Competition Format

From the Vietnam qualifier to the international final: the full path.

The Vietnam selection path

Free and open to secondary-school students nationwide. Three rounds lead to Vietnam national team.

  1. Register

    Open registration

    When:
    From July 2026
    Register at:
    iaio.vn/register
  2. Round 1

    National Qualifier

    When:
    Late October 2026
    Where:
    5–6 test sites: Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Thai Nguyen, Can Tho
    Format:
    On paper · 100 bilingual multiple-choice questions
  3. Round 2

    National Final - Team Selection

    When:
    January 2027
    Where:
    Hanoi
    Format:
    On computer · 5-hour ML task (train a model, submit predictions)
  4. Team

    National team announced

    When:
    After Round 2
  5. Round 3

    International Final

    When:
    25 Feb – 2 Mar 2027
    Where:
    Da Nang
    Format:
    Alongside 40⁺ nations · on-computer + scientific tasks

Preliminary & National Final rounds

Round 1

Round 1: National Qualifier

Free, open to all secondary-school students. A bilingual paper exam at test sites nationwide.

View Round 1 details →

Round 2

Round 2: National Final (Team Selection)

On computer in Hanoi. Top candidates compete to earn a place on the Vietnam national team.

View Round 2 details →

Inside the international final

At the Da Nang final, each national team competes across these three rounds.

1
Scientific Round

5h

6 knowledge-based AI/ML questions requiring Python and deep-learning library proficiency. Tests conceptual understanding across the AI/ML syllabus.

2
Preparation Round

2h

Acclimatization to the exam environment using pre-configured laptops. Participants familiarize themselves with the tooling before the Practical Round.

3
Practical Round

5h

Up to 20 submission attempts on an online evaluation platform. Applied problem-solving with open-source Python ML libraries on a real-world dataset.

Eligibility & Format

The Vietnam rounds are free and open to secondary-school students (THCS and THPT) nationwide. At the international final, each member country sends its selected team.

AI Syllabus

Topics span supervised and unsupervised learning, neural networks, data preprocessing, model evaluation, and applied problem-solving. Full syllabus published by the IAIO Scientific Committee.