OBI

Country:
Brazil
Category:
Competitions

Checked against official sources on 2 October 2026.

Overview

The Olimpíada Brasileira de Informática (OBI) is Brazil's national school computing olympiad, hosted at Unicamp. It has two modalities, Iniciação and Programação, each split into levels by school grade.

Who can apply

Students register through their school coordinator. Participants must be at most 20 years old on 1 July of the competition year, except at the Senior level, which has no age limit. Each participant enters one modality and one level only.

Levels or stages

Modalidade Iniciação

Logic and computing problems solved without a computer. Questions are multiple choice with five options.

  • Junior: grades 4 and 5

  • Level 1: grades 6 and 7

  • Level 2: grades 8 and 9

Modalidade Programação

Programming tasks solved on a computer, needing knowledge of data structures and programming techniques.

  • Mirim: up to grade 7

  • Junior: grades 8 and 9

  • Level 1: grade 8 up to the first year of high school

  • Level 2: grade 8 up to the third year of high school

  • Senior: fourth year of technical school or first year of university

Exam pattern

The OBI has three phases: Local, State and National. Local and State exams are held at the school where the student registered. The National phase is held at venues chosen by the organisers, usually universities. In the Programação modality, tasks are scored from 0 to 100 points by the share of test cases passed. Allowed languages are C, C++, Java and Python; international team selection uses C++ only.

Marking and results

To move to the next phase a student needs at least one third of the available points. Selection is also capped at the top 15% per school and the top 5% nationally per level.

Fees

The rules mention no registration fee for students. Schools may make a voluntary contribution towards medals: R50forapublicschoolandR50 for a public school and R80 for a private school.

After the exam

Gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded to the top finishers in the National phase. State-level honour medals go to Iniciação students who meet set score thresholds.

Preparation tips

  • Iniciação students should practise logic puzzles and tracing simple programs by hand.

  • Programação students should practise writing solutions in one allowed language and testing against edge cases.

Can I enter both modalities?

No. Each participant may register in only one modality and level.

Which languages can I use?

C, C++, Java and Python.

Sources