By Miss Lau (Maths Teacher)

On Tuesday 4th October, one Year 10, 35 Lower and 9 Upper Sixth Formers participated in the UKMT Senior Mathematical Challenge in the Assembly Hall. The Mathematical Challenge is a 1.5-hour, 25 question multiple choice paper and aims to stimulate mathematical problem solving.  It encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought and fluency in using basic mathematical techniques to solve interesting problems. The questions on the paper are designed to challenge students to think, not to guess. No calculators allowed! 

An example of a question on this year’s paper is:

The figure shows a regular hexagon. How many parallelograms are there in the figure?

A. 2   B. 4   C. 6   D. 8   E. more than 8 

The students had a chance to get a bronze, silver or gold certificate (in the ratio 1:2:3) if they were in the top 40% of the UK from all those students taking the challenge.  Seventeen students in the Lower Sixth achieved a bronze certificate and three achieved a silver certificate - Isabel Baker, Izzy Harrison, and Alexandra Gentry (also awarded Best in Year). 

In Upper Sixth, seven students achieved a bronze certificate and one received a silver certificate - Emily Armitage (also awarded Best in Year). 

Summer Akhtar in Year 10 was awarded a gold certificate and has qualified for the next round, the Andrew Jobbings Senior Kangaroo: a 60-minute challenge comprising 20 mathematical problems.