OBMEP on Saturday

The note comes home from school on an August afternoon: your child has qualified for the second round of the Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools (OBMEP). The joy lasts until someone reads the date. The OBMEP on Saturday has become a fixture of the calendar, a yearly case of Sabbath exams in Brazil: from 2022 to 2026, every second round fell on a Saturday, and in 2026 the exam is on October 17, at 2:30 p.m. (Brasília time), right when Adventist families are at church or resting.

The rules provide a path for students who keep the Sabbath: the exam after sunset, with the same time as everyone else. The detail that trips up many families is that the request comes from the school, through the website, within a short window in August. This guide walks through the procedure and what changes in Brazil's other science olympiads, with a plan so you do not miss the 2027 deadline.

📅When is the second round of OBMEP 2026?

The OBMEP is run by the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA) and, according to the 2026 rules, it is meant for students from the 6th to the 9th year of Brazilian elementary school (Ensino Fundamental) and in high school (Ensino Médio), at public and private schools. Many Pathfinders, who are 10 to 15 years old, fall in this range. The olympiad has two rounds, and only the second one usually clashes with the Sabbath.

The first round is given by the school itself, in any school shift: in 2026, it was on a Tuesday, June 9, with 20 multiple-choice questions. The second round is given only by IMPA, at exam centers, with 6 written-answer questions and a 3-hour time limit (items 5.1.1 and 5.2.7 of the rules). In 2026, according to the official calendar (Annex I), it takes place on Saturday, October 17, at 2:30 p.m., and the start time follows Brasília time even in states with a different time zone (item 5.2.2).

The official calendar shows that Saturday keeps coming back. For Adventist families, the issue returns every year, and anyone who gets organized once can reuse the same plan in later editions.

Dates from the official OBMEP calendar (obmep.org.br), with the day of the week checked against a calendar.

🌅How does the OBMEP accommodate Sabbath-keeping students?

The OBMEP 2026 rules deal with the case in item 5.3.4 and in an annex devoted to it, Annex III, "Da aplicação especial para sabatistas na Segunda Fase" (on the special second-round sitting for Sabbath keepers). The rule applies to students who keep the Sabbath out of religious conviction, such as members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and need to take the exam after sunset. To talk through the meaning of the day with your child, the article on why Pathfinders keep the Sabbath helps with the conversation.

The student arrives at the same time as everyone else and waits in a separate room, cut off from contact, until sunset. Then the exam begins, with the same time as classmates, 3 hours. If the student prefers the regular schedule, they sign a waiver of the special schedule in the exam record: the decision is a matter of the family's conscience. The table sums up each rule.

Summary of Annex III of the Rules of the 21st OBMEP 2026, published by IMPA, with the number of each item.

🏫Who requests the special schedule, and by when?

This is where the most common mistake happens: assuming the family files the request. The one who reports the Sabbath-keeping student is the school, in the restricted area of the OBMEP website, within the period set in the official calendar. Item 1 of Annex III and item 4.6.20 state that requests by email, phone or letter are not accepted, and item 4.6.18 says that late requests for Sabbath-keeping students cannot be granted.

The school goes through two steps. In June, when it sends the Documento de Envio (the submission form) with the answer sheets of the qualifying students (in 2026, June 10 to 22), it marks whether any students need a special schedule for religious reasons (item 4.6.17). In August, it logs into the website and lists which students are Sabbath keepers (item 4.6.19): in 2026, from August 3 to 20, a window that opened on the day the qualifiers were announced.

That is why the conversation has to happen before the first round. Every registered school names a person in charge of the OBMEP; find that person, explain that your child keeps the Sabbath, and ask for it to be noted on the Documento de Envio in case your child qualifies. In August, ask for written confirmation that the name was entered on the website.

⏳What is the Saturday exam day like for Sabbath-keeping students?

Knowing the rule solves half the problem. The other half is preparing your child for a long afternoon: the wait runs from 2:30 p.m. Brasília time until sunset, which in mid-October comes in the late afternoon, at a different time in each city. Then come the 3 hours of the exam. The rules recognize that students leave at night and, for that reason, require parents or guardians of minors to arrive before the exam ends.

Since the wait happens without a phone and without anything to read, it helps to agree beforehand on what to do with that time: rest and pray quietly, or go over, from memory, the verses and hymns learned in the Pathfinder Club. Sunset that day can become a quiet worship to close the Sabbath. The article on sundown worship explains why the Sabbath ends at that moment.

IMPA does not provide transportation or meals (item 5.2.6), and the address of the exam center appears on the Cartão Informativo (information card) that the school prints and gives to the student (item 5.2.4); in 2026, the calendar set August 28 for the release of exam locations. Decide early who drives and who picks up, because the exam may be at a school far from home.

🔬What about other Brazilian science olympiads held on Saturday?

Each science olympiad has its own organizer and its own rules, and one olympiad's rule does not carry over to another. Here is what the 2026 documents say.

Brazil's National Science Olympiad (Olimpíada Nacional de Ciências, ONC), organized by the Federal University of Piauí and carried out by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, has its own rule: under article 10 of its rules, the school reports at registration that the student keeps the Sabbath, so that an accommodation can be made if an in-person exam falls on that day. In 2026, the rules set both rounds online (article 12): the first stayed open for 72 hours, from Thursday to Saturday, at any time of the student's choosing (articles 16 and 17), and the second was scheduled for Thursday and Friday (article 28).

The Brazilian Physics Olympiad (OBF), run by the Brazilian Physical Society (SBF), has no rule for Sabbath keepers in its 2026 rules. The first round, online, had a window that opened at 7 a.m. (Brasília time) on Friday, June 19; the second and third rounds, in person, were scheduled for Saturdays. Since the OBF charges a fee for each round, ask the coordinators, in writing and before paying, whether any accommodation is possible. With no rule in the regulations, do not count on one.

The Brazilian Astronomy and Astronautics Olympiad (OBA) takes place at the school itself: in 2026, the exam was on a Friday, May 15, and the official guidelines let the school choose the time. For students who enjoy the subject, the Astronomy Honor is good practice at the club.

Official 2026 rules and calendars of the OBMEP, ONC, OBF and OBA.

⚖️What does Brazil's Sabbath law for students say about olympiads?

Many families come to the olympiad with Law No. 13,796 of January 3, 2019, at the tip of their tongue. This Brazilian law added article 7-A to the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education (LDB): a student regularly enrolled in a public or private educational institution may, upon a prior and justified request, miss an exam or class scheduled on the day of rest of their religion and complete, at no cost, an alternative assignment. How to talk to the teacher about this is covered in the guide on living your faith at school.

The text also has limits that few people notice. The alternative assignment is at the discretion of the educational institution. The article does not apply to military education (§ 4). And the law was written for the school routine: the alternative assignment follows the lesson plan for the day of the absence and settles the attendance record (§§ 1 and 2), with no mention of olympiads, competitive exams or events run by organizers outside the school.

The OBMEP 2026 rules, for their part, define the olympiad in item 2.1.23 as a cultural and recreational initiative, which is not a competitive exam and follows only its own rules. In practice, what governs the accommodation for a Sabbath-keeping student at an olympiad is that olympiad's own rules, and the OBMEP rules already provide for the exam after sunset. If you face a concrete legal question, talk to the school administration and, if needed, a lawyer.

🚀How can you prepare for OBMEP 2027?

In early October 2026, the 2027 calendar had not yet appeared on the OBMEP website. New dates only count once the rules are published, but the recent pattern helps: school registration in February and March, first round between late May and early June, qualifiers announced in early August and the second round on a Saturday in October.

Match the plan below with the club calendar early in the year, as the guide on the Pathfinder club and schoolwork suggests for exams and campouts. When the 2027 rules come out, check whether Annex III is still the same.

The effort pays off: under the 2026 rules, the 6,500 national medalists from public schools may take part in the Junior Scientific Initiation Program (Programa de Iniciação Científica Jr., PIC Jr.) in 2027.