MathCounts Workshop Ross Nelson 29 October 2004

Topics Practices Choosing a team Sprint Round Target Round Team Round Countdown Round State and Beyond

Practice Tips It’s not a math class Tips for faster, more reliable math Put them in the situations they’ll face during competition Sprint, power, team, countdown, master rounds Encourage discussion among the students Provide resources to support questions Encourage research Make it fun – competition, rewards

Often-Overlooked Useful Skills Estimation When to use it, how to do it Draw it Verification Solve it differently Perform the computations in a different order

Team Selection Don’t choose the team until you have to! Use objective criteria for selection – keeps the parents and kids happy Let the kids know what the criteria are – allows them to work towards the objective, rewards hard work Make it fun for everyone, even those who don’t compete… pizza party, mini school competition

Sprint Round To maximize points, the goal is to find quick, correct answers Read them all in order, but only answer the ones at first that you know how to do for sure, get your brain working on the rest Flag the problems that need to be reworked for sure Double check the easiest ones – need those points

Sprint Practice Ideas Develop speed and reliability Do lots of problems, under a very tight time limit, tracks scores and improvement Encourage questions between teammates Do single problems, or small groups of problems, and time the students Post scores to encourage FRIENDLY competition?

Target Round Tests depth of knowledge and solving multi-step problems Read the two problems quickly, start with the easiest and work it to completion Always attempt both problems Work them both in different ways if time permits

Target Round Practice Develop DEPTH of knowledge Have students run “seminars” on different areas Do lots of difficult problems, with no time limits Discussion is a MUST

Team Round Use the first few minutes to divide and conquer – equal but independent answers without influence are strong answers Discuss difficult problems for quick questions, rarely spend all 4 people’s time working one hard problem Some team members can help verify and look for math mistakes Stay Quiet!

Team Round Practice Try many strategies, ie two person teams, everybody for themselves, all together Use scaled down tests; iteration is the key LISTEN CAREFULLY to be able to analyze the teamwork after they finish Highlight missed questions, discuss why it was wrong, what could have corrected it, analyze decision making skills of team Team building exercises

Countdown Round Timing is everything – learn to know WHEN you will know the answer? What can you figure out in 5 seconds? Buzz in only when you absolutely WILL know the answer

Countdown Round Practice 5 second drills – answers in 5 seconds For-sure drills – state in 5 seconds whether you can answer the question, then calculate the answer at your leisure TRACK results, help to improve Run competitions often with groups of 2-4

Parents Watch out for the crazies Objective criteria for team selection is critical – CYA principle applies Tie breaker method is important Countdown or Master Round Attendance Task completion Have parents attend the selection?

Competition Day Extra calculators, pens, pencils, paper Remind them about the rules before each round Go over the tips and tricks checklist you built during your practice sessions Keep it fun