If you are entering UKMT papers through the China region alongside the British Physics Olympiad, the AMC or the UK Chemistry Olympiad, your 2026–27 season has two pressure windows: up to four sittings between Friday 6 and Thursday 19 November, and BMO Round 2 on Thursday 21 January followed by the China UKChO sitting the next day, with both entries closing on Monday 11 January. Below: every date with its source, each clash read in pairs, and the order to cut in.
Every date on one page, with its source
Each row carries its own source, because these dates come from different organisers and, for China-based candidates, often from a regional channel. UKMT rounds entered through the China region follow the 2026–27 handbook, decoded in our China-region season guide. UK-centre dates apply if your school is itself a registered UKMT centre; otherwise they are listed for comparison.
| Date | Day | What happens | Source | What you do |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Sep 2026 | Wed | UKChO registration opens | RSC | Note it; nothing is urgent until January |
| 20 Sep | Sun | BPhO Round 0 entry closes, China region | BPhO China organising channel; confirm on bpho.org.uk | Decide now, and only if physics is part of your plan |
| 28 Sep | Mon | SMC China registration and payment close, RMB 240 | 2026–27 China handbook | Register, or decide consciously not to |
| 30 Sep | Wed | BPhO Round 0 sitting | BPhO China organising channel | — |
| By 10 Oct | — | At the China-region AMC centres we work with, penalty-free withdrawal is available before 10 October; confirm the terms with your centre | Our centres’ arrangements; other centres set their own | Confirm AMC 10 or 12, and which dates, in writing |
| 7 Oct | Wed | SMC, UK-centre sitting | ukmt.org.uk | Not your date on the China route |
| 8 Oct | Thu | SMC China sitting, 17:00–18:30 | 2026–27 China handbook | Sit |
| 5 / 6 Nov | Thu / Fri | AMC 10A and 12A: MAA date 5 November; China-region centre sitting 6 November | maa.org; your centre | Know which of the two applies to you |
| 10 Nov | Tue | BPhO Round 1 | BPhO China organising channel | — |
| 13 / 14 Nov | Fri / Sat | AMC 10B and 12B: MAA date 13 November; China-region centre sitting 14 November | maa.org; your centre | As above |
| 18 Nov | Wed | BMO Round 1, UK-centre sitting | ukmt.org.uk | Not your date on the China route |
| 19 Nov | Thu | BMO Round 1 China sitting, 17:00–20:30, RMB 880 | 2026–27 China handbook | Entry deadline: confirm with the organising channel |
| 11 Jan 2027 | Mon | BMO Round 2 China entry closes (RMB 880) and UKChO entry closes on both routes | China handbook; UKChO channel date-change notice; RSC | One Monday, two decisions |
| 20 Jan | Wed | BMO Round 2, UK-centre sitting | ukmt.org.uk | Not your date on the China route |
| 21 Jan | Thu | BMO Round 2 China sitting; UKChO Round 1 at UK schools | China handbook; RSC | Sitting window confirmed at registration |
| 22 Jan | Fri | UKChO Round 1 China sitting | UKChO channel date-change notice | Confirm the time at booking |
| 5–6 Feb | Fri–Sat | AIME window as published by the MAA | maa.org | China-based qualifiers follow their International Group Leader; confirm the date there |
| 21 Feb | Sun | BPhO Round 2 | BPhO China organising channel | — |
The clash lookup: every pair that sits close together
A calendar only helps once you read it in pairs. Each row below names what actually collides — rarely the mathematics, usually the preparation block the second paper needs. The right-hand column is our editorial rule, not organiser guidance.
| Pair | Gap | What really collides | The rule we use |
|---|---|---|---|
| BPhO entry (20 Sep) and SMC entry (28 Sep) | 8 days | Two entry decisions, one on a Sunday and one on a Monday, in the same fortnight as school settling in | Make both decisions in the same sitting at a desk this week, with the fee and the date written beside each |
| BPhO Round 0 (30 Sep) and SMC China (8 Oct) | 8 days | The early-October holiday falls between them at most schools — check yours | Treat the holiday as the SMC’s final revision week; keep one timed Challenge paper for an ordinary weekday at 17:00 |
| AMC A (6 Nov) and BPhO Round 1 (10 Nov) | 4 days | Four days is not enough to switch subjects and still review the first paper | Review the AMC paper the same weekend or not at all this month; do not carry it into the BPhO week |
| BPhO Round 1 (10 Nov) and AMC B (14 Nov) | 4 days | Two answer-driven papers bracketing a single school week | If you entered both AMC dates, decide in October which one is the real attempt and which is the insurance |
| AMC B (14 Nov) and BMO Round 1 (19 Nov) | 5 days | A 75-minute answer paper followed by a three-and-a-half-hour proof paper; the proof rehearsal is what disappears | Sit your last full BMO1 rehearsal before 6 November. The final five days are for rereading your own write-ups |
| BMO2 entry and UKChO entry (both 11 Jan) | 0 days | Two payments due on the same Monday in early January | Decide UKChO in December, when nothing depends on a Round 1 mark; leave only the BMO2 decision for January |
| BMO Round 2 (21 Jan) and UKChO China (22 Jan) | 1 day | A proof paper on Thursday and a chemistry sitting on Friday | No new material in either subject after 18 January; the Thursday evening is for sleep, not for chemistry notes |
Window one: four sittings in fourteen days
The November fortnight breaks plans in a predictable place. Three of its sittings feel urgent, and the fourth — BMO Round 1 on Thursday 19 November — looks postponable because it comes last. It is not. A three-and-a-half-hour paper of six problems needing full written solutions, as ukmt.org.uk describes Round 1, is rehearsed in long blocks, and long blocks are exactly what a fortnight of other sittings removes.
Note the time of day too. The handbook schedules the China SMC for 17:00–18:30 and Round 1 for 17:00–20:30, and the China-region AMC centres we work with also start at 17:00 — the end of a school day. Rehearse at least once at 17:00 on a weekday; a Saturday-morning mock measures a different student.
Window two: one Monday, two decisions, then back-to-back papers
January looks quieter on a wall calendar and is harder to manage in practice, because its difficulty is administrative. Both entries close on Monday 11 January 2027: BMO Round 2 through the China channel at RMB 880, per the handbook, and the UK Chemistry Olympiad on both of its routes, per the RSC and the China channel’s date-change notice covered in our UKChO two-calendars guide. The two decisions are not alike. Round 2 entry turns on a Round 1 outcome — the handbook gives 7 out of 60 as the China-region qualifying line into the 2026 Round 2, a figure that moves every season — and results timing is something only the organising channel can tell you. The UKChO decision turns on nothing that happens after November.
That asymmetry is the whole plan: settle the chemistry entry in December, while nothing is pending, and leave Monday 11 January holding only the one decision that genuinely has to wait. The week-by-week version of the Round 2 window, including what to do if marks are late, is in our nine-week BMO1-to-BMO2 planner.
Which combination fits your application
More sittings are not automatically better. An olympiad result carries weight because it is independent — set elsewhere, marked elsewhere, dated — and an admissions reader cross-checks it against your transcript, predicted grades, any admissions test and your reference. Several results that agree make the whole file more believable; a calendar you cannot prepare for produces results that agree with nothing. If you are still placing the UKMT rounds themselves, start with what the British Mathematical Olympiad is and the route rules in our eligibility reality check.
| Your profile | Core entries | Worth adding | Drop first if November overloads | What corroborates what |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics, UK-focused | SMC, BMO1, BMO2 if you qualify | One AMC date for answer-speed practice | The second AMC date | Proof-paper results beside a maths admissions test and predicted grades |
| Physics or engineering | BPhO rounds, SMC, BMO1 | BMO2 if you qualify | AMC entirely | A physics olympiad and a maths olympiad agreeing about quantitative strength |
| Chemistry or natural sciences | UKChO, SMC | BMO1 as a stretch | AMC; enter BMO1 only if October rehearsals are going well | A chemistry result supported by evidence of mathematical fluency |
| Applying to UK and US universities | SMC, BMO1, AMC 10 or 12 | AIME if you qualify; BMO2 | BPhO unless physics is central | A proof track and an answer track telling the same story to two systems |
| Year 11 or below, first season | SMC; BMO1 by direct entry for calibration if you are in a high-school year (confirm with the organising channel) | One AMC date | Everything in January except what you enjoyed in November | Nothing needs to reach an application yet; the aim is a baseline |
The cutting order when a week cannot hold everything
Every season meets a week that is too full. Decide the order now, while it is a calm decision rather than a panicked one.
- Never let an entry deadline lapse by default. A sitting you prepared badly for still yields a mark; a registration that closed yields nothing, and the first of these deadlines falls on a Sunday. Put 20 September, 28 September and 11 January in your phone today.
- Cut answer-paper rehearsals before proof rehearsals. Speed on a 25-question paper recovers in a week; the ability to stay with one olympiad problem for forty minutes does not.
- No new full paper inside three days of any sitting. In a fortnight holding four sittings, that rule alone tells you where the rehearsals must go: October.
- Get start times in writing. Several China-route sittings start at 17:00, and the UKChO time is confirmed at booking. A chat screenshot is not a timetable.
- Protect the review, not the volume. One paper reviewed properly teaches more than two sat and filed; our BMO past-paper pack holds the Round 1 and Round 2 stock to work from.
One observation from our own planning sessions, offered as observation rather than data: the date that gets missed is almost never a sitting. It is the quiet one — a Sunday entry deadline, a centre’s withdrawal cut-off, a Monday payment in early January. Every date here moves between seasons, so confirm each with the body that takes your entry, and UKMT’s own dates on ukmt.org.uk.
Questions students ask about the season calendar
When does SMC registration close in the China region?
Monday 28 September 2026, for the Thursday 8 October sitting, per the 2026-27 China handbook. Confirm with the organising channel.
Do BMO Round 2 and the UKChO clash in January 2027?
Nearly. Per the 2026-27 China handbook the China BMO2 sitting is Thursday 21 January, and per the UKChO China channel the China UKChO sitting is Friday 22 January. Both entries close 11 January; confirm with your entry route.
Is the AMC on 5 November or 6 November 2026?
Both are real. The MAA publishes 5 November; China-region centres are scheduling 6 November. Confirm your own sitting with your centre.
Should I enter every olympiad on this calendar?
Usually not. Enter what your application can use, protect BMO1 rehearsals, and drop a second answer-only paper first.
This is an independent editorial guide operated by Hanlin Education for China-based international-school students. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by UKMT or the BMO Subtrust, nor by the organisers of the BPhO, the AMC or the UK Chemistry Olympiad. UKMT dates for UK centres are as published on ukmt.org.uk; China-region UKMT dates and fees are per the 2026–27 handbook circulated by the organising channel; other competitions’ dates are per their organisers and regional channels as cited. Dates, fees and entry routes change every season: confirm current details on ukmt.org.uk and with the body that takes your entry. Errors reported to our editorial desk are corrected within 7 working days.