HKPSOI Rules

General

The Hong Kong Primary Schools Olympiad in Informatics is comprised of the Heat Event and the Final Event. The competition focuses on computer programming using the Blockly programming language.

All primary schools in Hong Kong may apply for HKPSOI. These is no upper limit in the number of applicants.

The Heat Event is only available in Chinese version. The Final Event is available in both Chinese and English versions. Verbal instructions will be given in Cantonese. For participants who do not understand Cantonese, instructions in Putonghua or English will be provided on request.

Contestants should note that photos may be taken and publicized for promotional purposes.

Heat Event

The Heat Event is an online quiz game. Questions mainly involves problem solving using techniques and knowledge in computer programming and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). It lasts for multiple days. There are 3 rounds per day; in each round, contestants are to answer 10 questions in 1 minute.

Applied schools may let Primary 4 to Primary 6 students login with the “Edu DynamiX” mobile app. Before the contest starts, students may login to practice quizzes on topics other than HKPSOI. After the contest starts, students may login to compete.

From each school, the four Primary 4 to Primary 6 contestants scored highest in the Heat Event are selected. In case of ties, the teacher-in-charge in the school decides the final ranking. All selected contestants are merged into one single candidate list ranked by scores. Contestants in the candidate list scoring at least the qualifying score advances to the Final Event. The qualifying score shall be the lowest score such that not more than 180 contestants advances. Substitutions are not allowed regardless of reason.

Students must enter their real Full English or Chinese Name (as in student registration / ID card) in “Edu DynamiX”. Results of those using nicknames (e.g. Charlie Lau) will be disregarded. If there is an error in the name during registration process / in the existing accounts, you must notify us via email () before the start of the actual competition. It is not possible to change the name once the competition begins. Students who enter the wrong information will lose their eligibility to enter the Final Event without substitution.

Final Event

The Final Event is a 1 hour practical test. Contestants who are late will be disqualified. All contestants will have to bring their own iPads of at least 9.7″ and with at least iPadOS/iOS 13.1.

Tasks

Competition tasks are to be solved in the Blockly programming language. Tasks from the previous year is available for reference (https://hkpsoi.org). New task formats may be introduced. Contestants should get familiar with the usage of Blockly beforehand, because the organizer will not provide any instruction regarding the usage of Blockly.

The competition will contain around 15 tasks. Each task may employ different scoring. A contestant attain certain number of points when correctly solved one task. The scoring depends on the difficulty of the task, the preciseness and performance of the provided solution. Each task will state clearly the exact scoring of that task.

Submission of Solutions and Adjudication

Contestants will perform coding, testing and debugging on their tablet computer. Upon submission, the contestant will be immediately notified of the score. There is no upper limit in the number of submissions. The final score of a task will be the highest score among all previous submissions to that task.

Queries

Any queries about the competition should reach the Chief Adjudicator immediately after the competition. The decision of the Adjudicators will be final.