Frequently Asked Questions

The Quadathlon Cup is an international academic competition for students in Years 3–13. It is built around six championship events and designed to reward breadth of ability and quality of thinking, not just knowledge of a single subject.

Each year the competition follows one shared curriculum theme drawn from the UN Sustainable Development Goals, explored across eight subject areas: Art, Economics, English, Literature, Music, Science, Humanities, and Mathematics. The 2026/2027 theme is Life on Land (SDG 15).

The Quadathlon Cup is a high-challenge talent development competition for academically ambitious students who are ready to engage seriously across multiple disciplines. Because the events reward different kinds of thinking, students who are strong in verbal reasoning, mathematical thinking, visual logic, or spatial problem-solving all have a genuine pathway to contribute and excel. No single type of intelligence dominates.

CAT4 and comparable assessments (InCAS, MidYIS, NGRT, and others) are cognitive ability tests. They are designed to measure a student’s reasoning profile at a single point in time, in silent, timed, often screen-based conditions.

The Quadathlon Cup is not a test. It is a live academic competition — an opportunity for high-ability students to perform across the same six championship events in a demanding, public, team-based environment, and to have that performance formally recognised.

Both have value, and both are built on the same cognitive foundations. The difference is what each offers the student:

• A cognitive ability test tells a school what a student’s reasoning profile looks like.
• The Quadathlon Cup gives that student a reason to apply that profile — under time pressure, alongside teammates, and in front of judges — and a stage on which to be recognised for doing so.

For schools that already use CAT4 or similar instruments to identify high-ability learners, the Quadathlon Cup is the natural next step: the opportunity to turn identified ability into demonstrated performance.

The championship comprises six events across two categories:

• Individual Events: The Linguistics Challenge, the Maths Reasoning Challenge, the Abstract Reasoning Challenge, and the Sustainable Design Challenge
• Team Events: The STEM Innovation Pitch and the Team Orienteering Challenge

Full details on each event — including what students do, what judges reward, and how scoring works — are available on the Team Events page.

Yes. The Quadathlon Cup Scholarship funds nominated students whose families cannot meet the fee. Nominations come from school coordinators (never from families), take about four minutes, and are scored against a published rubric. See School Nominations to nominate a student, or Sponsor a Student if your organisation would like to fund places.

The Quadathlon Cup follows a structured seasonal pathway:

• Early Qualifiers Round (online) — September to December
• Regional Rounds — January to May, held in participating cities worldwide
• Championship Round — June/July
• The Global Final — November or December. To be held at a prestigious venue, to be confirmed

Teams that perform strongly at regional rounds qualify to progress through the championship round and ultimately to the Global Final. Full details on the qualification structure are available on the Competition Structure page.

Regional rounds are held in cities around the world, hosted at schools or educational venues in each location. The Calendar & Registration page lists all confirmed upcoming rounds with dates, locations, and registration details.

Schools interested in hosting a round in their city or region are welcome to get in touch.

The competition operates across three divisions:

• Explorers Division — Years 3–6, Grades 2–5, typically ages 7–11 (primary; accessible high challenge)
• Junior Division — Years 7–9, Grades 6–8, typically ages 11–14 (lower secondary; deeper reasoning)
• Senior Division — Years 10–13, Grades 9–12, typically ages 14–18 (upper secondary; advanced challenge)

All three divisions study the same annual theme, with differentiated depth, complexity, and independence requirements appropriate to each stage. Division availability varies by round — please check the Calendar & Registration page for details of which divisions are offered at each event.

By school year group. A student’s division is set by the year group they are in at the start of the 2026/27 school year.

For schools outside the British system, the equivalents are:

• Explorers — Years 3–6 · Grades or Classes 2–5 · upper IB PYP · born 1 September 2015 to 31 August 2019
• Junior — Years 7–9 · Grades or Classes 6–8 · IB MYP 1–3 · born 1 September 2012 to 31 August 2015
• Senior — Years 10–13 · Grades or Classes 9–12 · IB MYP 4–5 and DP · born 1 September 2008 to 31 August 2012

“Grades or Classes” covers American, Indian, Gulf ministry and similar systems, in which Grade 1 or Class 1 is the first year of school at about age six. If a school’s year groups do not line up with these equivalents, including schools whose year begins in January, the student’s date of birth decides.

The Divisions & Eligibility page sets this out in full, with worked examples.

If you are unsure which division a student belongs in, ask us before registering and we will confirm it.

No. A student keeps the same division at every stage of the season: the regional round, the championship round and the Global Final, even though the Global Final falls in the following school year.

A student in their final year of school who qualifies for the Global Final remains eligible to compete in it after leaving school.

Yes. A younger student may play up into a higher division, for example a Year 6 student joining a Junior team. This can also help a school complete a team of four.

A team competes in the division of its most senior member, and a student who plays up takes that division’s papers and events in full. No student may compete in a division below their own.

Schools register teams of four students per division. Full teams of four are recommended; teams of two or three may be entered where a full team of four is not feasible.

There is no upper limit on the number of teams a school may enter. Schools with larger cohorts of eligible students are welcome to register multiple teams.

Registration is managed through a nominated school coordinator, who acts as the primary point of contact with the Quadathlon Cup team. All upcoming rounds, registration links, and deadlines are listed on the Calendar & Registration page.

Full teams are four students. This is the official team size, the composition all six championship events are built around, and the configuration we recommend wherever possible.

We do, however, accept teams of three or two, so that a school or cohort is never excluded from participation where a full team is not feasible. Schools should be aware that smaller teams carry a slight scoring disadvantage in the team events — particularly in the STEM Innovation Pitch, where scoring rewards balanced contributions from all four members, and in the Team Orienteering Challenge, where four pairs of eyes on a trail of station puzzles is part of the event design. The disadvantage grows as the team gets smaller.

Where possible, we recommend:

• drawing a fourth student from an adjacent year group within the same division
• inviting a younger student to play up from the division below
• combining partial teams from the same school into one full team
• contacting us before registration to discuss options

Teams of fewer than two cannot be entered.

Registration fees vary by round and location. Pricing for each round is shown in the registration form on the Calendar & Registration page.

As a general guide, the fee covers full participation across all six championship events, opening and closing ceremonies, medals and trophies for award recipients, participation certificates for all students, and all event materials and staffing. Meals are almost always included and will be confirmed with schools ahead of each event.

No. The Quadathlon Cup operates on a straightforward per-student registration model. Schools pay the registration fee for each round they enter. There is no annual school membership fee, subscription, or ongoing financial commitment required to participate.

The Quadathlon Handbook and all preparation materials are provided to registered students at no additional cost.

The Quadathlon Cup is designed to complement established school curricula, not replace or duplicate them. The competition sits alongside the UK National Curriculum, the International Baccalaureate (PYP and MYP), American state standards, the Qatari Ministry of Education framework, and other major national and international systems.

This is by design. The annual theme, the eight curriculum subjects (Art, Economics, English, Literature, Music, Science, Humanities, Mathematics), and the events are drawn from knowledge and reasoning skills that are common to high-quality curricula worldwide. Schools consistently find that preparation for the Quadathlon Cup reinforces work students are already doing in class rather than adding to it.

Schools do not need to adapt their teaching or timetable to participate. The Quadathlon Cup is an enrichment and talent-development opportunity that sits on top of the curriculum you already teach.

Each season the Quadathlon Cup follows one shared curriculum theme drawn from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. All three divisions study the same theme, explored across eight subject areas: Art, Economics, English, Literature, Music, Science, Humanities, and Mathematics.

The 2026/2027 theme is Life on Land (SDG 15). All six championship events connect to this theme. The depth, complexity, and independence expected of students increases progressively from Explorers to Junior to Senior, but the theme itself is shared across the competition.

Full curriculum details — including what students study in each subject and how each event connects to the theme — are available on the Season Theme page.

The Linguistics Challenge is the Verbal-domain paper. Students work out the patterns, rules and meanings of languages they have never seen, from the evidence in front of them, and answer a short section on the key ideas of the season theme. No prior knowledge of any language is needed. Mathematics does not appear in it: it has its own event, the Maths Reasoning Challenge.

Preparation for the Quadathlon Cup is primarily student-led. Every registered student receives The Quadathlon Handbook — a single, comprehensive document written directly for students that covers everything they need: the curriculum, the events, and how to prepare for each one.

There is no minimum preparation requirement and no expectation that schools run a structured programme. The competition rewards genuine breadth of thinking, not a narrow set of rehearsed answers. Students who engage with curiosity and work steadily across all eight subjects will be well prepared.

For schools that would like to support their students further — through enrichment sessions, discussion groups, or guided preparation — optional ideas for doing so are included in the materials provided to coordinators.

The Quadathlon Handbook is the official preparation resource for students, provided to all registered participants at no additional cost. It is a single document structured in three parts:

• Part One — The Curriculum: all eight subjects in relation to the annual theme, with key vocabulary, big ideas, thinking questions, and curated further resources for each subject. This is the knowledge foundation for the competition.
• Part Two — On the Day: a detailed guide to each of the six championship events — what students will do, what strong performance looks like in plain language, and the one thing to hold in mind during each event.
• Part Three — How to Prepare: event-by-event preparation guidance explaining what each event really requires, what to practise, and what good practice looks like. This is the bridge between knowledge and performance.

The Handbook is written directly for students and designed to be used independently — no teacher input is required. The full Handbook is available at gaqcup.com/school-handbook.

Registered schools receive a coordinator’s pack covering everything from registration to competition day in clear steps — what to do, when, and how to share materials with students. It also includes optional ideas for schools that want to run preparation sessions, though this is never a requirement.

The coordinator’s role is light-touch: manage communications, confirm team lists, arrange logistics, and accompany students on the day. The Quadathlon Cup team handles all event delivery.

If you have questions at any point, contact us at info@gaqcup.com.

We recommend that each school nominates a coordinator or teacher-in-charge to manage communications and on-day logistics — but this is a light-touch administrative role, not an academic coaching commitment. The coordinator receives all official communications and operational guidance directly from the Quadathlon Cup team.

The level of school involvement in student preparation is entirely up to you. Some schools run enrichment sessions or discussion groups; others simply share the Handbook with students and let them take ownership. Both approaches work — the materials are designed to support either.

The role of the school coordinator and teacher-in-charge is primarily administrative and pastoral. Teachers are not expected to run a teaching programme, become subject experts in any of the eight curriculum areas, or prepare students directly for individual events. The Quadathlon Cup is designed to be student-led, with students preparing independently using The Quadathlon Handbook.

Specifically, teachers are expected to:

• register the school and confirm team compositions before the stated deadline
• share The Quadathlon Handbook with students (available at gaqcup.com/school-handbook)
• manage parental consent, travel, supervision, and dietary requirements in line with school policy
• accompany students on competition day and provide pastoral supervision throughout
• share results and certificates with students and families after the event

Some schools choose to go further — running a short after-school club, a weekly discussion group around the annual theme, or a brief rehearsal session for one or two events. This is entirely at the school’s discretion. The Quadathlon Cup is designed around student-led preparation, and how each school chooses to support that preparation is a matter for the school to decide.

Separately, for larger delegations, we may invite schools to nominate one or more teacher volunteers to act as judges for the STEM Innovation Pitch. Judges receive a full briefing and scoring guidance before the event and are supported throughout. No specialist STEM knowledge is required.

The Quadathlon Cup is designed to grow year on year, with additional divisions, rounds, and regions opening as the programme develops. The annual theme rotates each year in line with the UN SDG framework, meaning schools that participate across multiple seasons will engage with a progressively broader academic programme.

Schools interested in hosting a regional round or being among the first to participate in a new location are welcome to get in touch.

The Global Final is the end-of-season championship experience for qualifying teams, bringing together the strongest performers from regional and championship rounds worldwide. To be held at a prestigious venue, to be confirmed.

Qualification is earned through strong performance at regional and championship rounds. Full details on qualification criteria and format will be communicated to registered schools well in advance.