Register for Academic Marathon

Why We Charge a Registration Fee

Registration purchases access to a carefully designed educational experience: the complete ten-hour marathon course, original test content, new learning resources embedded within the stages, the testing platform, assessment, and performance results. The fee recognizes the real value of the content and learning journey—not only the administrative cost of running an event.

Registration also represents a commitment: to reserve a place responsibly, prepare seriously, respect the time set aside for the marathon, and complete the challenge with purpose.

Our experience with free registration revealed a consistent human tendency: when no commitment is required, registrations are more likely to be made casually and the experience is less likely to be treated with the seriousness it deserves. This pattern appeared in insufficient preparation, unread event emails and instructions, last-minute requests for information already provided, and failure to attend. The result was reduced educational value for participants, avoidable support demands, and unused places that consumed limited operational resources.

A meaningful fee encourages each student and family to make a considered decision before registering—and then to prepare, stay informed, attend, and approach the experience with purpose. Responsible registration protects both the participant's opportunity to learn and the quality of the event for everyone.

Access should never depend solely on a family's ability to pay. That is why the same commitment principle is paired with our automatic, needs-sensitive fee policy, which can reduce the payable fee from US$50 to US$40, US$30, US$20, US$10, or US$0.