How does the Math Contest work?

Here’s how:

• Participating schools conduct playoffs prior to the semi-annual event in order to select one team to represent each grade from each school.
• Each school is allowed to send up to four teams to the competition with up to 10 member per team.
• The challenge consists of two sections: individual computation and team problem solving, with each section contributing 50% towards the final school team score.
• Independent judges score and evaluate the team answers.
• The winning teams are then determined by the highest combined score of both parts of the challenge.
• In case of a tie, a “sudden death” problem would be used to break the tie.
• A $500 award is given to each of the teachers of the first place teams. A $300 award is given to each of the second place teachers, and a $200 award is given to each of the third place teachers.
• Computers are also given to first place teams for each grade.
• Highest scoring student in each grade also wins a gift certificate.

What are the Rules?

The Challenge Rules

• During the individual computation section, each student will be allowed 30 minutes to complete a total of 50 multiple choice questions.
• The score of all members of the team will be combined for the team score.
• Participants should solve the problems in the order in which they appear and skipped problems will be considered incorrect.
• Discussions among students, using calculators and other hand held devices will not be permitted.
• If a student is in the process of writing an answer when the time is called, the problem immediately prior to this attempt will be considered as the last problem completed.
• During the team problem solving section, each team will be assigned a room for 30 minutes in which to solve the assigned problem with group discussion. Calculators and other had held devices are still not allowed.
• Each team will present their solution to a panel of judges in a 5 minutes presentation and be graded based on: Problem understanding, Presentation skill, Math knowledge, and Solution accuracy