On the 26th of February, Gordon’s was invited to the Regional Final of the Team Maths Challenge, run by the UK Maths Trust (UKMT). The UK maths challenge is an organisation that gets hundreds of thousands of young people problem solving with maths and is run by volunteers. It has been running for over twenty years.
Our team consisted of two Year 8s, me and Kabir, and two Year 9s, Neil and Dhruva. We had scored the highest previously during the Junior Maths Challenge (a test that the UKMT also provide) so Mr Eaden invited us. In preparation, we looked at past papers and puzzles that can all be found on their website. This was quite helpful as to get an understanding of what the questions were going to be like.
Mr Eaden said, “I was excited to take a team to the event as I had not been since 2019 (before I joined Gordon’s!). The event was cancelled throughout the pandemic and has only returned recently, so it was nice to see that the same format was being used. I knew we had a good chance of doing well, as all of the students in the team had achieved a Gold certificate in the UKMT Maths challenges before, and I was confident that we would work well as a team.”
Then the day came.
After form time, we all met at the minibuses and made our way to Guilford County School. When we got there, we were given a few questions to warm us up and then it began.
There were four parts to the competition. First, we had the Team Round where we had to answer ten questions as one team. Most questions were worth six points if you got it right and zero if you got it wrong, so it was extremely strict. We ended up making a few mistakes on this part which costed us in the end, but try answer this:
How many times do the hour and minute hands of a clock make a 90-degree angle between two and four o’clock.
Hard, right?
Then we had the Shuttle Round where we split into two teams and then had to answer four questions in 8 minutes. It sounds much easier but there is a catch! In our pairs, we had to answer two questions each and whatever answer we got, we had to pass to the other team and that value plays a role in their next question, which then repeats back and forth until all four questions are answered. If you got one question wrong, it meant the questions proceeding it were wrong, so we had to redo them! This was important since if we finished them in 6 minutes instead of the full eight, we got bonus points. Each question was also worth three points and one if you got it wrong but then corrected it (not including the ones that were wrong because of the ones before it). For this round, we only got one question wrong and missed the one time bonus, but I think we did incredibly well! On some questions, we had prepared so well before we got the next value, we only had to do a small bit of algebra and so we finished in a matter of seconds.
After lunch, we had our Cross-number. If you do not know what that is, it is like a crossword except its clues are equations. Again, it was not as simple as it sounds. We had to split into two again and each pair was given half the clues – the across clues or the down clues. Additionally, some numbers relied heavily on other numbers, but we could not get that number because we needed another number, and the cycle repeats. This puzzle was marked on each digit we got right. However, the most frustrating part of this section was when Kabir and I asked if two numbers were correct, which they were not, but if we had waited for a few more seconds, Neil and Dhruva could have given us the right numbers.
Finally, we had the Relay Round. In this part, we yet again split up into our two pairs, and one pair had to move halfway across the room. We had to answer questions a team at a time, similar to the Shuttle Round but the questions did not rely on each other and there were many more. We were also required to rush to the teacher marking us after we had finalised our answer. If we get it right, we get two points, otherwise none and after two attempts, it skips to the next question, which we give to the other pair. We were not able to finish every question, but some of them were ridiculously hard and we were only two questions away from finishing.
Out of all the schools there, we came fourth. This was a tough competition so everyone should be proud of what they achieved.
I asked my teammates how they thought about this amazing academic opportunity.
“It was exciting to represent the school for such competition, and we were against some of the best schools in Surrey, so it was amazing to compete.” Says Neil. “The hardest round was probably the shuttle because we had to be very careful about our answers as some questions asked for the sum of the numbers in the answer and other things like that. We also had to make sure each pair was correct.”
“By the end I was glad that we had beat some of Surrey’s strongest schools and I am happy I don’t have to go all the way to Manchester.”
“I think in the group round we all could have double checked our work to secure some more marks. We did exceptionally well in the shuttle, which I was convinced was the hardest round.”
“Going into the event I was very excited and a bit nervous but prepared to do well.” Dhruva tells me. “The first round was a bit shaky but as the round went on I felt we just got better and better. The hardest event was the group question. By the end I was feeling optimistic about our performance and pleased with our results in the last 3 rounds but still a bit disappointed about our performance on the group round. We definitely did really well on the shuttle and the last relay round but we could’ve done a bit better on the crossword and a lot better on the group round where I think our brains were warming up.”
“I felt pretty confident going into the rounds,” states Kabir. “I was feeling good as they were not too difficult. I think the hardest round was the group round as we didn’t work that well on it. At the end I was confident we had placed in the top five, which we did. I think we could have done the group round better as we were rushing it too much and dropped the most marks on that one.”
Finally, a word from Mr Eaden:
Very proud of our team, not only for the way they performed but for the way they conducted themselves on the day. The teacher from Guildford High who supervised our team commented on how brilliant they were, which is always so nice to hear. I am also excited to help the team prepare for next year, when hopefully we can make the top three or perhaps even win and gain a place at the National Finals.
- Jess, Y8