Caribou Help / FAQ
Please look for your question among the >200 questions in our FAQ before emailing us. Caribou aims to be 100% self-service. This helps keep our services affordable.
To use this Help Tree, choose the appropriate category and subcategories. If you are unable to find your question, use the Contact Us form located in the leaves of this tree. Thank you for your help.
Questions & Answers:
What is free and what can be purchased?
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What is free and what can be purchased?
Answer:
On the Online Shop Welcome Page there are links describing what Caribou Contests offers for free and a Product & Price list for items that can be purchased in the Online Shop.
Which contests are free?
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Which contests are free?
Answer:
Participation in Caribou Contests is free for all students in the K/1 and grade 2 levels for the entire Caribou Cup year (October – May). For all other levels (grades 3/4 – 11/12), only participation in the October contest is free.
For certain countries, participation is completely free for all levels. Currently (in 2021) these countries are Ghana, Mali, Kenya, Senegal, and South Africa.
We want to participate in the contest but we missed the October one. Is our first contest still free?
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We want to participate in the contest but we missed the October one. Is our first contest still free?
Answer:
No, for grades 3/4 to 11/12, only the October contest is free.
How do I make a purchase?
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How do I make a purchase?
Answer:
First, make sure you know what it is you would like to purchase. If you are purchasing contest participation, is it better for you to purchase individual Contest Participation or School Wide Contest Access? If you want extra practice materials like written solutions to all previous contests, consider an all-inclusive school wide pass or an individual all-inclusive purchase for a student or Coordinator account. To see all of your options, visit the Product & Prices list.
To make a purchase you will need to visit our Online Shop.
To start, click on the bottom button, 'Make a Purchase/ Get an Invoice'. From there, you need only follow the instructions on screen. Once you have added the desired items to your Cart, go to your Cart and then click on Checkout/Create Invoice when you are ready to pay. We accept multiple payment methods (see the item ‘
No, we do not handle payments over the phone. Please see the FAQ item ‘How do I pay? (Instructions for PayPal / Credit Card / Cheque / Transfer)’ for detailed instructions for each available payment method.’.
For detailed instructions of specific types of purchases, visit these FAQ items:
- How do I purchase School Wide Contest Access or an All-Inclusive School Wide Pass?
- How do I purchase contest participation for multiple individual students?
- I already have an invoice number. How do I pay for it?
If you encounter any other problems, check out the FAQ section for the Online Shop.If necessary, Contact Us.
I want to buy K/1 or grade 2 access codes but the Online Shop won’t let me.
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I want to buy K/1 or grade 2 access codes but the Online Shop won’t let me.
Answer:
That is because participation for the K/1 and grade 2 levels are free. The student’s Caribou Coordinator can generate an infinite number of free codes for this level.
If you are a parent registering your K/1 or grade 2 student under the Caribou Virtual School, tick the appropriate ‘No School’ box when going through the Online Shop, select K/1 or Grade 2 Contest Participation and upon checkout, the K/1 or Grade 2 access code will be sent to the email address you entered.
How can I give students access to Caribou’s online games?
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How can I give students access to Caribou’s online games?
Answer:
K/1 and Grade 2 students have unlimited access to games, and all other levels have unlimited access leading up to the first free contest in October.
You can purchase unlimited access to games in our Online Shop. It is included with purchases of Individual Participation, School Wide passes, and with the purchase of a Caribou Cup’s written solutions and/or practice tests.
Please note, students must be signed in to their Student account (with name and Access Code) to have unlimited access to the online games. When using public access there is a 5-minute limit.
I purchased All-Inclusive Access. How do I access all the extra content?
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I purchased All-Inclusive Access. How do I access all the extra content?
Answer:
When you purchase All-Inclusive Access for an individual or school, it gives you access to extra math enrichment material. First, you can verify that the payment was received and the transaction completed by signing in to your account and clicking on 'View Purchases'. There, it lists what purchases have been made for your account.
Here is how you can access the All-Inclusive Content. You must be signed in to access your purchases :
- Calcrostic Puzzle Book: in Prepare > More > Calcrostic Puzzle Book. This purchase also gives you access to hundreds of interactive puzzles on the Calcrostic games page, normally limited to one puzzle of each type.
- Unlimited access to games: go the Games page
- GeomeTree and other mini-courses: also available on the Games page. You have unlimited access to Proof by Induction and all the interactive geometry lessons in GeomeTree as well as the mini-courses in the "Some Food for Thought" sections of Chomp, iChomp, and Mazes games .
- Previous Contests for Practice: To access this year's and previous years' tests for interactive practice, go to Prepare > Previous Tests > Try a Past Contest and select which test you would like to practice from the drop-down menu.
- Previous Contest Solutions: To access this year's and previous years' solutions, go to Prepare > Previous Tests > View Test Solutions and select which test’s solutions you would like to see in the drop-down menu.
How do you make a purchase without a Contact account?
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How do you make a purchase without a Contact account?
Answer:
Parents or other third parties can purchase participation for a student rather than the school. For this to be possible, the student’s Caribou Coordinator must have the box ‘Allow Third Party Payments’ checked in their Account Settings.
Making a purchase is easy. Follow these steps:- Make sure the Caribou Coordinator has checked ‘Allow Third Party Payments’ in their Account Settings.
- Make sure you have the Coordinator’s name, school, as well as your child’s access code (if they have one).
- Go to our Online Shop Welcome Page.
- Click on the bottom button 'Make a Purchase / Get an Invoice'
- Identify yourself as a Parent (Someone Else), enter your name and email, and confirm your email.
- For "Do you already have an Invoice Number...?" say 'No'.
- Check the appropriate options (for a student, with or without access code)
- Enter your child’s access code. If they do not have one yet, you will need to enter the names of the child, school, and Coordinator and select the appropriate options. If the student is registering without a school, then check the box for No School to register the student with the Caribou Virtual School. An access code will be generated for your student, visible under their Coordinator’s account and sent in the confirmation email when you have completed the purchase.
- Click on the item you wish to purchase and then Update Cart. Then click on Review Cart.
- Click on 'Check Out / Create Invoice'. Jot down the invoice number.
- Check out and pay using your preferred payment method: credit card / Paypal, Cheque, or E-transfer. Please take note of any instructions that appear for each option. When you click on a credit card option it will open a new window where you can enter your credit card information and then click on 'Pay Now' to process the transaction. If paying by Cheque or E-transfer, the invoice will load once you click on ‘Pay by Selected Method’.
- Once we receive the payment, you should immediately receive the confirmation of your payment at the email address you provided containing the Access Code if applicable. If we will not receive the payment before the contest, please Contact Us so we can lend payment in the meantime.
- The student will appear under their Caribou Coordinator’s account. The Coordinator will also receive an email alert for the payment made with the student’s information that you’ve entered.
- The student’s Caribou Coordinator does not appear on the list. The Coordinator must log in to their account, click on ‘Edit my Account > Allow Third Party Payments > Submit’.
- You choose the wrong Coordinator for your student. See ‘A student has been registered under the wrong teacher’.
- You create an access code for your child, but your child already had one. Now their name is linked to two access codes. See ‘A student wrote two contests this year but with different access codes’.
- You wanted to save proof of payment for your records but forgot/it was too fast. In this case you can contact us and we will send you proof of payment.
- You want your student to register under the Caribou Virtual School and try out the free October contest before investing in paid participation. Free K/1 and grade 2 access codes are available in the Online Shop, for all other grades you will need to register for a free Caribou Coordinator account to obtain free October-only codes..
Why is access to old contests no longer free?
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Why is access to old contests no longer free?
Answer:
Access to old contests is no longer free because they now come with written solutions. To make writing and translating these financially feasible it was necessary to add a fee.
I have purchased Previous Tests but I cannot access them.
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I have purchased Previous Tests but I cannot access them.
Answer:
When you have purchased Previous Tests as a Coordinator or as a Student, you can access them by first signing in, then going to Prepare > Previous Tests > Try a Past Contest, and selecting the test for practice in the drop-down menu. If you have made a purchase of Previous Tests in the Online Shop but cannot access them this way, there are a few possible reasons :
- You purchased "Written Solutions for Current Year + Interactive Practice".
In this case, you will be able to access the tests for practice and their written solutions after each contest is over. If this was in error and you meant to purchase access to a Previous Year’s contests and solutions, Contact Us and we may be able to shift the payment to another item. - The purchase has expired.
Purchases made in the Online Shop are only valid for the duration of the Caribou Cup year (July 1 – June 30). For example, if you purchased Previous Tests access in January, they will be available to you until June 30, and you would have to purchase them again to access them during the following Caribou Cup. 1-year access only costs about 1.50CAD per test, which is affordable compared to other contests, and covers the cost of creating and translating the solutions. - The payment went through but was not associated with the right account.
To check that a purchase has been associated with your account, sign in as a Coordinator or student and click on ‘View Purchases’. There, it should say what purchased content is available to you. If you do not see what you have paid for, please Contact Us giving as much information about your purchase as possible (items purchased, date of purchase, email address used, means of payment, invoice number, student access code(s)) so that we may look into it. - The payment did not go through.
It is possible that your payment did not go through. If you paid by card and you are sure the payment did not go through, check the FAQ item I cannot pay through Paypal to see a list of possible reasons the purchase failed. To make sure we received your payment, Contact Us with as much information as possible about the purchase as possible (items purchased, date of purchase, email address used, means of payment, invoice number, student access code(s)). If you made multiple purchases because you thought the payment did not go through, contact us so we can refund you or give you an equivalent purchase according to your preference.
- You purchased "Written Solutions for Current Year + Interactive Practice".
Do I need to select a language when purchasing contest access?
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Do I need to select a language when purchasing contest access?
Answer:
Any language selected at time of purchase has no impact on a student's experience on the site. Languages can be selected individually at any time in each activity (on contest day, in practice tests, on games pages, etc.).
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