Maths students at Queen Mary’s College celebrated the results of their excellent efforts following the recent Senior Maths Challenge (SMT). Aimed at students who are in year 13 or below, this is an international competition regulated by the UK Maths Trust. The Challenge consists of a 90-minute paper with 25 multiple-choice questions where participants all begin with 25 points each. For unanswered questions no points are awarded, 4 marks are awarded for each correct answer and 1 mark is deducted for every incorrect answer. The point system of deducting points is to encourage students to really think about their answers instead of guessing them. In this way, the competition is designed to stimulate and elicit problem-solving amongst young mathematicians.
The Senior Maths Challenge stands out as just one example among various activities that QMC offers to maths students, providing them with opportunities to showcase and develop their academic skills. Whether students go on to pursue higher-education at university or start an apprenticeship, evolving students’ ability to analyse, dissect and solve problems effectively helps to further their propensity for rational thinking and solution finding.
Our mathematicians are always keen to immerse themselves and produce strong results consistently. Building on the results from 2022, QMC maths students have achieved brilliant results this year. With an increase of student participation, 91% of those who took part achieved an award, where there were 13 Gold certificates, 23 silver certificates and 36 bronze certificates awarded across the cohort.
David Smith, Director of Learning for Mathematics, was enthusiastic to see more students step forward and apply themselves beyond their curriculum. He added that ‘We’ve had a great set of results this year, congratulations to all of the students. Their problem-solving prowess is hereby officially recognised!’. In recognition of the highest performers, students who receive Gold certificates will now progress through to the Senior Kangaroo Challenge on 15th November. We are wishing students the very best of luck!
