Rules Online
The Contest
Our Objective
The main objective of THE BIG CHALLENGE is to promote English language learning with a fun, educational activity. Student motivation is greatest when large numbers of their fellow students take part. It creates a greater sense of excitement, anticipation and competition.
Who is the contest for?
THE BIG CHALLENGE is intended for students in prilmary and secondary schools who are learning English. The contest is not open to native English speakers or to bilingual students. It is reserved for students whose knowledge of English has been acquired essentially within the regular school system of their respective country. Native English speaking students who have been registered by mistake will be excluded from regional and national rankings and will not be able to win any of the prizes intended for regional or national winners.
Contest Organisation
In each school, a teacher or school official is designated BIG CHALLENGE COORDINATOR. They will be the contact person between the contest organisers and other teachers within the school who wish to participate with their students. All the contest documents as well as the final results and prize parcels will be addressed to the coordinator for all classes in order to simplify organisation and reduce shipping costs. Schools must register a minimum of 30 participants overall, irrespective of class level.
Contest Funding
THE BIG CHALLENGE receives no financial aid of any kind and is funded exclusively by fees paid by participating students, that is, 10€ per student or 8.26€ once the VAT has been paid. These fees cover, amongst others:
- The development costs, maintenance and updates of the technical infrastructure required for the online contest
- Rental of numerous servers needed to operate the contest
- Management of the data base containing all the participants by an external provider and especially score calculation and the establishment of three rankings
- The purchase, production, delivery and storage of prizes, prize parcel preparation by an external provider
- Delivery of prize parcels to schools
- The development and maintenance of the app The Big Challenge PLAY, including more than 20 000 orignal questions
- The development and maintenance of the Class Activities
- The development, server costs and maintenance of the CLASS Challenge
The contest fees can be paid by the students themselves, by the school or its authorised body; the fees can also be shared between the school (7€ for the school for example and 3€ for the students).
The registration fees must be paid in full at the time of registration and at the latest by the date set as the registration deadline for the current year. This policy is necessary in order to finance the purchase of prizes which will be sent to schools with students’ contest results at the end of May. After the final registration deadline, no cancellations or refunds will be accepted. However, because the prizes have already been purchased, they will be sent to the school for the total number of students registered, whether or not all the students have taken part in the contest. An invoice can be provided upon request.
The Day of the Contest
The Day of the Contest
The next Big Challenge will take place in schools across the Benelux region between 10 March and 28 March 2025. The online contest is open throughout this period, in order to facilitate the organisation for teachers and schools. The contest is open Monday-Friday. Students are given a 45-minute session to complete the contest. This session may be scheduled at any time during the day, throughout the week to accommodate teachers’ and school schedules. We recommend choosing a time slot in the morning. To facilitate organisation, and to adapt to schools’ capacities in terms of computer equipment, several sessions may be scheduled throughout the contest week: one session for each level for example. In exceptional cases where a date between 10 March and 28 March 2025 proves impossible for the school or for certain classes, a special dispensation may be granted to hold the contest at an earlier date.
The Contest
The test is taken online on a computer or tablet which must be connected to the internet for the duration of the test. It is comprised of 55 multiple-choice questions. For each question, there are four answers proposed. Contestants must select the one and only correct answer. The 55 questions, testing oral and written comprehension, cover vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, conversation situations and civilisation. Each class level has its own specific series of questions in order to correspond as closely as possible to school programmes. The test is strictly individual and takes place with no outside assistance or accessory of any kind (book, dictionary…). The test is supervised by a teacher or a member of the teaching staff who guarantees its proper conduct.
Scores
The 55 questions are divided in 3 categories 3 categories: 25 easy questions, 15 medium questions and 15 difficult questions.
– Each question from the 1st category is worth 4 points for a correct answer.
– Each question from the 2nd category is worth 5 points for a correct answer.
– Each question from the 3rd category is worth 6 points for a correct answer.
If the student gives an incorrect answer, he or she loses a quarter of the value of that question:
– If an incorrect answer is given to a question in the 1st category, the 4 points are not awarded and 1 point is deducted.
– If an incorrect answer is given to a question in the 2nd category, the 5 points are not awarded and 1.25 points are deducted.
– If an incorrect answer is given to a question in the 3rd category, the 6 points are not awarded and 1.50 points are deducted.
If no answer is given, the question is awarded 0 points. If several answers are given, the question is awarded 0 points.
In order to avoid a negative or zero score, the score obtained by adding the total number of points earned by the student is increased by 85 points. Students’ scores will thus range from 18.75 to 350 points.
| The answer to a 4-point question is correct | + 4 |
| The answer to a 4-point question is incorrect | – 1 |
| The answer to a 5-point question is correct | + 5 |
| The answer to a 5-point question is incorrect | – 1.25 |
| A question has no answer | 0 |
| The answer to a 6-point question is correct | + 6 |
| The answer to a 6-point question is incorrect | – 1.50 |
| Two answers are given for the same question | 0 |
| Total | 11.25 pts |
11.25 + 85 = 96.25 points
In this example, the final score will be 96.25 out of 350.
Results and Prizes
Correction and Rankings
The score and rankings obtained by each participant in the school will be sent to THE BIG CHALLENGE Coordinator on the date indicated in the contest calendar. The prizes will then be shipped to schools. All the results will be destroyed on 31 July 2025. Beyond that date, no claims will be accepted.
For each of the levels, three rankings will be established: national, regional and school. In the case of a tie among the 30 top students at the national level and the 5 top students at the regional level for each class, winners will be designated with priority given to the student who answered the most questions. If a tie subsists, students will be ranked from youngest to oldest.
Prizes
THE BIG CHALLENGE awards prizes to all students registered in the contest. Other categories of prizes are awarded according to the various rankings obtained by students:
– Per student: whatever his or her ranking, each student receives a Big Challenge diploma along with a poster of Anglophone cities or holiday destinations.
– The Medal: in each school, the top student in his or her level will receive a superb medal, provided that one condition is met: the school must register a minimum of 100 students total, or there must be at least 20 students registered in the level.
– Per school: whatever the scores obtained by its students, each school receives additional prizes for participants who have achieved the best results at the different class levels. The number of prizes allotted to each school for its students is directly proportional to the number of students participating.
– On regional and national levels: The top two students in each class level in each region and o na national level will receive prestigious prizes.
Please note that a student participating in the contest several times, consecutively or not, will be eligible for a regional or national prize only once. If they were to qualify as national winner more than once, they will maintain their score, but will not be ranked and the prizes to which they would be normally entitled will be attributed to the next participant. Students who win a national prize will not receive the regional prizes in addition. Similarly, national and regional winners will not receive medal
– The Official Certificate: participants will have the possibility of using their BIG CHALLENGE account to print out their CERTIFICATE OF PARTICIPATION indicating their score and three rankings. This official Big Challenge document attests to their level in English and is a useful addition to a student’s school records.