Divisions
ACSL has five divisions: Senior, Intermediate, Junior, Classroom, and Elementary, providing an appropriate challenge for students of varying ages and abilities. We encourage schools and organizations to join more than one division, so that students can participate in the division best matching their ability.
Contest topics are similar across divisions but vary in levels of detail and difficulty.
Within a division, a school forms one or more teams. Each team can have a maximum of 12 students. A school can choose to compete in the 5-score or 3-score division: that is, the team score for each contest is the sum of the top 5 (or 3) students scores in that contest.
A school can register multiple teams per division. This allows more students to have their scores counted towards a team score and also allows friendly competition within a school.
The cost to register a team in a division (except the Elementary Division) is $150. Each additional team in that division is $75. For the Elementary Division the costs are $100 and $50.
Advisors can register additional teams after the initial registration form has been completed.
A student may only participate as a member of a single team. After Contest #1, a student cannot change teams.
High-scoring students in all divisions will be invited to an end-of-year online Finals competition.
Senior Division
Best for high school students with programming experience, especially those taking AP Computer Science.
Each contest consists of an online 30-minute, 5-question short answer test and an online programming problem to solve in 72 hours.
Intermediate Division
Best for high school students with little or no programming experience and for advanced junior high students.
Each contest consists of an online 30-minute, 5-question short answer test and an online programming problem to solve in 72 hours.
Junior Division
Best for junior high and middle school students who are learning programming or who have coding experience. No student beyond grade 9 may compete in the Junior Division.
Each contest consists of an online 30-minute, 5-question short answer test and an online programming problem to solve in 72 hours.
Classroom Division
Open to students in all grades. Ideally suited for students taking AP Computer Science Principles, and other computer science classes without a major programming component.
Each contest consists of an online 50-minute, 10-question short answer test. The problems are non-programming problems from the Junior, Intermediate, and Senior divisions.
Elementary Division
Open to students in grades 3 - 6.
Each contest consists of an online 30-minute, 5-question non-programming test, focused on a single category of content. A different category will be tested on each contest.