MathCounts

By Nikita

Early Enthusiasm

At the start of the school year, there were more than 30 people crammed into Mr. Fumi’s room. Only 8 were destined for the trip to Cairo, Egypt for the MathCounts competition. Pressure and grueling, brain-drilling problems were handed out to the contestants, called “Warm-ups”. More like “SAT prep-ups”.

The amount of math overwhelmed some. The hopeful dwindled to 20 by the second quarter.

Part of the lead up to the competition is a math test, as some would call it. Others, call it, well…“fun”. In reality, it is a challenging set of 7 questions from ASMA, the American Scholastic Mathematics Association.

Team Selection

The path that started in August is narrowed in December with the selection of the competition team.

The time of the school competition is about to start. It consists of 2 rounds: sprint round and target round. Sprint round has 30 questions in 45 minutes. Target round has 8 questions in 24 minutes. The names explain themselves.

The 8 were chosen by their scores: Nikita, YuBin, Sagar, Aarav, Rahul, Ronan, JaeHa, Marin.

The Preparation

After winter break, the team meets almost every Monday to practice questions and prepare for the trip. One new detail was to practice for a new round, called team round, where the 8 are split in half to answer 10 questions in 20 minutes.

And now, this Thursday, the part we have all been waiting for…THE TRIP!!!!

Make sure you come back to The Direct Message next week to learn all about the trip to Cairo.

#Cairo #8thGrade #MathCounts #7thGrade #Math #Travel #AwESome