Exams

The 2026 International Geography Championships will feature the below-listed exams. Unless noted otherwise, the exams are multiple choice in format. Content distribution for each exam to aid students in their preparations is found on the 2026 International Geography Championships Syllabus.

African Geography Exam

Competition Type: Individual, Multiple-choice exam, 25 minute time limit *
70 Questions – High School & Middle School
65 Questions – Intermediate (& Family & Friends Program Adults)
60 Questions – Elementary School (& Family & Friends Program Students)

The 2026 International Geography Championships will feature an exam on the countries, landforms, bodies of water, and peoples of Africa. Cultural, political, and physical geography questions will be found in relatively equal proportions on this exam. Please see the IGC Syllabus for further details on the content of this exam.
* = IGC rules permit the shortening of exams to 20 or 22 minutes if need be. If this decision is made, it will be made and announced in the exam room(s) before the exam begins.

Asian Geography Exam

The 2026 International Geography Championships will feature an exam on the countries, landforms, bodies of water, and peoples of Asia. Cultural, political, and physical geography questions will be found in relatively equal proportions on this exam. Please see the IGC Syllabus for further details on the content of this exam.

* = IGC rules permit the shortening of exams to 20 or 22 minutes if need be. If this decision is made, it will be made and announced in the exam room(s) before the exam begins.

Australian & Oceanian Geography Exam

The 2026 International Geography Championships will feature an exam on the countries, landforms, bodies of water, and peoples of Australia and Oceania. Cultural, political, and physical geography questions will be found in relatively equal proportions on this exam. Please see the IGC Syllabus for further details on the content of this exam.
* = IGC rules permit the shortening of exams to 20 or 22 minutes if need be. If this decision is made, it will be made and announced in the exam room(s) before the exam begins.

Battery Exam

Competition Type: Individual, Multiple Choice Exam, Counts 1/4 towards the Overall Individual IGC Championship Title
400 Questions – High School & Middle School
350 Questions – Intermediate
300 Questions – Elementary School
This is a required event for all competing students. Please see the IGC Syllabus for further details on the content of this exam.

The Battery is a required individual event at the International Geography Championships. For all age divisions, it counts towards the individual IGC Championship Title. The Battery, however, is also an event in its own right, with 400 multiple choice questions on all aspects, eras, and places in geography. A more complete distribution of the questions will be provided to students in advance. Note that in 2026, the Battery will be used to determine seedings in the International Geography Bee World Championships. The preliminary round results of the International Geography Bee World Championships will then determine the composition of teams for the various team events.

Normally, the top three or four students from a country or state will form the A Team for that country or state, the next top three or four scoring students will form Team B and so on per age group. However, some teams may consist of just three students due to the need for rounding, while solo or duo students will be paired up with students from a different country and/or state in their same division. Solo teams will not be permitted.

All Competing Students in the High School and Middle School Divisions at the International Geography Championships will take the same version of the Battery Exam, which will have 400 questions. All Competing Students in the Intermediate Divisions will a separate version of the Battery Exam with significantly easier questions than the Middle School and High School version. The Intermediate Division version of the Battery Exam has 300 questions. All Competing Students in the Elementary School Division will a separate version of the Battery Exam with slightly easier questions than the Intermediate version. The Elementary School Division version of the Battery Exam has 250 questions.

Please note that Family and Friends Program Members who wish to take the Battery Exam may do so. Members of the Family and Friends Program Adults Division and members of the Family and Friends Program Older Students Division will take the Middle School and High School version (i.e. 400 questions). Members of the Family and Friends Program Younger Students Division will take the Elementary School version (i.e. 250 questions).

Question difficulty on all versions of the exam will vary widely within the 250-400 questions.

Speed is of the essence; depending on which version one is taking, exam takers have 18-28.8 seconds per question; the Exam will take 120 minutes for all Divisions. There will be one bathroom break in the middle of the exam; the second part of the exam will only be distributed after this. Exam takers will not be able to go back and fix answers from the first part of the exam after the first part is over.

As with all multiple choice exams at IGC, the Battery Exam will be scored on a 2 points for a correct answer, 0 for a blank answer, and a -1 for an incorrect answer basis.

European Geography Exam

The 2026 International Geography Championships will feature an exam on the countries, landforms, bodies of water, and peoples of Europe. Cultural, political, and physical geography questions will be found in relatively equal proportions on this exam. Please see the IGC Syllabus for further details on the content of this exam.
* = IGC rules permit the shortening of exams to 20 or 22 minutes if need be. If this decision is made, it will be made and announced in the exam room(s) before the exam begins.

Geography of Thailand Exam

The 2026 International Geography Championships will feature an exam on the geography on our host nation of Thailand. This exam will focus solely on present-day Thailand (not on other territories that were once part of Thai kingdoms, nor on Thai populations living outside of Thailand). Please see the IGC Syllabus for further details on the content of this exam.
Sample exams are provided below from the 2022 International Geography Championships exams on the geography of Vermont, the US state which hosted the 2022 International Geography Championships, so that students can gain a sense of the sort of questions that we will ask on a relatively specific geographic entity.
* = IGC rules permit the shortening of exams to 20 or 22 minutes if need be. If this decision is made, it will be made and announced in the exam room(s) before the exam begins.

2022 International Geography Championships – Vermont Geography Exam
2022 International Geography Championships – Vermont Geography Exam Answer Key

Human Geography Exam

Competition Type: Individual, Multiple-choice exam, 35 minute time limit
70 Questions – High School & Middle School
65 Questions – Intermediate (& Family & Friends Program Adults)
60 Questions – Elementary School (& Family & Friends Program Students)

Many top geography students will be interested in taking the AP Human Geography Exam. This exam, which will broadly reflect the same curriculum as the AP Exam will focus on all aspects of human geography. Students can find practice AP Human Geography questions at this link. Please see the IGC Syllabus for further details on the content of this exam.

The Exam from 2022 and its Answer Key are listed here for review and practice.
2022 International Geography Championships – Human Geography Exam
2022 International Geography Championships – Human Geography Exam Answer Key

North American Geography Exam

The 2026 International Geography Championships will feature an exam on the countries, landforms, bodies of water, and peoples of North America. This exam will also include questions on Central America and the Caribbean. Cultural, political, and physical geography questions will be found in relatively equal proportions on this exam. Please see the IGC Syllabus for further details on the content of this exam.
* = IGC rules permit the shortening of exams to 20 or 22 minutes if need be. If this decision is made, it will be made and announced in the exam room(s) before the exam begins.

South American Geography Exam

The 2026 International Geography Championships will feature an exam on the countries, landforms, bodies of water, and peoples of South America. Cultural, political, and physical geography questions will be found in relatively equal proportions on this exam. Please see the IGC Syllabus for further details on the content of this exam.
* = IGC rules permit the shortening of exams to 20 or 22 minutes if need be. If this decision is made, it will be made and announced in the exam room(s) before the exam begins.

Theoretical and Applied Geography Exam

Competition Type: Individual, Multiple-choice exam, Counts 1/4 towards the Overall Individual IGC Championship Title
Exact Format Forthcoming
This is a required event for all competing students.

The Theoretical and Applied Geography Exam is new for the 2026 International Geography Championships, and is a mandatory event for all students. This exam will be similar to the multiple choice sections from the US Geography Championships, past examples of which are available for the High School Division and the Middle School, Intermediate, and Elementary School Divisions, though the geography of the USA will not feature in higher proportions than the standard IGC geographical distribution used for the Battery Exam and other events. Please see the IGC Syllabus for further details on the content of this exam.

Travel and Tourism Exam

The 2026 International Geography Championships will see the debut of a new Travel and Tourism Exam. This exam will focus on tourist attractions around the world, particularly those listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. However, it will also cover topics that an informed traveler should know about, such as time zones, cultural customs, currencies, visa requirements, and more. Please see the IGC Syllabus for further details on the content of this exam.
* = IGC rules permit the shortening of exams to 20 or 22 minutes if need be. If this decision is made, it will be made and announced in the exam room(s) before the exam begins.

USA at 250 - Historical Geography Exam

Competition Type: Individual, Multiple-choice exam, 80 minute time limit
250 Questions – All Divisions (the questions and answers will be the same for all competitors)

The first day of the 2026 International Geography Championships falls on July 4 – the 250th anniversary of the USA declaring independence! As many families from the USA will be attending IGC, so as not to feel left out of the celebrations while in Thailand, a special opening medal event competition will be held on the evening of arrival day. This competition will feature 250 exam questions on the historical geography of the USA, each focusing on an event that happened in a specific year of the history of the USA. The questions will run in chronological order, with each year having its question. Will students and family members representing US states and territories sweep the medals or will students and families representing other countries (perhaps even the United Kingdom!) steal the opening glory? Take the opening challenge and find out! Note that in the interest of time, the questions on this exam will be very short. Please see the IGC Syllabus for further details on the content of this exam.

Vexillology Exam

The 2026 International Geography Championships will see the debut of a new Vexillology Exam. The Map and Flag Exam has been very popular at all of our regional championship events, and we’re excited to debut a new exam focusing on geographically-based flags at IGC 2026. Questions will take the form of visual flag identifications and verbal questions about flags and their use. Please see the IGC Syllabus for further details on the content of this exam.
* = IGC rules permit the shortening of exams to 20 or 22 minutes if need be. If this decision is made, it will be made and announced in the exam room(s) before the exam begins.

Written Exam

Competition Type: Individual, Short Answer Exam, Counts 1/3 or 1/4 towards the Overall Individual IGC Championship Title
This is a required event for all competing students.

All students attending the 2026 International Geography Championships will be required to compete in the Written Exam, which will consist of a certain number of questions, and a timeframe (approximately 60-90 minutes, though this will vary slightly by age division) which all answers must be written by. The exam will follow the same format as past USGC/USGO written exams, samples of which can be found here at the high school level and here at the middle and elementary school level along with answer keys. Please see the IGC Syllabus for further details on the content of this exam.

The Exam from 2022 and its Answer Key are listed here for review and practice.
2022 International Geography Championships – Written Exam (High School)
2022 International Geography Championships – Written Exam (Middle School)
2022 International Geography Championships – Written Exam (Elementary School)
2022 International Geography Championships – Written Exam Resource Book
2022 International Geography Championships – Written Exam Answer Key