Sumdog Contest FAQ
For detailed, step-by-step help, watch one of our Contest Help Videos.
If you can't find your question here, please contact us for more help.
About Sumdog
What is Sumdog?
Sumdog's free math games are designed to improve mental math fluency at grades 1-8. Most of the games are multiplayer, letting students around the world practice their math against one another.
For more information on Sumdog, watch our introduction video
Does it cost anything?
There is no cost to either enter or participate in a contest, and you can continue to use the accounts you create even after the contest ends. All the teacher tools on Sumdog are available to use for free other than our student progress reports. You can find more information about this on our Features page.
Signing up for a contest
How do I enter a contest?
Select your state/province below, find your local area and then click on the "Enter" link next to the contest name. You will then need to either sign up for a free Sumdog account or log into your existing account.
Watch the Join a contest video for more help.
Does each teacher/student at my school need to enter the contest?
No. One person at your school will need to sign up for a free teacher account and enter the contest. Once they have done this, they can invite other teachers to join them and they will be automatically entered as well. Only teachers should sign up for accounts - students will be entered by their teachers.
How do I know whether I have successfully entered?
Select your state/province below, then click the "Results" link next to the contest name. At the bottom of the results page, you will see a full list of all the schools that have entered this contest. Note that you will need to have finished creating or joining a school before you will appear here.
What do I need to do to get set up for the contest?
Before you can participate in a contest, you will need to do the following:
- Sign up and join or create a school
- Upload at least 15 students
That's it! Now just have the students log on and start playing.
Watch a video about how to create or join a school or create student accounts.
How do I invite other teachers at my school?
Go to the Teachers page and use the email invite option at the bottom of the page. You can invite more than one teacher at one time.
Watch a video about how to invite other teachers.
Which students should I upload for the contest?
Any ones you want! The contest is adaptive, so please don't feel that only the brightest students can participate. You will need to have a minimum of 15 students at your school to be eligible for prizes, but we do not have any maximum limit.
Is there an age limit for students?
No. We generally cover number and operation skills for grades 1-8, but this may depend on the ability level of the student. Special schools, for example, will have students at varying levels which may or may not be related to their age. If you have concerns, please browse through our list of topics to check that the website is appropriate for your students.
I haven't received my email verification link.
Please contact us and ask us to verify your email address for you. If you think you entered the incorrect address when you signed up, please provide us with both the correct and incorrect addresses.
Arrgh! I am trying to set up, but I am completely stuck!
Contact us with a clear, detailed description of what you are trying to do, and where you are having problems. We are happy to help!
Participating in a contest
Do you assign the students questions to answer?
We will adapt the questions to their ability, but you get to choose the skills that they answer questions from. The more questions they answer correctly, the more they will progress. If they are struggling with a specific topic, we'll lower the level for them.
For more information on how to select skills for your students, please see the question below.
My students are getting questions on skills that they haven't covered yet! What should I do?
You can choose the skills that you want to be available to students in the contest here.
Watch a video about how to set the skills used.
What should the students do to be in the contest?
They just have to play the games. We will track results from any student who uses Sumdog at your school.
Watch a video about how to play in a contest.
Can students play from home?
Yes. They can play in the contest from anywhere that they can access the website!
Scoring and results
How do I see the results?
Select your state/province below and click on the "Results" link next to the contest name.
My students have played the games - why aren't my school results showing up?
This may be because less than 15 students have participated. You can only qualify for the overall prize if at least 15 students play overall, and for a daily prize if at least 15 students play on that day.
Why aren't my students earning points when they play?
You should make sure that they are playing inside the contest activity. They should be able to see the name of the contest on the left-hand side of the screen when they click the play button. If they are in a different activity (e.g. Training or Tables), they will not earn any points towards the contest.
Watch a video about how to play in a contest.
How do you calculate the scores?
Every question answered correctly by a student equals one point. A student is counted as participating once they have begun playing games on Sumdog.
- For the overall and daily results, we average the total number of questions your school has answered across the number of participating students overall. At least 15 students in the school need to participate in order to get an overall score.
- For the daily results, we average the total number of questions your school has answered across the number of participating students on that day. At least 15 students in the school need to participate on that day in order to get a daily score.
- For the busy bees results, we take the average number of questions answered by the top 15 students in the school.
- For the perfectionists results, we take the average accuracy score for your school (we only count students that have answered at least 50 questions). At least 15 students in the school need to participate in order to get a perfectionists score.
- For the top ten students results, we take the total number of questions that the student has answered correctly overall in the contest.
What prizes are on offer?
Select your state/province below and click on the "Enter" link next to the contest name to see which prizes are on offer.
