours to minutes:
There are 60 minutes in 1 hour.
To find the total number of minutes Peanut was awake, we multiply the number of awake hours by 60:
(31 - 7 x 2) x 24 x 60
This matches the expression in option A.
The answer is A
Take the whole paper
All 12 questions, 45 minutes, marked as you go. No account needed.