By: Charlotte A., Year 9 Pupil
The UKMT Maths Challenge was a fun and engaging way to exercise our mental arithmetic and problem-solving skills. We started with a collaborative team challenge to solve a set of questions, each challenging in different ways – some tried to catch you out with specifics, and some used formulae and ratio to find answers. It was an interesting experience to see how our team worked, and their individual strengths and weaknesses.
The second round was the crossnumber; this was one of the more challenging tasks. Trying to remember triangular numbers and the Fibonacci sequence paired with relying on the other pair’s answers for your own was difficult, but we worked together and managed to finish the entire task with only three or four mistakes.
Thirdly came the shuttle round, which was definitely the hardest. This round consisted of one pair finding an answer, which was the base for the next three questions. This round, we couldn’t check our answers, so we had to check our answers meticulously to avoid throwing off the whole section. At one point, a wrong answer made us end up with 60 cats!
Finally, the relay. This was my favourite round, suspenseful and adrenaline-filled, all in the best way. We split into pairs again (but my team had stayed in the same pairs as we seemed to work well), but this time one pair went to another end of the room. One pair had to solve a question, sprint to the teacher to get it checked, then run to the other pair with the next question. After this round, the results were announced, and the challenge ended .
Overall, it was a riveting, demanding experience that really stretched even the most able mathematicians. Having the chance to participate in a competition like this is a great experience, and I wish any future teams luck on their future trials!
A big congratulations to our joint Y8/Y9 teams chosen to represent the College. Overall, the A team scored 170 points out of a possible 236 and this placed them 6th, just 10 points behind the winning school. Our B team were a mere 15 points behind and this also placed them in the top half. Both teams demonstrated much resilience under pressure and they deserve a big congratulations for their efforts.
Team A: James T. (Y9), Charlotte A. (Y9), Lottie J. (Y8), Edgar R. (Y8)
Team B: Ben K. (Y9), Oscar C. (Y9), Lily G. (Y8), Mimi W. (Y8)
