NCSS Challenge

The NCSS Challenge will run from Monday the 5th of August to Sunday the 8th of September. Enrolments will open in June.

The NCSS Challenge is an online programming competition for high school students, run by the School of Information Technologies at the University of Sydney as part of the National Computer Science School (NCSS).

The Challenge is unlike any other programming competition because we will teach you how to program as you compete rather than expecting you to be a coder already. However, if you are a seasoned coder, we have something for you too: advanced streams with problems ranging from relatively simple through to mind-bendingly hard.

For 5 weeks starting on 5th August, 2013, we will email you a short tutorial containing the information you will need to complete the week's programming challenges.

In 2013, there are three streams to the Challenge:

• The Beginners stream, which is designed for students with no prior experience at programming;
• The Intermediate stream, for students who have completed the Beginners stream, and those who have some experience in programming;
• The Advanced stream, for students who know Python and have significant programming experience, or who have completed the Intermediate stream in previous years.

Registration costs $20 per participant for each stream (incl GST).

We welcome and encourage schools and students from outside Australia to also participate in the Challenge.

If you would like to take part in any of these streams, please register.

You will have until Sunday night to submit your solutions to the Challenge website, where they will be marked automatically. A full set of correct solutions, hints and commentary about each challenge will be sent out the following week.

If you would like more information about the Challenge and the three streams, you can download this brochure.

If you have questions or comments, email us at challenge@ncss.edu.au.