Maths Challenges

Every student in secondary at Europa School has the opportunity to participate in the Maths Challenges produced by the UKMT each year. These challenges use mathematics that students have learned in class, but are focused on problem solving skills. For those that do particularly well in the challenge, there are follow on rounds of increasing difficulty. The Kangaroo has a similar format to the Maths Challenges, with 25 multiple choice questions.

Junior Maths Challenge (S1 - S2)

For S1 and S2 students, the Junior Maths Challenge is towards the end of April each year. This challenge is one hour, and consists of 25 multiple choice questions.

You can find past papers for the JMC on the UKMT website here.

The top scoring students can qualify for one of two follow on rounds. The Junior Kangaroo has a similar format to the JMC, but with more challenging questions. The Junior Mathematical Olympiad has some open response questions where students are graded on their whole response, not just the final answer.

Intermediate Maths Challenge (S3 - S5)

The Intermediate Maths Challenge is open to students in S3, S4 and S5, and takes place at the end of January each year. The IMC consists of 25 multiple choice questions at lasts one hour. The focus is on using mathematical skills to solve challenging problems that students might not encounter in class. Unlike the JMC, there is negative marking in the IMC to discourage students guessing answers. If you get a question wrong, you can lose marks, so it is better to leave a question blank than to guess the answer.

You can find past papers for the IMC on the UKMT website here.

For those who do particularly well there are a variety of different follow on rounds, dependingon the age of the student.

The Kangaroo papers are 1 hour and consist of 25 multiple choice questions:

The Grey Kangaroo is open to those in S3.
The Pink Kangaroo is open to those in S4 and S5.

The Olympiad papers are 2 hours and involve full written solutions, not just answers:

The Cayley Maths Olympiad is open to those in S3.
The Hamilton Maths Olympiad is open to those in S4.
The Maclaurin Maths Olympiad is open to those in S5.

Senior Maths Challenge (S5 - S7)

The Senior Maths Challenge is open to students in S5, S6 and S7, and takes place in October each year. The SMC consists of 25 multiple choice questions and lasts 90 minutes. The focus is on using mathematical skills to solve challenging problems that students might not encounter in class. Unlike the JMC, there is negative marking in the SMC to discourage students guessing answers. If you get a question wrong, you can lose marks, so it is better to leave a question blank than to guess the answer.

You can find past papers for the SMC on the UKMT website here.

The follow on rounds to the SMC are the Senior Kangaroo and the British Mathematical Olympiad. The Andrew Jobbings Senior Kangaroo has 25 multiple choice questions and lasts one hours. Only the very best mathematicians qualify for the British Mathematical Olympiad (BMO1) which consists of 6 extended answer questions. Students have 3.5 hours to answer the questions and provide full solutions to as many as they can. The BMO is the ultimate school level mathematical challenge, and top performing students from across the country are selected to represent the UK in international Olympiad competitions.

Mathematical Olympiad for Girls (S5 - S7)

The Mathematical Olympiad for Girls (MOG) is aimed at girls and young women and is an attempt to boost female representation in STEM subjects. It is a 2.5 hour challenge, with five questions. Two of the questions only require an answer, but the other three require full written solutions. The MOG happens in late September and is the first maths challenge of the school year.

There are past papers for the MOG available to view on the UKMT website here.

CAS Mentoring

In the IBDP students have to particpate in the CAS programme, and as part of the Service aspect of this, some S6 and S7 students usually run a Maths mentoring programme during lunchtimes. This is aimed at younger students, and takes different forms each year, depending on the students running it. Often it aims to help student prepare for the Maths Challenges, but sometimes students opt for helping students who are struggling with Maths, and some years both of these options are offered.

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