Intermediate Maths Challenge

[justlumpingalong]

Anyone's kids do this last week?

DD (year 9) did it, and said it was really tough. She'd done a few practice papers and was consistently around the Olympiad boundary, but reckons she only scored around 80 in the real thing, and doesn't think this will be anywhere near the Olympiad cutoff.

A teacher has posted the kangaroo/olympiad cutoffs on Twitter.

Cayley Mathematical Olympiad: 101+
Hamilton Mathematical Olympiad: 106+
Maclaurin Mathematical Olympiad: 110+
Grey Kangaroo: 72+
Pink Kangaroo: 84+

Looks like Grey Kangaroo for DD.

It's a very big leap between the kangaroos and the olympiads. I don't think the gap is normally that big.

No, the gap is always significant as is the difference between the level of problems at Kangaroo and Olympiads.
https://mathsaurus.com/grey-and-pink-kangaroo-cayley-hamilton-and-maclaurin-olympiads-intermediate/

DS got his score back, got a high silver which he’s pleased with.

Got that wrong, he has his official score back today and got a Gold. Apparently yesterday he was trying to work out his score based off his friends score. 🙄

in case anyone took IMC this year in 2026, how was it?

DS2 - who has got into the Kangaroo every year he's sat a maths challenge will be lucky to get a silver based on the previous few boundaries.

So, either rock hard or DS has reached his mathematical peak!

DD said it was hard. Year 10. She did zero prep and didn’t seem bothered

DD said she found it easier this year than last - she's Y11 though and doing the Futher Maths Level 2 work at the moment so I suspect she has just done more practice this year.

DD(Y9) found it hard and said there was stuff they hadn’t done yet in maths and lots of algebra (which she dislikes). She got a Gold and went through to the Olympiad round (in which she got a Merit) in the JMC, but thinks she’ll be lucky to get a certificate in this year’s IMC.

When do the scores come out for it? Dd said it was challenging and she did not answer all and neither did any of her friends.

DD Y11 is normally very good at these (took the senior maths challenge last term - the one for sixth formers - and got gold, then gold in the kangaroo). She took the IMC this week and said it was super-hard - only got as far as Q16 and isn't sure she got all of those right.

Scores usually out about a week after the challenge.

Perhaps it was more difficult this year? It is the first time dd is doing the intermediate one. If everyone found it difficult, perhaps it will reflect on the grade boundaries.

I expect the Olympiad boundaries to be about 20 points lower this year than they have been in recent years... so back to what they used to be before Covid.

Ds (year 10) found it challenging and didn’t manage to answer all the questions.

I meant geometry not algebra!

We are not expecting anything much. Seemed much harder than previous years according to the dc.

Results are out! Indeed significantly lower boundaries as predicted

Curious when the dc will get their results? Dd thinks she got silver (from looking at the boundaries and markings of what she can remember).

My DS (Year 9) got his results today and got Gold, which he was pleased with, as he found it hard. He's usually good at the tests and has done Kangaroo and the Olympiad in previous years, but thought this year's was difficult. One boy in his class got through to the Kangaroo and one other boy got a Gold.

The challenge was particularly tough this year, which is probably a good thing? DD cleared the Maclaurin threshold, though she mentioned feeling pressed for time.

DD got a silver. There were no golds in her year - two other silvers. She thought it was very hard and that there was quite a lot of stuff that she hasn't learned yet and that she did really badly, so she is happy. She got through to the Olympiad in the JMC last year.