Queen Mary’s College’s young mathematicians celebrated fantastic outcomes from the UK Senior Maths Challenge 2025.
What is the UK Senior Maths Challenge?
The annual competition invites students at year 13 or below studying Maths, to sit a timed multiple-choice paper which demands complex mathematical problem-solving. While everyone starts off with 25 points, the overall score is calculated based on how many marks are gained or lost per question, through the paper.
2025 Results
Of those who participated this year, 79% of the candidates at QMC were awarded a certificate, of which there were:
- 21 Bronze awards (approximately 33% receive bronze nationally)
- 24 Silver awards (approximately 22% receive silver nationally)
- 7 Gold awards (approximately 11% receive gold nationally)
All Gold winners will compete in the follow-on round (Senior Kangaroo Challenge) on 19th November.
Stretch and Challenge at Queen Mary’s College
The UK Senior Maths Challenge is one of many stretch and challenge opportunities for students on our Maths courses. Competitions, extra-curricular and super-curricular enrichment activities are instrumental to furthering skills learned in the classroom, including abstract reasoning, logical proof and rigour, data interpretation, and critical thinking. Alongside academic development, gaining a recognised certification proves to be an impressive accomplishment for students’ personal statements and CVs, when applying to university, higher apprenticeships, and/or job roles.
Marking the Moment
Principal Mark Henderson and David Smith, Director of Learning for Mathematics, presented the certificates and congratulated all of the competitors on their success and their willingness to pit their wits against the best mathematicians in the country.
David Smith, commented, “As ever, we are delighted by the enthusiasm of our maths students in wanting to test their problem-solving skills against other students from across the country. Once again, we’ve had a keen response, with many winning awards for the number of problems they were able to correctly solve in 90 minutes. Of these, our seven gold winners will complete in the Senior Kangaroo Challenge next week and we wish them every success!”
