Intermediate Maths Challenge 2019

[DragonTrainer3]

Has anyone had any experience with this? We were vaguely aware DS1 was taking it, but have now been phoned by his school to say he's on to the next level (although no further details as yet).

Almost nothing about it online, so I thought I'd tap in to the great collective wisdom of Mumsnet!

[EvaHarknessRose]

That's great well done him. I'm sure others will be on with more info. My dds have done well in the past but not on to the next level.

[DragonTrainer3]

Thanks! Not entirely sure what it means, but the school seem to think he's done well. He was told today but didn't think to tell me (fairly typical of him), I only found out when his maths teacher phoned me up!

[GreenTulips]

Other the UKMT challenge
All information on line

[GreenTulips]

www.ukmt.org.uk/individual-competitions/intermediate-challenge/

[DragonTrainer3]

@GreenTulips - yes, that's the information I found, but that doesn't really tell me much about the next round.

For instance, will he be able to take it at his school, or is it at another center? What's the difference between the Intermediate Kangaroo (!) and the Intermediate Olympiad? I got the impression that the latter is the one he's taken, but is the Kangaroo the next one? How many people are involved? Is it really daunting? He has ASD so may find some aspects a bit challenging.

So - looking for experiences really, if anyone feels able to share!

[LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD]

I think it’s bronze/silver/gold/pink kangaroo/(a few other levels) and the very top kids go to the Olympiad. I’ll need to ask DS

[LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD]

The kids seem to enjoy it. DS has been doing it for a few years now.

[noblegiraffe]

The Kangaroo is a round similar to the one he has already sat with multiple choice questions.

The Olympiad is something entirely different and he will need to look up past papers to get his head around what they’re looking for, which is written proofs to maths problems.

[noblegiraffe]

Oh and it’s sat in school, not a different centre.

[DragonTrainer3]

That's brilliant news! Yes, he did seem to enjoy the last one, but he's much better on home turf, not sure how he's do in a new environment.

[DragonTrainer3]

Looking at the scores, it seems he qualifies for the Kangaroo, but not the Olympiad. Hopefully the school will tell us more soon (parents evening coming up soon, so I'll ask)

[LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD]

Well done him!

[trinity0097]

The difference between the Grey and pink Kangaroo is purely the ages.

So the kids I teach who got through to a Kangaroo round go through to the Grey Kangaroo as they are in Yrs 7 & 8. The pink kangaroo is for older kids, but not sure of the cut off. Then the one in Yr 8 through to an Olympiad does the Cayley Olympiad as it is for Yr 9 and below.

All sat at school on Thursday March 21st.

It was a hard test this year according to my in school expert who has been doing this type of thing for nearly 40 years!

[trinity0097]

Oh and the kangaroos etc are not ‘above’ gold. It’s a separate thing, so some of mine got through to the Kangaroo on just a silver award this year.

[DragonTrainer3]

That would make sense, he got a silver a couple of years ago, but he just got a certificate for that, and this time it was a gold and he gets to do another thing. He's one of the youngest (Y10, summer baby) so we're astonished very pleased.

[PenguinPandas]

DD did this but she's in y8, they were told today no results back yet but she did junior kangaroo last year and its just another round. If you go on UKMT website it has example papers. Congrats to him.

[PenguinPandas]

If he has ASD definitely look up a past paper on the UKMT website Individual Challenges and show him, answers are published too. My DS is ASD and very mathematical but questions he's not used to can set him off if not pre warned.

[DragonTrainer3]

Thanks @PenguinPandas, I'll have a look!

[TheFirstOHN]

DS2 did quite well in the initial round last year and got through to the Intermediate Olympiad.

[DragonTrainer3]

Wow @TheFirstOHN! From what I understand, that's a big deal, well done him!

[TheFirstOHN]

The kangaroo is a similar format to the initial round. Multiple choice, I think there's 25 questions. The UKMT website should have last year's paper for him to have a look at so he can familiarise himself with the format.

[JustRichmal]

Dd has sat a lot of these over the years. She sometimes does well and sometimes does not. She does better when she practises for them. I think she has been in a couple of Olympiads and a couple of Kangaroos. If your ds is in year 10 he will sit the same test next year. If he enjoys maths problems, he could ask the school if he could have a go at the senior maths challenge next Autumn as well.

For now though, definitely get him to do at least one past paper for the kangaroo so he knows what to expect. And congratulations to him for getting through to the next round.

Also, congratulations trinity0097 getting some from year 7 and 8 to do the test and getting some through to the next round. We need more good maths teachers like you and Noble who broaden the maths for the top sets.

[LeFaye]

Ime the schools deals with most of it. Our DS has done well in a lot of them, but we haven’t really gotten involved until it’s been time to attend the awards ceremonies 😅

[TheFirstOHN]

There are awards ceremonies?

[JustRichmal]

There are awards ceremonies?

Not in dd's school. It's not as though they've done well in sport!