France’s Coupe Animath d’automne reaches round two on Wednesday 30 September 2026. This is for qualified students, not a new open-entry round. The POFM’s official notice gives the arrangements.
Confirm the afternoon with your school
Collège students have three hours; lycée students have four. The sitting is scheduled for the afternoon in students’ schools. No universal clock time is given: confirm your start time, room and supervising teacher with your school.
Check qualification in the round-one portal. Only qualified candidates’ scripts are marked; electronic devices and outside communication are prohibited.
Use the right preparation documents
The organiser’s 2026 prerequisites list separates collège and lycée expectations. It covers geometry, arithmetic and algebra, alongside the stated school-curriculum requirements. Know how to use the listed results; the document says their proofs are not required.
The current notice also links a preparation and writing guide whose filename is dated 2025. Its advice is to begin with accessible problems and write the actual mathematical steps that support a conclusion. Do not confuse a filename’s year with the date of this year’s sitting.
For a short practice session, choose one completed problem from an authorised archive, write your reasoning without looking at its solution, then compare the two. Mark the first unsupported step and rewrite it. Our France warm-up offers a separate original exercise with hints.
Where this fits in the French pathway
The Préparation Olympique Française de Mathématiques, an Animath programme, trains and selects students for international competitions. The Coupe is a route into that preparation; reaching this round is not an IMO team place. Our France selection guide explains the wider route.
Checked 26 September 2026. The organiser published the notice on 16 September and updated it on 19 September. This report covers the approaching sitting.