On the 23rd of September, Forms 3-5 took part in Maths Olympiad. Our school takes part in this annually, each year with the number of participants increasing. However, why should one take part in Maths Olympiad? After all, some of the general comments made from students in forms 3-5 were:
-“I guessed answers on half of the paper.”
-“That exam was a bit challenging especially with the use of no calculator.”
-“I started to laugh when I saw some of the difficult questions in that booklet.”
-“It took me about ten minutes starring at one question to figure out what they were trying to ask.”
One of the main reasons people do Maths Olympiad is to you get a certificate to put in your portfolio for future job references; and what harm is it sitting in a room for a hour and a half to get a recognized certificate to thicken that job portfolio. Whether you have done the exam or you are debating to do it next year, shouldn’t completely set aside round 2 after you complete the exam; as last year we had the biggest number of students to ever go onto round two although nearly every child said they weren’t going to make it. So don’t throw away the idea of round 2 in U.W.I.(yes it’s in U.W.I.) as yet, for you just might be surprised that the person moving on is not the strongest or brightest math student in class but you.