Frequently Asked Questions

Informatics is synonymous with Computer Science: the study of computation, information, and automation. It's easy to confuse informatics with programming, but programming is just one part of it!

Programming is the tool; informatics is the discipline behind solving problems, designing algorithms, and analysing information.

SIL hopes to give you a beginner-friendly introduction to the world of informatics. Some problems can even be solved with just pen and paper!

Yes! We’re supported by the Centre for Nurturing Computing Excellence (CeNCE), which is run by the National University of Singapore School of Computing. We’re also generously sponsored by Jane Street.

Yes! Even if you received registration information from your school teachers, you are free to form teams with friends from other schools.

No problem! You may form teams with students from other levels as long as all members are in pre-university education (such as secondary school, junior college, polytechnic, Millennia Institute, ITE, or equivalent).

No worries, join our Discord server to team up with other students also looking for a team!

Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards will be given to top-performing teams. All participants will receive an e-certificate reflecting their achievement; teams that do not win an award will receive a certificate of participation.

Teams that attend the Final Contest stand to win additional prizes.

Read our rules for a detailed explanation of how award boundaries are calculated.

The SIL is designed to be a beginner-friendly contest. You don’t need prior experience in informatics or programming, and you’ll be able to make progress on problems with just mathematical and logical thinking.

46% of SIL 2025 participants had no prior experience before joining.

See the syllabus for specific information on the topics tested!

The basics will do: a computer to access the contest platform and code on, an internet connection, and working screen recording software.

Read our Screen Recording Guide for instructions on setting up screen recording.

You are only scored on the outputs that you submit. This means that you can use any programming language you like. You can even use non-programming tools like spreadsheets, Wolfram Alpha, and Mathematica!

The use of Generative AI is strictly prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, tools like ChatGPT, GPT-4o, Claude, Gemini, Deepseek, GitHub Copilot, and Meta Llama.

The rule applies regardless of whether the AI is cloud-based, self-hosted, or running locally on your device. If we have strong reason to believe that a team has used such tools, we reserve the right to disqualify that team.

Yes! The Online Contest is an open-book contest. Feel free to use any online tools or reference materials to aid you in the course of problem solving.

We know that standard search engines now automatically put AI summaries at the top of your results. Reading these AI-generated overviews when searching for general programming concepts, documentation, or basic syntax (e.g. “how to reverse an array in Python”) is perfectly fine. However, you must not actively use AI to do the heavy lifting — no pasting contest tasks, test cases, or your own code into any search bar, Large Language Model, or AI coding assistant to ask for help.

You are not allowed to communicate with anyone not from your team regarding the problems during the contest. However, you are allowed — in fact, strongly encouraged — to communicate with your teammates!

Yes. All participants must record the screens of all devices used for the entire duration of the contest.

Please store the recordings on your device for at least one month. If your team has been flagged for suspicion of dishonest behaviour, we may request these recordings during the review process.

If you are unable to produce these recordings within three days of our request, your team may be disqualified due to a lack of evidence to support your case.

Open a ticket in our Discord server or contact us via email at contact@sginfoleague.org as soon as possible.

If you are facing technical issues with device recording before the contest begins, our organising team will try our best to help you troubleshoot.

If the issue occurs after the contest, let us know what you managed to capture and we’ll advise you from there.

32 teams will be invited to the Final Contest. 75% of these slots will be offered to top-performing teams from the Online Contest. The other 25% of slots are reserved for teams that meet specific underrepresentation criteria (such as all-female or all-non-binary teams, or teams from schools not yet represented).

Refer to our rules for specific details.

The Final Contest is a full-day, in-person event held at the NUS School of Computing. It comprises not just the contest but also a catered lunch and several fringe activities. Expect to receive exclusive SIL-themed merchandise and prizes!

The contest format differs from the Online Contest. Read our rules for more information.

We require teams to have at least 3 members available for the Final Contest. If your team has qualified but is unable to field at least 3 members, let us know at contact@sginfoleague.org.

This year, we’ve created a guide on getting started with SIL, called the Beginner’s Handbook!

You can also check out the SIL archive for the tasks from previous years, our practice problem bank, and our syllabus to get a feel for the kinds of problems you can expect.

Still stuck? Feel free to ask for help on our Discord server.