March 2026 Contest — Grade 8
The March 2026 North Star contest paper for Grade 8 has 12 questions and a 60-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 8
- Questions
- 12
- Time limit
- 60 minutes
- Contest
- March 2026
- Subject
- Mathematics
- School year
- 2025-26
Before you start
- The timer starts when you press Start and runs for 60 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 — Data & Statistics
A summer camp has 200 campers. If 120 campers signed up for swimming, 80 signed up for arts and crafts, and 30 signed up for both, how many campers signed up for neither activity?
- A.0
- B.20
- C.30
- D.40
- E.50
Show the worked solution
To find the number of campers who signed up for neither activity, we can use the principle of inclusion-exclusion or break the campers down into distinct groups:
1. Campers who signed up for both swimming and arts and crafts:
There are 30 campers in this group.
2. Campers who signed up for swimming only:
Out of the 120 campers who signed up for swimming, 30 also signed up for arts and crafts.
Swimming only = 120 - 30 = 90 campers
3. Campers who signed up for arts and crafts only:
Out of the 80 campers who signed up for arts and crafts, 30 also signed up for swimming.
Arts and crafts only = 80 - 30 = 50 campers
Now, we can find the total number of campers who signed up for at least one of the activities by adding these three groups together:
Total signed up = 90 (swimming only) + 50 (arts and crafts only) + 30 (both) = 170 campers
Finally, to find the number of campers who signed up for neither activity, we subtract this total from the overall number of campers (200):
Neither activity = 200 - 170 = 30 campers
The answer is C.
Question 12 — Data & Statistics
A jar contains 4 red tokens and 4 blue tokens, identical in size. Sofia draws one token at random, then Marco draws one from the remaining tokens. Marco wins if both tokens are the same color; Sofia wins if they are different. In how many of the possible pairs of draws will Marco have a token of the same color as Sofia?
- A.12
- B.24
- C.20
- D.18
- E.30
Show the worked solution
To find the number of possible pairs of draws where Marco has a token of the same color as Sofia, we can analyze the choices step-by-step.
There are 8 tokens in total: 4 red tokens and 4 blue tokens. Let's label the red tokens as R\_1, R\_2, R\_3, R\_4 and the blue tokens as B\_1, B\_2, B\_3, B\_4.
A "pair of draws" consists of Sofia's draw followed by Marco's draw. Since Sofia draws first and Marco draws second, the order of the draws matters.
For Marco to have a token of the same color as Sofia, they must either both draw red tokens or both draw blue tokens.
Case 1: Both draw red tokens
Sofia can draw any of the 4 red tokens (4 choices).
After Sofia draws a red token, there are 3 red tokens remaining for Marco to choose from (3 choices).
The number of pairs of draws where both get red is 4 x 3 = 12.
Case 2: Both draw blue tokens
Sofia can draw any of the 4 blue tokens (4 choices).
After Sofia draws a blue token, there are 3 blue tokens remaining for Marco to choose from (3 choices).
The number of pairs of draws where both get blue is 4 x 3 = 12.
Adding these two cases together, the total number of pairs of draws where Marco has a token of the same color as Sofia is:
12 + 12 = 24
Therefore, there are 24 such pairs of draws.
Take the whole paper
All 12 questions, 60 minutes, marked as you go. No account needed.