UKMT Jr. Math challenge

[QEB mum]

My son is in Yr 6. He got Gold in UKMT Jr Math Challenge, which I believe for primary level to Yr 8 children. I know there is further Kangaroo and Olympiad challenges for Gold candidates (high scorers). We don't know his score yet.

I know there are some Math teachers in the forum as well as parents who I am sure will have some deeper understanding about this. Does this Gold shed any significance for his secondary school? Any pros? Or cons may be?

[Catseye]

Well done to your DS, did get through to the next round?

mind you there probably thousands of kids from council estates in the West Midlands that could blow even your son out of the water, if given the chance.

my point being that most primaries do not even do the challenge, maybe they have better thing to do like playing out making tree houses or scrumping the neighbours apples from their well cultivated orchards

[quasimodo]

Well done to your son he has done very well for one so young.

I am sure Guest55 will be able to assist.This is all relatively new to me.

I understand the top 40% in the challenge are awarded gold,silver and bronze in the proportion 1,2 and 3.

There is also a primary maths challenge. I don't know if your son took part in it. Over 79,000 children from over 2035 schools took part in 2015 with 1184 who scored more than 21 out of 25 being invited to take part in the bonus round of which about 500 got medals and the top 50 got gold medals.

[Catseye]

Over 79,000 children f

that's about 11% of the 700,000 in any one yr!

so hardly a national comparison.

there is little correlation between success at the primary/junior Challenges and A level Maths/FM

oddly ,good correlation between STEP exams and Senior Challenge( late developers catch up by 14-15yrs old who have a real passion for Maths and the sprinters more often than not are out off puff by that age.

anyway still a great achievement

[Guest55]

I'm not sure how you can know he got a gold and not know the score as it is the score that determines the 'gold'? Many Year 6s do take the UKMT Junior Maths challenge as it's more a test of problem solving than maths and I certainly know children in Year 7 of an Upper (Bucks Secondary Modern) that have got gold.

What does it mean? First, a 'well done' but I have seen no correclation between doing well at these challenges and doing well at maths.

More details about these challenges here:

http://www.ukmt.org.uk/individual-competitions/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[QEB mum]

He wasn't in school on Friday. His Math teacher emailed me saying that he got Gold. She hasn't mentioned about his particular score! All she said he scored 78+. Hopefully will come to know the exact score today.

Thanks.

[Tinkers]

What does it mean? First, a 'well done' but I have seen no correclation between doing well at these challenges and doing well at maths.

This reflects what DD has been told (twice now) by maths teachers after doing it in years 7 and 8. Indeed the medals acheived don't seem to bear any relationship to what maths sets girls are in, with some bottom maths set girls getting a golds and some top maths set girls not getting a medal at all.

(DD got a silver this time, which she is very pleased with, so I am too.)

[Guest55]

High scorers on the Intermediate and follow-on rounds get invited to a UKMT summer school.

All awards are something to be proud of

[aliportico]

Well done to him

You can see this year's boundaries here - http://www.ukmt.org.uk/individual-compe ... challenge/

Hope he enjoyed it - and I hope his secondary school will give him the chance to do another couple of years of it!

[russet]

The UKMT maths challenges test more of how children can work out how to solve problems in maths, rather than how well they have learnt and can reproduce the maths taught in the curriculum.

Getting gold in year 6 is an excellent achievement. Dd loves maths and enjoys doing these challenges. However, having done quite a few, we are always surprised by her result, sometimes because she does well and sometimes because she does not. I think the trick is, at this age, to enjoy it if they do well, but do not look on it as a sign of inability if they do not. Most children's ability will be very variable in these tests at this age.