web
Olympiads on the web
Everything a student does is available in a browser, across three places that share one account:
| Where | What |
|---|---|
| auth.main-team.org | your Main Team account — sign up, sign in (password or Google), reset your password. One account signs you in to every olympiad. |
| your olympiad's site — my.stemolympiad.org, my.codingolympiad.org, my.germanmath.org, my.hi-lingua.org or my.neoscience.org | My exams, adding an exam, paying for it, the exam room, exam results, certificates, announcements, calendar, study materials and your profile |
| gf.main-team.org | the Grand Final — your place, the events and the challenges |
Registration asks for your account details, your school and a summary to confirm; the same wizard is in the apps.
Which browser
Your olympiad's site shows its requirements on My exams and in the exam room. They are, in its words:
- Browser (latest / auto-updated): Chrome 90+, Firefox 90+, Safari 15+ (macOS only).
- Operating system: Windows 11 (Windows 10 and earlier versions are not recommended), macOS 13 Ventura or newer, Linux (major distributions supported).
- Stable internet connection (minimum 8 Mbps recommended).
- Restart your PC before the exam.
A phone browser can read results and certificates, but it cannot be the main device for a supervised exam: Phones cannot share a screen. Use a computer for the main device. A phone can still join as an extra camera — scan the code the computer shows.
Check your device first
Every olympiad site has a check at /compatibility-test — Is this device ready for the exam? It runs the camera, the screen sharing, the storage and, when opened from your exam page, a real upload, and lists exactly what failed. Run the check below and allow each permission when your browser asks. It takes about a minute and changes nothing on your device.
When you need the app
A supervised exam in the browser works, and it is how most students have sat one. The app is better at three things:
- It keeps you in the paper. A browser can only ask you not to leave; the app takes the whole screen on a computer and pins itself on a phone or tablet.
- It survives a reload. In a browser, reloading the page loses the camera and the screen share and you have to grant both again. The app keeps recording, and keeps every piece of the recording on disk until it has been sent.
- It does not depend on a tab. Closing the tab ends a web recording. The app finishes sending after you hand in, even if you close the exam window.
Where you can, sit the exam in the app. Everything else — registration, results, certificates, the Grand Final — is the same either way.
Paying for an exam is done on the web or in the desktop app. The iPhone, iPad and Android apps show Payment pending and do not take payment.
Trouble?
- "This browser cannot record. Use the latest Chrome, Firefox or Safari." Update the browser, or switch to one of those three.
- "Could not read from the camera. Check permissions and that no other app is using it." Allow the camera for the site, and close video-call apps that hold it.
- "This browser cannot share a screen." Screen sharing is missing in this browser — use a current Chrome, Firefox or Safari on a computer.
- "Offline buffering is unavailable in this browser mode." You are in a private or incognito window. Open the exam in a normal window.
- "Not tested here — open this check from your exam page to test uploading." The upload part of the check only runs from an exam. Open My exams, pick the exam, and run it from there.