The Star Coders Contest is a brand new programming competition organized by AlphaStar Academy for students from 4th to 8th grade. Students will participate individually and prizes will be awarded to the top-performing students in each grade level.

The objective of our competition is to provide a credible, fun, and challenging contest to students located in the Bay Area. The exam will be proctored in-person at our testing location.

Students should expect a diverse set of problems with varying format, difficulty, and topics.

* We will also provide the contest in an online format following the main event for students unable to attend the in-person competition.

Date and time

• In-person: May 4, 2025 between 2-5:30 pm (PDT)
• Online: May 5 – 12, 2025

Location

St. Joseph of Cupertino School
10120 N De Anza Blvd, Cupertino, CA

Awards (In-person only)

For each grade:

The coupons will be redeemable towards any AlphaStar course or practice exam.

* Online participants will only receive a participation certificate.

Requirements

• Students must be currently enrolled in 4th to 8th grade.
• On the day of the contest, problems will be distributed electronically and students must bring their own laptop and charger to participate.
• The contest supports the following languages: Java, C++, Python. Students will need to have basic knowledge in at least one of them.

Schedule

In-person contest:

NOTE: Computers will not be provided; participants must bring their laptops.

• 2:00-2:30 pm – Student check in
• 2:45-4:45 pm – Contest
• 5:00-5:30 pm – Awards ceremony

Online contest:

• Monday May 5, 12:00 am PDT – Contest window opens
• Monday May 12, 11:59 am PDT – Contest window closes
• Online contest winners published shortly after

Once a student begins the exam, they will have exactly 2 hours to complete it

Details

The contest will be in two divisions:

• Elementary (4th and 5th graders)
• Middle (6th, 7th, and 8th graders)

Both divisions will have 8 problems to solve, each increasing in difficulty. The problems will have a variety of formats (including interactive puzzles). A sample problem set will be provided one week before the contest so students can familiarize themselves with the question format.

To access the materials, registered students will be provided login credentials to the contest at least one week prior to its start. However, students will not be able to access the real contest problems until the official contest window begins.

Click to see the sample problems

2024 Contest Results (In-person Contest)