[announcements]
Coaches: Please note that there is a difference between adding students and putting them on your roster. Make sure you do both.
Contest 1 will be held at Whitney Young High School, 211 S. Laflin, on Saturday, November 14th. Teams should arrive between 8:15 and 8:30 to register. Your roster should be entered online by 4pm on Thursday, November 12th.
[contest dates]
CONTEST 1 Saturday, November 14, 2009
CONTEST 2 Saturday, February 6, 2010
CONTEST 3 Saturday, May 15, 2010
[location]
For the 2009-2010 school year, all contests will take place at Whitney M. Young High School, 211 S. Laflin St., Chicago 60607, from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM. Parking is available in the school lots on the southeast corner of the intersection of Jackson and Laflin Streets. Street parking is also available.
[contest topics]
CONTEST 1: Saturday, November 14, 2009
SCHEDULE
* Individual Round (Target Round format): 10 questions given two at a time, 40 minutes, two points per question
* Team Round (Power Round format): 4 students (at most two 8th graders), 30 minutes, 50 total points
TOPICS
* 7th grade: basic statistics (arithmetic mean, median, mode); divisibility (primes, composites, GCD, LCM, relatively prime, number of divisors, etc.); ratios, proportions, and percents
* 8th grade: basic statistics (arithmetic mean, median, mode, stem and leaf plots, box and whiskers plots); divisibility (primes, composites, GCD, LCM, relatively prime, number of divisors, etc.); arithmetic and geometric sequences (including partial sums)
* Team round: Venn Diagrams\
CONTEST 2: Saturday, February 6, 2010
Schools who also participate in Mathcounts will find that this contest is a great way to provide students with competition experience that will help them get ready for the regional Mathcounts contest that will take place on Saturday, February 20, 2010.
SCHEDULE
* Individual Round (Sprint Round format): No calculator, 20 questions, 40 minutes, one point per question
* Team Round (Power Round format): 4 students (at most two 8th graders), 30 minutes, 50 total points
* Countdown Round (Demonstration): see Rules and Policies
TOPICS
* 7th grade: basic geometry (angle measurement, perimeter, area, volume), probability (and, or, easy inclusion/exclusion), counting (permutations and combinations), the Pythagorean Theorem
* 8th grade: basic geometry (angle measurement, perimeter, area, volume, polygon formulas), probability (and, or, easy inclusion/exclusion), counting (permutations and combinations), the Pythagorean Theorem (including special triangles, 30-60-90 and 45-45-90)
* Team Round: Pythagorean Triples and proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem
* Countdown Round: any Mathcounts topics
CONTEST 3: Saturday, May 15, 2010
This contest will consist of more formats than the previous contests. Please consult Contest Formats for more details.
SCHEDULE
* Individual Round (Standard Format): 10 questions, 25 minutes, two points per question
* Team Round (Power Round format): 4 students (at most two 8th graders), 30 minutes, 50 total points
* Relay Round: 4-person teams, 3 rounds, 7 minutes and 4 questions per round
* 2-Person Team Round: 10 questions, 30 minutes, top 3 teams advance to demonstration round
As the Relay Round and the 2-person Team Round will occur simultaneously, no student may compete in both the Relay and the 2-person rounds.
TOPICS
* 7th grade: linear equations, number patterns, geometric similarity, interpreting graphs
* 8th grade: systems of linear equations, number patterns, symmetry and transformations, quadratic equations
* Team Round: Fibonacci numbers and recursive relations
* Relay Round: topics are cumulative over Meets 1-3
* 2-Person Round: topics are cumulative over Meets 1-3
[contest formats]
I. Individual Contests – The individual contests will be split into two areas: a 7th grade contest and an 8th grade contest. 8th graders may not compete in the 7th grade contest, but younger students may compete at a higher grade level. Each grade level contest may have as many as six contestants and four alternates.
* Target Round: This consists of 10 questions (2 points each). The students will receive two questions at a time and will have eight minutes to complete each set of two questions. When the eight minutes have elapsed, the students’ answer sheets will be collected and the next set of two questions will be distributed. For each set of two questions, proctors will announce when 3 minutes remain, when 1 minute remains, and when 15 seconds remain. When time is called by the proctor, students must put their pencils down and hold their answer sheets in the air. Any student that fails to do this will have his/her paper disqualified.
* Sprint Round: This is a no-calculator contest that will consist of 20 questions (1 point each) to be completed in 40 minutes. (This is slightly different from the actual Mathcounts Spring Round format.) Proctors will announce when 3 minutes remain, when 1 minute remains, and when 15 seconds remain. When time is called by the proctor, students must put their pencils down and hold their answer sheets in the air. Any student that fails to do this will have his/her paper disqualified.
* Standard Format: This consists of 10 questions (2 points each) to be completed in 25 minutes. Calculators may be used for this format. Again, proctors will announce when 3 minutes remain, when 1 minute remains, and when 15 seconds remain. When time is called by the proctor, students must put their pencils down and hold their answer sheets in the air. Any student that fails to do this will have his/her paper disqualified.
II. Team Contests – The team contests will be split into three areas: a 4-person team contest, a 2-person team contest and demonstration, and a 4-person relay contest. Any student who participates in the individual contests is eligible for the team contests.
* Power Round: The 4-person team may have a combination of four 6th, 7th and 8th graders with no more than two 8th graders on any team. Each school will be allowed to have two 4-person teams competing, but they may designate up to three alternate teams. Teams will have 30 minutes to complete this test, which will have a maximum score of 50 points. The score of the higher scoring team from each school will count towards that school’s team total, although both teams will be eligible for individual awards. Proctors will announce when 3 minutes remain, when 1 minute remains, and when 15 seconds remain. When time is called by the proctor, teams must put their pencils down and have one team member hold their answer sheet in the air. Any team that fails to do this will have their paper disqualified.
Each Team Power Round comes with the following instructions:
Instructions: The team contest is 30 minutes long. All four members of each team may work on the contest together.
This contest has been constructed around a mathematical theme. Before you start solving any problems, please take the time to read through the contest so that you and your teammates may decide the approach you wish to take in order to start answering questions.
This contest may seem a little unusual, so please pay close attention to the instructions. Each question on the test is worth a certain number of points. Some questions are worth 0 points. Don’t skip these questions! Even though a 0 point question will not help (or hurt) your score, it is highly recommended that you work out answers to the 0 point problems because your results will help you figure out answers to the questions that are worth points.
The questions that will count towards your score are printed in bold lettering on the contest. You will see that those are the only questions you will need to fill out on the answer sheet. For example, there is no space for question #1 on the answer sheet because question #1 is worth 0 points. There is a space for question #3 on the answer sheet because question #3 is worth 2 points. You will need to work out an answer for question #1 before you can determine the answer for question #3.
Even though this contest is probably not like other math contests or tests you have taken before, don’t worry. It is not as complicated as it sounds. Just try your best, work through the problems, and work with your teammates. Good luck. You may begin.
* 2-person Team Contest: The 2-person team will consist of a combination of two 6th, 7th and 8th graders with a maximum of one 8th grader per team. Each school will only be allowed to field one 2-person team.
Questions for this contest will be projected on a screen at the front of the room. Students will not receive paper copies of the questions until the end of the contest. Teams will have 3 minutes to answer each question, but may only submit one answer per question. When a team is ready to submit its answer to a question, one team member will hold the answer sheet up in the air and a proctor will promptly check the answer. Six points will be awarded for a correct answer submitted in the first minute, four points will be awarded for a correct answer submitted in the second minute, and three points will be awarded for a correct answer submitted in the final minute. A two point bonus will be added to the score of the first team to answer each question correctly. Proctors will announce “first” when the first correct answer has been submitted to let other teams know the bonus points are no longer available. At the end of the 10 questions, any ties will be broken by sudden death questions. No points will be awarded for sudden death questions, but will be used to determine the placing order of teams.
2-person Team Demonstration: The top five 2-person teams will compete in a five question demonstration round at the awards ceremony to determine the final rankings of the teams. The same rules will apply to the demonstration as to the 2-person team contest. The team that accumulates the most points for the five question demonstration round will be the winning team of the 2-person contest, the team with the next highest score from demonstration round will receive 2nd place, etc. A team’s score prior to the 2-person demonstration will not be considered when determining the winner of the 2-person contest; the demonstration round will determine the placing of the top five teams. The number of points earned in the demonstration round will not count toward the overall team total.
* Relay Competition: The Relay team may have a combination of 4 6th, 7th and 8th graders with no more than 2 8th graders on any team. The relay competition will consist of three rounds. Each team will sit in a row. Proctors will distribute several official answer sheets to each team member. Each member will also receive a question each round. The person in seat 1 will receive #1, seat 2 will receive #2, etc. Students will work on their problem when time starts, but will require the answer from the person sitting in front of them in order to complete their problem. For example, question #2 will have a piece of missing information in their problem written as (ANS). (ANS) refers to the answer to the problem of the person in front of you. Team members may send as many answer sheets back as necessary if they would like to change their answer before the fourth member submits the official answer sheet.
Teams will have 7 minutes to complete each round. The team member in seat 4 will be responsible for submitting the team’s answer sheet. Answer sheets will be scored as follows. Each correct answer will be worth two points. Time bonuses are awarded to teams that have all 4 answers correct. After 3 minutes have passed, a proctor will announce, “first command to stand.” At this point teams that would like to submit their answer sheet must have their 4th member standing with the answer sheet in the air. Answer sheets submitted at the first command are eligible for a 5 point bonus. After 5 minutes have passed a proctor will announce, “second command to stand.” Answer sheets submitted at the second command are eligible for a 3 point bonus. The final command to stand will be announced after 7 minutes have passed. All commands to stand will be preceded by a 15 second warning.
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