Resources · AIQ Preparation
Preparing for the AIQ Challenge
There is no syllabus to revise and no past-paper pattern to drill. Preparation here means getting comfortable with questions that do not have a single right answer.
What actually helps
Six things worth doing at home
None of these take a special session. They are ways of talking to your child that happen to be exactly what the Challenge asks for.
- 01
Practise explaining, not answering
Ask your child why they chose something rather than whether it is right. The Challenge rewards reasoning that can be followed, so saying it out loud at home is direct practice.
- 02
Sit with open questions
Children used to one correct answer often freeze when there are several. Questions with no settled answer, asked casually and without a verdict, take that pressure off.
- 03
Use an AI tool together, then check it
Ask a chatbot something you already know well and find where it goes wrong. Noticing that confident answers can be incorrect is a large part of what AIQ assesses.
- 04
Let a first attempt be poor
Improving a weak first version is a skill, and it only develops if the first version is allowed to exist. Resist tidying it up for them.
- 05
Talk through disagreements
Making a case to someone who does not already agree is one of the seven capabilities. Ordinary family disagreements, taken seriously, are good practice.
- 06
Do not cram
There is nothing to memorise. A child who arrives rested and curious will do better than one who has been drilled, and we would rather say so than sell preparation that does not help.
What is assessed
Knowing what the Challenge looks for
Preparation is easier when you know what is actually being measured. These seven are the whole of it.
Critical Thinking
Decides what information actually matters in an unfamiliar problem, and what can be set aside.
Creativity
Produces a response nobody prescribed, then improves it rather than defending the first attempt.
Emotional Intelligence
Reads a situation involving other people and responds to what is actually going on in it.
Communication & Collaboration
Makes a case clearly enough that someone who disagrees can engage with it.
Entrepreneurship
Finds the need inside a messy scenario and shapes something that answers it.
AI & Digital Literacy
Uses AI tools with judgement, and can say where they helped and where they misled.
Real-World Application
Transfers thinking practised in one setting to a problem that looks nothing like it.
Before the day
Where AI is allowed, and where the line is
Worth reading with your child rather than for them, so nobody is unsure on the day.
- AI tools are permitted where a challenge says so, and their use is part of what is assessed, not a workaround to be hidden.
- Work submitted must be the child's own thinking. Using AI to produce an answer the child cannot explain defeats the point of entering.
- Adults may help a child understand a question. They may not help answer it.
- Every participating child and guardian agrees to the integrity policy at registration.
By grade
What the Challenge asks at your child's level
Questions
What parents ask about preparing
Is there a syllabus or past papers we should work through?
No, and there is not going to be. The Challenge presents unfamiliar problems on purpose, so anything that could be revised in advance would defeat it.
Should we buy preparation material?
Not for this. Anything sold as AIQ preparation is not from us. What helps is on this page and costs nothing.
How far ahead should we start?
These are habits rather than a course, so there is no runway to plan. A child who arrives rested and curious does better than one who has been drilled.
When will sample challenges be published?
Worked examples will appear on this page once challenges from a completed cycle can be released. We would rather publish real ones later than invented ones now.
Register for the AIQ Challenge
Registration opens soon. Join the list and we will tell you directly when dates are confirmed.