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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

UKMT intermediate maths challenge?

91 replies

southernsoftie · 26/02/2014 15:21

Anyone else's child done this? And does anyone know how many children sit it each year? I have had a quick look on the website and it says roughly how many get through to each stage but not how many are entered to start with. DS is hoping to do maths and further maths at A level and I wondering if there is likely to be any correlation between the intermediate challenge and likely success at A level.

OP posts:

bruffin · 26/02/2014 15:49

DS yr13 has done the junior, intermediate and senior maths challenge. He got bronze for junior and intermediate, went on to take maths and further maths at A level. He recently did the senior maths challenge and got a gold.
Although it hasnt been plain sailing he is doing all right and hopes to get an A* for maths and an A or B for further maths. I know for DS it's not the ideal test because he is very cautious type. You get so many points for getting the first 20 questions right, then actually lose points if you get the questions after that wrong. My ds wouldnt answer anything if he thought there was a chance of getting it wrong. You dont lose marks for not answering.

twentyten · 26/02/2014 15:55

As bruffin says it's a different sort of paper from a level-suits some not all.Good experience! My dd yr 12 did junior silver/intermediate siver and gold and senior-gold and is now doing maths/further maths a's.

worth trying practice questions.

motherstongue · 26/02/2014 15:57

My DS did the junior and now does the intermediate. According to his certificate from last year approx 200,000 kids take part from approx 3000 schools nationwide. Certificates go to the top 40%. The top scoring 1700 are invited into the European Kangaroo. The top 500 to the Olympiad. You can get more info from www.ukmt.org.uk. Sorry no good at doing links.

noblegiraffe · 26/02/2014 16:12

I think someone who does incredibly well at the maths challenge is likely to be a good candidate for maths and further maths, but not doing well doesn't mean you wouldn't be good enough for further maths. One of my top set didn't even get a bronze but I know he will get an A* no problems at GCSE and will do well at A-level, it's a different sort of maths.

richmal · 26/02/2014 16:20

Dd did this this year, so I was wondering what sort of indication the IMC gives for GCSE, as she will be taking this in June. Has anyone got results yet for the IMC? We are still waiting.

noblegiraffe · 26/02/2014 16:24

Our results were emailed to the school on Monday.

richmal · 26/02/2014 16:29

Because I home educate dd did this as an external candidate. I asked the school earlier and don't like to bother them again.

Noble, could I ask the other way round in that if someone did well in the IMC would you expect them to do well at GCSE.

I ask because dd has not has a chance to do a proper mock GCSE and this is the nearest she'll get.

motherstongue · 26/02/2014 16:34

Sorry, just looked at your post and realised you had been on the website...doh...

noblegiraffe · 26/02/2014 16:39

I would have thought so, richmal, but it is hard to say as we only enter our top set for the maths challenge so everyone who sits it is going to do well at GCSE!

Why can't she do a proper mock? Do you mean in an exam hall?

OhYouBadBadKitten · 26/02/2014 16:49

Dd is still waiting for her results.

BackforGood · 26/02/2014 16:57

Haven't had results from it this year, but I know dd has got bronze in the past. Her maths teacher has said he will be disappointed if she gets less than 100% in her GCSE, and she's certainly hoping to do maths at A-Level, so I don't think there's a direct correlation between how well they do in this and how they will do in formal exams.

As Bruffin said, there's this whole concept of losing marks if you aren't 100% right that puts some people off putting an answer in for those questions, (ie the more cautious workers) and gives the more gung ho "I'll give it a go" type people the possibility of getting extra marks but also the possibility of them losing a chunk of marks.
I can't get my head round it really.

richmal · 26/02/2014 18:02

noblegiraffe, yes, I meant in a hall, where it feels like she is doing an exam. I'll give her a few past papers, but it's always more relaxed at home. Thanks for replying.

noblegiraffe · 26/02/2014 18:43

Could you send her to a big library, one with a reading room to do it? I know what you mean about home being too relaxed!

richmal · 26/02/2014 19:17

TBH I think having done the IMC she will know what to expect and our big town library a very bright and relaxed, unlike the austere, unwelcoming building it replaced. (Those were the days when you knew you were in a library).

richmal · 27/02/2014 14:12

Dd got gold and is going on to the grey kangaroo.

noblegiraffe · 27/02/2014 15:44

Wow, well done richmal's dd! I would say that if she did that well she is clearly an excellent mathematician and should breeze GCSE :)

Pythonesque · 27/02/2014 16:44

I haven't got experience of the UK competitions (yet - my children are just coming to the age when they start doing them); but would estimate from my own background in such things that exceptionally good performance in the competitions should predict high results at GCSE and particularly aptitude for further maths; but the reverse is not necessarily true.

bruffin · 27/02/2014 16:56

Well done richmal dd
Ds was one mark off the kangaroo

OhYouBadBadKitten · 27/02/2014 19:18

We still dont know how dd did and probably wont find out til mid week next week. Very irritating as shes really keen to know if she is going onto the olympiad (she was 1 mark off on the junior paper last year and shes improved loads)

richmal · 27/02/2014 20:17

Thanks noblegiraffe

bruffin good luck to your ds in both maths A levels.

Dd only got a silver in JMC last year.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 27/02/2014 20:50

A silver is really good though and her gold even better :)

motherstongue · 27/02/2014 21:04

Don't know how my DS has done this year but he got gold last year and an invite to the Cayley. He likes maths but it isn't his passion so when he found out if he scored high enough he would be expected to go to a summer maths camp, I think he deliberately didn't try! He said "I'm not giving up a week of my holidays to do maths". He doesn't think he's done as well this year, however, we'll just have to wait and see. 4 boys from his school made it to the Cayley last year but can't remember if any got to the residential.

AtiaoftheJulii · 27/02/2014 21:08

lol, you're not EXPECTED to go! It's not compulsory! You get an invitation, and you have to pay so it's up to you.

motherstongue · 27/02/2014 21:39

He didn't know that...I think the school would have expected them to go and a great deal of pressure to attend would have been extended. I'm sure he didn't want to find himself in that position.

AtiaoftheJulii · 27/02/2014 21:41

Well, unless they were offering to pay ... ;-) Anyway, it's generally y10s who get invited, so he was probably safe doing the Cayley - needs to watch out this year ;-)

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