Numeracy @ BSC

On Thursday the 6th of May, 11 brave mathematicians faced a problem of grand proportions! They had entered the University of Melbourne's Annual Maths Competition. 

As they filed into the exam room, you could feel the nerves and excitement of the unknown. The students were given their papers, wished good luck and set off on their problem solving journey. 

The Junior division (Years 7 and 8) were given a total of 2 hours to complete their questions. The Intermediate division (Years 9 and 10) were given 3 hours. Unfortunately, there were no Senior entrants (Years 11 and 12).

These competitions are designed to challenge students and their mathematical thinking. They need to be able to call upon their existing math skills and apply reasoning to their answers.

Please enjoy two of our student's reflections.

Last Thursday morning, over a dozen students took place in the annual University of Melbourne’s Mathematics competition. I participated in the junior division for Years 7 and 8. It was a really challenging 2 hours. We had about 6 questions to work through. The questions ranged from challenging to crazy hard. I only answered 3 questions but am confident in my answering of them. I chose to enter the competition because I am a keen mathematician prepared to be challenged – and there is prize money for the winners!  It was a great day and I would greatly recommend this competition to any keen mathematicians.

Alex Wong - 7N

On Thursday I competed in the Melbourne University Maths Competition. I took the competition as an opportunity to challenge my maths and logic skills. The test was very different to any of the assessments I have taken in the past, as the intermediate students had 3 hours to complete 6 questions. I went into it expecting to find the questions difficult to answer and was unsurprised to find I did not have the knowledge required to answer all of the questions. Despite this, I am glad that I participated and am gave it my best attempt.

-Georgia Martin - Year 10E