MathCounts
MathCounts is one of the most selective competitions we have. There are four meets throughout the year for MathCounts - a school competition open to students who have been placed in one of our top two after school math groups as a result of their placement tests, a chapter, or local competition, a state competition and a national competition. Each school is permitted only 10 students at the chapter competition so students who make it have shown extreme dedication beyond the school day to developing and applying their skills. Obviously, when we have a club of up to 150 students, it’s quite a feat to make it on our chapter team, but definitely something worth working toward!!
So what does a MathCounts competition entail? First, let’s talk about the math that participants need to know. According to the MathCounts website, questions include geometry, combinatorics (Think complex permutations and combinations or the different ways that a set of points can be connected by lines or arcs), counting (that’s finding the number of elements of a finite set of objects), probability, number theory (that’s math that deals with the properties and relationships of numbers, especially the positive integers.), and algebra. If I were to explain MathCounts material in a nutshell, I would say that it consists of challenging critical thinking questions that require advanced mathematical skills, so problem solving ability is a must!
MATHCOUNTS competitions usually last about 3 hours are made up of 4 parts: the Sprint, Target, Team and Countdown Rounds. The Sprint Round is a written test that has 30 questions, and students have 40 minutes to complete them. The Target Round consists of 8 questions, which are distributed to the students two at a time. Students have 6 minutes to complete each pair of problems. The Team Round has 10 problems for the team to work on together for 20 minutes. Finally, there’s the countdown round. The top 25% of individuals, up to a maximum of 10, proceed to the Countdown Round, an oral round in which students compete head-to-head with buzzers. Even if you don’t ever compete in Mathcounts, the Countdown round is an incredible thing to watch because the competitors are total math rockstars.
MathCounts Information
Problem Archive
So what does a MathCounts competition entail? First, let’s talk about the math that participants need to know. According to the MathCounts website, questions include geometry, combinatorics (Think complex permutations and combinations or the different ways that a set of points can be connected by lines or arcs), counting (that’s finding the number of elements of a finite set of objects), probability, number theory (that’s math that deals with the properties and relationships of numbers, especially the positive integers.), and algebra. If I were to explain MathCounts material in a nutshell, I would say that it consists of challenging critical thinking questions that require advanced mathematical skills, so problem solving ability is a must!
MATHCOUNTS competitions usually last about 3 hours are made up of 4 parts: the Sprint, Target, Team and Countdown Rounds. The Sprint Round is a written test that has 30 questions, and students have 40 minutes to complete them. The Target Round consists of 8 questions, which are distributed to the students two at a time. Students have 6 minutes to complete each pair of problems. The Team Round has 10 problems for the team to work on together for 20 minutes. Finally, there’s the countdown round. The top 25% of individuals, up to a maximum of 10, proceed to the Countdown Round, an oral round in which students compete head-to-head with buzzers. Even if you don’t ever compete in Mathcounts, the Countdown round is an incredible thing to watch because the competitors are total math rockstars.
MathCounts Information
Problem Archive