UKMT Junior Maths Challenge - question

So, what happens if the child don't do all the questions except for 1 after Q16, and got Q1-15 right and one from harder ones right? Does the child still get gold, or get points taken away for leaving questions unanswered?

Good luck to all doing Kangaroo and Olympiad this coming week. DS made gold but not the later rounds, though a few in his Y8 class made K and a couple O. I think a couple of Y7s have too. In fact it was always Q1 that was most likely to trip him up in the first block, as BIDMAS was the least likely thing to stick in his head, while he had fewer problems with the horrible counting and logic things later on.

irvine... If you got 1-15 right and one from later and also NO mistakes elsewhere in later you could get a gold. Questions 16 on are negatively marked to penalise guessing.

I also think it's a mistake to not let kids outside top sets have a go. You have no idea whether there is some naturally gifted person hiding somewhere, bored out of their mind with normal classwork and underperforming, who will shine in this test. Probably rather rare but worth a wider net.

Just found out that DS didn't do well this year (5 marks off a bronze). It is a bit frustrating as he got a bronze or silver last year and finished year 6 with a level 6B. Maths has always come to him naturally, however, he's had a poor Maths teacher two years in a row and I think it is really starting to show, unfortunately, so really hope next year's teacher will be better.

You can't have it all, he wasn't so confident in English but had an amazing teacher two years in a row too and she has upped his ability greatly, so much that his English level is the same than Maths when there isn't a doubt he is much more a natural mathematician! Really shows how good teaching impacts on ability.

kitnkaboodle
For pupils that start doing Olympiad paper for the first time, my advice to them is they need to pretend to write their solution like a story.

While training pupil for the lower level Olympiads, I always emphasis that pupils shouldn't aim to just get the right answers but about how they get there, looking at each step to find a more elegant solution. After each question, they need to step back and review the question first instead of attempting another one straight away.

For pupils with high ability that can and really want to do it, additional teaching, lots of practice plus correction/input from someone who has done Olympiad Maths will go a long way.

Q1-15 5 marks each, Q16-25, 6 marks each. So If you answer 11 question right from easier ones, you get 55 points, which equals to bronze. If you answer first 15 questions right(75 points) plus 1 right from harder #16~25, you qualify for gold. Is that right?

Q1-15 of the Grey Kangaroo could be suitable for the Junior Kangaroo. The JK only started last year so only 1 past paper is available. The GK has been there for years so there are many of them available.

I think it's in the spirit of the thing to point out that with 11/25 questions right you could get Silver. They'd have to be all of qs 16-25, plus one question from 1-15, and you'd have not to attempt any others and get them wrong - admittedly not a likely scenario

Sorry for double post!

Bronze means that you got somewhere between 51-64 on the initial challenge paper, which I think is scored out of 135

The initial challenge is scored out of 135, isn't it?? So a bronze certificate would mean you'd got 51-64 out of 135

The Junior Challenge 2016 thresholds:
Bronze 51-64 Silver 65-80 Gold 81+ Kangaroo Qualifier 93-112 UK only Olympiad Qualifier 113+

The top 40% of students nationally receive a gold, silver or bronze certificate in the ratio 1:2:3 and each institution receives a Best in School certificate.
Around 1200 of the highest scorers are invited to participate in the Junior Mathematical Olympiad.

So does that mean if you answer 11/25 questions correctly, you will get bronze?

Yes, feelingmiffed. As far as I understand, the top maths sets all do the junior challenge paper. The ones with the very top marks go through to a second round, others with very good marks get bronze, silver, gold certificates and that's that. If you go on the ukmt website it tells you what proportion usually get certificates.

feelingmiffed, yes, it is a good result. If he enjoys doing maths like this, it is well worth a potter on the UKMT website. There are past papers and more "thinky" puzzles on the mentoring section. For those who like these sort of problems it is fun and offers some instructive tips.

In year 7, he is one of the younger ones and will do the JMC again in year 8, so stands a good chance of getting into a follow on round. Just so long as he keeps seeing it as fun and does not get disappointed if he does not. As we have found with dd it is very hit and miss. With the nerves of the first question any child could have dropped 5 marks by forgetting BIDMAS, and that could be the difference between a follow on round or not.

Thanks Atia, it was reading about it on the net earlier that made me realise that he'd done well. He totally played it down!

Yes. Silver is good, well done to him!

Place marking as I really don't understand any of it!

My year 7 DS has recently done it and achieved a silver award, I'm assuming that's it now??

For what it's worth, when I first got the chance (a bit older than this) to sit something akin to the Junior Olympiad in style, as part of being picked up for training towards the national and international maths olympiads, I knew very little about formal proofs beyond an instinct for what needed to be explained. I do recall writing a lot of words to try to explain myself on one question!

Trying a question - spend time, even go back and have another go after doing something else - then having a look at solutions is probably the most useful way to get a feel for what will do well at that level. Good luck!

Thanks for these. Looking at the sample students' answers for Section B is reassuring, as they are quite informal and 'chatty'. Being afraid of the word 'proof', I was worried that they were expecting something full of formal jargon. I think I'll show him the students' answers and keep him away from the official solutions this year

To prepare for it, Dd does will do tests in the 2 hour time limit and then go through the official answers and pupil answers. The proofs required for section b are very different from anything they do at school.

Dd went into the Olympiad in year 6, did not even qualify for a kangaroo in year 7 and is in the Olympiad in year 8. Her results in the IMC and SMC are equally variable. I think the thing is for them not to be disappointed if they do not do as well as they expect, is is important for them to see it as fun and not some ,judgement on their mathematical ability.

The other piece of advice I'd give first time JMOers, especially if they're not going to have time to do a whole paper to time before the real thing, but even if they are, is to look at the information about scoring that's on the UKMT page. Someone who gets half the available marks on the JMO has done really well (last year, Distinction and possibly a bronze medal!).

Oh yes, shop.ukmt.org.uk/ukmt-books/first-steps-for-problem-solvers

But for the next few days, what's linked on the JMO page should be enough, and then get the book to dip into over the coming year.

Like I said earlier, looking at the sample pupil solutions is probably useful - links on www.ukmt.org.uk/individual-competitions/junior-mathematical-olympiad/

Most y7s won't have been used to writing out proofs or explanations like that, so just seeing what's expected is helpful.

Apart from that, just have a go at the past papers. You can buy more if he goes through all the ones linked on the website, but maybe save them till next year I think UKMT also now sell a book aimed at Junior Olympiad level.

Noblegiraffe - I'd really appreciate a little advice. My maths-brain y7 ds has sailed straight into the olympiad next week by scoring 122 in the challenge (he wasnt even sure if it was a real paper or a practice paper !). This had never happened at his school before so I don't think they're going to offer him much preparation - and it's a week today . I printed off last year's paper for him to peruse today. What's the best preparation he can do by himself?? Grateful for any advice. State school comp btw for those who are counting!

I noticed this thread the other day and asked ds about it today, he is yr 8 and did the Intermediate earlier in the year and I think then the kangaroo and then did the Junior more recently. I'm not sure what exactly he got, I think he had a couple of gold certificates and a taking part certificate, but brought them all home at the same time.
He said he is doing the Junior Olympiad, and when I asked if it was this week said "oh is it? How do you know?". They just get told it's on if they want to go.
He says he got 119, he went through the questions after and was convinced he had all but the last 1 right and picked that up himself afterwards, when they got the results he'd also got the second to last wrong as well.
He says the best mark on the school was a super right yr 7, I think he said 127?

i have a year 5 girl at prep school who qualified for the Junior Olympiad this June. She said that the paper was easier than past papers. Guess she got lucky.