Junior maths challenge 2025

A great result all the same, its just a shame the cutoff is where it is but I suppose thats to get the percentages right from their end. Always a shame to be just on the wrong side of a threshold.

Part of me wonders though if they set it at 125 to encourage a flurry of 124's to make a discretionary application to increase their fee income?

Actually he got 124!
Which is fantastic but I hope he's not disappointed not to reach Junior Olympiad

The JMC in particular is meant to be fun!
I've always been aware independent schools tend to do more prep for the maths challenges but they also tend to enter lots of kids including those who do not necessarily love maths.
I'm sad to hear paid for tutoring etc., but I guess the middle class will always game any system they suddenly think has value.
Lots of free resources out there for the plucky staties, so don't fret. And JMO will separate the well-drilled from the actual talented.
For anyone who scored less than 135 :-) I'd very much recommend looking at the "Solutions & Investigations" to the JMC 2025 on the UKMT website.
R2Drew2 on youtube is good speedrun

When my DS did the junior maths challenge the school didn't tell the parents about it until after the results came in.

DS didn't mention it at all and when I asked him about it when I was told his result he just remembered doing a fun quiz.

He got gold , the first gold in his school's history ( state school ) Sadly his love of maths didn't last beyond GCSE and he dropped maths A level after a year.

I wish I'd known more about these challenges as I've since heard that some employers look for success in these things when looking at CVs.

DS couldn't be bothered to do any more challenges once he got to senior school but if I'd known I'd have pushed him more.

@Jonny234 I do think it can be hard on the younger kids in Year 7 and below to be up against old Year 8s and even young Year 9s. People enter internationally and the same age group in other countries will also be at varying levels depending on how their curriculums work with some ahead and some behind the UK on the complexity of what they teach in those age groups.

There also seems to be a massive amount of prep for the JMC at some schools (not that much at ours!), some parents doing a lot of practice with kids across the whole year/years in the run up and people accessing paid for tutoring for it. There is in effect a hidden curriculum with similar types of problem coming across the years.

It is definitely not a completely level playing field. In that it’s different to any type of test I guess though and my ds really does enjoys doing this kind of maths like your dd.

I agree on a level and my daughter is the type to just turn up and achieve what she does and the fact there is no pressure whatsoever from us, apart from a little she may put on herself and this probably benefits her. It's the way to go.

Think I might be a bit overprotective having a younger child in the year. One way to look at it asking is it really benchmarking anyone when other Junior Olympiads could be September Yr8 births and almost 2 years older? More rewarding though is knowing despite this age disadvantage she's still able to compete at the highest level.

Ask his teacher. The school get emailed the results in a spreadsheet.

@PammieDooveOrangeJoof The school will have the scores.

@Jonny234 Not unfair - ‘mathsy’ children enjoy this sort of thing regardless of age. It’s having two goes at it. In my daughter’s class there are children that love it and others that hate it! We just told our daughter to enjoy it - no pressure - and she did - last year and this year.

My son got told he got gold today but he didn’t get told his score and from memory he never has. How do you find out please?

Thanks. I looked around and while it didn't say that, equally it didn't say anything to the contrary so I presume it's the case. Seems a little unfair in a way.

Happy that my Yr7 DD11 has made the Olympiad. 6 questions in 2 hours sounds a bit adulty and double the longest exam I think she's ever had in her life. Suppose whatever the outcome it's good practice for later life.

@Jonny234 They sit the same paper. In my daughter’s school they sit it at the same time in different classrooms.

Just wondering, do the yr7 and yr8's sit the same paper or is it 2 separate?

DD heard today that she got into the Olympiad. She got a Silver and Best in School last year and thought this one was easier than the one last year. School doesn’t prep them, but she did past papers at home. Don’t know anything about the Olympiad. Don’t know how to prepare. Thanks for the resources already posted. She already does Parallels! Please post more!!!!

@Surfer1978 that is amazing! Mine couldn’t have done that but has also always been crazy into maths and could add and take away at two. It sounds mad but you could show him 8 strawberries, say if I take two away how many have I got and he would say 6, without needing to count them! He has always loved numbers.

@Foxhasbigsocks He has always been gifted at maths and could do the maths section of Countdown when he was three. God knows where it comes from as his mum and I are terrible at all things maths related.

@Surfer1978 sounds incredible to me to be able to do that at 9. I’m impressed!!

Got the results at school today apparently! Ds got 107 and is through to Kangeroo, which I’m hoping will go ok for him. In a way it’s good having all these new certificates for kangaroo, but he didn’t get a merit last time so I don’t know if he will get one!

Just saw head teacher at school gate and discovered DS9 got Gold in the JMC and has made it through to the Olympiad (he scored 130).

Bit of a victory moment for us as the school knows he’s a bit of a maths whizz but for years have been intimating he’s not as good as we think he is.

My son has maths tomorrow - wondering oif they'll find out then, though only a few of the class did it, so maybe not.

Still no result here! I guess our school hasn’t got them yet or is waiting to hand out.

They Have announced it to help those preparing. Will link later @Statistico