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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Junior Maths challenge

85 replies

Ohyoubadbadkitten · 25/04/2012 18:30

Just wondering if anyone else's dc is doing it tomorrow? Dd is looking forward to it. She's a bit nervous though as people expect her to do well, so I've told her its no one else's business how she does.
Any tips from anyone who has done it before? How long do the results take?

OP posts:

Original poster

Ohyoubadbadkitten · 19/05/2012 08:48

as gelatinous says busymummy. gcse maths is not going to be a challenge or interesting for the kids who do well on this. They need chance to stretch their brains. Good athletes or sporty kids often have a lot of opportunities to be challenged and compete against other kids. Those who are gifted in writing can enter poetry and writing comps. Good mathematicians also need similar opportunities.

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roisin · 19/05/2012 07:15

Thanks gelatinous: he's in yr8 - his school only enter them in yr8, so it's the first time he's done it.

He wants to look at a JMO paper later today, but we have a very busy day, so not sure if we can fit it in!

gelatinous · 19/05/2012 01:37

GCSE maths is a little dull for very able mathematicians busymummy. For a lot of the dc that do very well at this it's pretty much the only time they don't get 100% (or very close) in maths tests/exams and they love the more challenging nature of the problems. The challenges are good at identifying and developing (through the follow on rounds, mentoring schemes and summer schools) the countries best mathematicians in a way that GCSEs don't even begin to.

busymummy3 · 19/05/2012 00:11

My DD has done this every year since Y7 (now in Y10 ) and has got a Bronze Award every year we have never seen a paper yet - can't understand what on earth all the fuss is about ? Surely Maths GCSE is more important

gelatinous · 18/05/2012 23:22

Excellent news, well done to him . Is he year 7 or 8? Have you had a chance to look at any of the questions yet?

Original poster

Ohyoubadbadkitten · 18/05/2012 19:58

That's brilliant rosin :) well done to him. no results for dd yet sadly.

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roisin · 18/05/2012 16:18

Results out today. Ds2 has got through to the JMO, so is extremely pleased with himself.

How did everyone else get on?

Original poster

Ohyoubadbadkitten · 01/05/2012 21:16

That's not much time gelatinous, thanks for the heads up.

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stealthsquiggle · 30/04/2012 22:18

Thanks gelatinous. I wonder if Y7 and Y8 at DC'a school do it then - must pay more attention to newsletters. I know DS is keen to try for a gold in the primary one next year.

Abzs · 30/04/2012 21:27

Wow, it's still going! I did that at secondary school. It was hard.

gelatinous · 30/04/2012 21:13

stealth it's a similar thing to the Primary Maths Challenge so it's a logical progression in that sense, but I'm fairly sure PMC isn't administered by UKMT but by another body. I think more schools do the UKMT challenges relative to the Primary one, but I may be wrong there.

Unless things have changed in the last 5 or 6 years the results come out only about a fortnight before the Junior Olympiad which doesn't give much time to prepare, so anyone whose child thinks they have done especially well (over about 100) might want to start looking at some past questions for that now. It was a complete shock to ds the first time he did it - he'd never done anything remotely similar before.

ClaireAll · 30/04/2012 18:30

My DD did the intermediate challenge a few months ago.

We knew nothing about it until her maths teacher told us she won Gold. We are waiting results of the Kangaroo. They should be in school within the next couple of weeks.

stealthsquiggle · 30/04/2012 07:43

Is this a natural follow on to the primary maths challenge [nosy]? DS (Y5) did that and got a silver but I can't remember when it was - if it is at the same time then he has missed it this time as he is away.

trinity0097 · 30/04/2012 07:32

The UKMT people aim to get results to schools within 6 weeks, so there will be quite a wait to find out how they did (although the teacher can usually figure it out if they want as you have to photocopy the sheets before you send them off, in case they get lost in the post and then you an send the copies). For example I know that one of my Yr 6s who did the JMC scored 96, i.e. good enough for a Gold based on last year's boundaries.

maxtrue · 29/04/2012 17:58

My dd also did this test last week - she was a little worried but seemed ok after

I did the past papers (you can get them on the net) as I am a maths nerd BUT found some of them really really hard!! and had to check answers first before explaining to dd

RaspberryLemonPavlova · 29/04/2012 16:31

DS1 did this in Y7and Y8 - got Gold each year but not through to Olympiad. It was just up his street though - he really enjoyed doing it. He had a go at the cipher thing last year as school was very keen. It does get very difficult.

roisin · 27/04/2012 19:58

ds2 enjoyed it and was quite confident afterwards. He's just checked the answers on the website and is quite pleased with how he did.

Original poster

Ohyoubadbadkitten · 27/04/2012 16:53

Oh. That is cruel. They could wait until the results are out. Dd has asked me about 300 times when they will be out.

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Garribaldi · 27/04/2012 16:51

The 2012 question paper is on their website. Anyone here brave enough to attempt it?

Original poster

Ohyoubadbadkitten · 27/04/2012 14:11

Wow! That cipher thing is so up dds street!! She had a big obsession with all things enigma for ages and writing her own codes and inventing her own language. Thank you!

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GrimmaTheNome · 27/04/2012 14:00

goodness, I didn't know there really was a GCHQ-sponsored challenge!

gelatinous · 27/04/2012 12:46

OK If your dc enjoy this sort of thing I can recommend trying the National Cipher Challenge next term. It's run by the university of Southampton and GCHQ are a sponsor, so it's free to enter. It starts quite easy and gets progressively harder through the rounds - great fun. There are also some decent prizes for the winners, and £25 spot prizes along the way. Year 8 is not too young to start, although they will be among the youngest entrants and may well get stumped in the later rounds - they may well get hooked and do it every year thereafter.

titchy · 27/04/2012 12:32

Dd's Maths teacher stressed how important it was not toguess questins 16 onwards as lots of marks would be lost if wrong. Result being NONE of her class attempted anything beyong q15

elastamum · 27/04/2012 12:30

Both my DS1 yr8 and DS2 yr6 did it yesterday. They were sat at the breakfast table this morning discussion the paper. I had to admit they could both do more of it than I could

BackforGood · 27/04/2012 12:25

Grimma - Just read your link - should have done that before posting . I'd have loved doing stuff like that when I was at school. Brain's a bit fuzzled not though, I'm not sure how many of the second block I could do

Love the idea of GCHQ screening - dd is quite good at languages too, and her dream at the moment is to abseil out of a helicoptor...... do you think she could put in an application for some kind of spying job ?

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