How Middle Schoolers can get started with Mathcounts: the Biggest Math Competition in the Nation!
What is Mathcounts?
Mathcounts is:
National Recognized Math Competition on the Middle School Level
Eligible for Students grade 6-8
Tests tricky Math Problems, covering arithmetic, algebra, counting, geometry, number theory, probability, and statistics.
Includes 4 rounds of Competition that goes up to the National Level
Free, available/can be at most schools.
What Experience do I have with Mathcounts?
Just starting out at Santa Monica High School, I'm now a 9th grader. In eighth grade, my school had the AMC 8 (American Math Competition Grade 8), a contest similar to Mathcounts.
Studying for the test, I took practice tests off Mathcounts study books. These problems were tricky and took turns in all directions, however, it gave much delight when I encountered a problem with the same method and structure that I had seen before.
Now, taking the PSAT as a Freshman, the problems were very similar to the Mathcounts, and I felt very prepared while taking the test.
What is the structure of the Mathcounts Competition?
You may be thinking,
- “It’s good that we know the general overview of Mathcounts and your experience with it, however what does the competition/structure even look like?!”
Here in the structure section, we talk about just that!
First of all, let's establish the 4 individual levels of mathcounts; School, Chapter, State, & National.
School Competition level of Mathcounts (August - January)
This is essentially the starting line for all students going into Mathcounts.
School level consists of:
Clubs are formed with coaches selecting and registering students.
Coaches prepare students with practice tests.
Starting November, coaches select students to move on to the next stage; Chapter Level.
Chapter Competition level of Mathcounts (February 1-29)
As expected, this is the next level, for students that were selected from each school by coach.
In this round, over 500 chapter competitions happen around the nation.
Mathcounts chapter competitions consist of:
Local participating school students compete to move on to the state wide level.
Each individual School can send up to 12 competitors to the state level, (4 to compete in team & individual rounds and 8 to compete in just individual rounds).
As you can see, these competitions are very competitive.
State Competition level of Mathcounts (March 1 - 31)
As the title explains, this 3rd level of competition chooses the top competitors in the state as a whole.
“Top” competitors are chosen by performance in each of the rounds, which will be explained later!
National Competition level of Mathcounts (March 1 - 31)
We have come to the final level! The national competition. The top 4 students from each state are chosen, including US territories, to participate in the national competition!
While explaining the competition levels, I left out a central part of the competition; the round format.
In ALL levels of competition, competitors duke out and decide their fate by answering math questions in different situations and round formats.
Literally.
In these levels, about 3 hours of competition goes on through 4 different round formats, Spirit, Target, Team, and Countdown.
Sprint Round:
Format: 30 problems to be solved in 40 minutes (Done individually)
Types of Problems: A mix of geometry, algebra, number theory, probability, and combinatorics.
Target Round:
Format: 8 problems presented in four pairs (6 minutes per pair).
Types of Problems: More in-depth problems requiring multiple steps, often involving proofs or extended reasoning.
Assess how one approaches more complex problems given more time.
First of each pair generally cannot use a calculator, but the second pair can use a calculator.
Team Round:
Format: 10 problems to be solved in 20 minutes by a team of four students working collaboratively.
Types of Problems: A variety of topics, and teamwork and communication are crucial.
Focuses on collaboration, however only 4 students of a school team can participate in this round.
Countdown Round:
Format: Head-to-head competition (fast-paced, oral round) for the top 12 individuals.
Types of Problems: Rapid-fire, short-answer questions.
Students have a maximum 45 seconds to answer each problem.
Round is optional at school, chapter, and state level.
And with that, the technical and formatted part of Mathcounts explanation is wrapped up!
Benefits of Taking Mathcounts
You may be reading this as a parent, a student, a coach, or some random person that is interested in Mathcounts.
Knowing the powerful benefits of being a part of Mathcounts can be extremely beneficial regardless of what position you are in.
The benefits that I will go more in depth into are:
Developing Math Skills in a Collaborative Setting.
Boost college applications
Effective test preparation
Developing math skills in a collaborative setting
Studying math skills and practicing on school problems alone are no fun for us students, especially if it is only for a test grade.
By being part of a competitive math group that rely, grow, uplift, and improve with each other is much more encouraging with a clearer goal.
This not only tests the competitive part of our brain, but it also allows us to solve more complex problems, learn new methods and formulas that are above the middle school curriculum.
Effective Test Preparation
In middle school, it is hard for parents to put studying for SAT, ACT, and other standardized tests on kids.
However, one way that students can improve their skill set already is by challenging themselves with similar problems in a fun environment.
Competitive math competitions have problems that are not immediately intuitive and tricks/strategies to go along with it.
These problems are very similar to those of the SAT/ACT, as I said in my experience taking the PSAT.
If you want students to be prepared/experienced for tests such as SAT and entry tests to private schools, a great way is to immerse yourselves in a fun collaborative math environment.
Boosting college applications.
Participating in mathcounts displays unique qualities of an applicant, for example leadership skills, Academic excellence (awards), and an interest in STEM fields.
As you already know, a huge part of Mathcounts is leadership in those tight Team rounds of competitions. By making it to the State level, or even the national level, leadership and competitive edge is shown in an academic manner!
Especially at the Middle school level, an early passion for mathematics is displayed, which most likely can carry on throughout highschool, participating in numerous competitions and an overall curiosity with mathematics and problem solving!
How to get into Mathcounts
Although the formats and levels have much detail that it may be frightening or even daunting for middle schoolers to get started.
However, I will quickly go over how students can start a Mathcounts program if there isn’t one at their school.
Expressing interest is the first step. This step could include finding students who are interested, as well as researching more about the Mathcounts program.
Finding an educator is the second step to help filter and guide students and represent/setting up the school.
Registering your school with the Mathcounts program is the last step. More information can be found on the Mathcounts website (www.mathcounts.org). This will give access to helpful practice material, competition resources, and support!
If there is a Mathcounts program/club set up at your school, don’t be shy to enroll and the coach will help you throughout all the steps!
Summary
In this blog post, we discussed the topics of:
What is Mathcounts
The format of Mathcounts (individual levels + round format.)
Benefits of participating in Mathcounts.
How to enroll/get started with Mathcounts at your school.
Mathcounts is an excellent program, where students can learn, practice, and display math skills.
I hope you found this blog the slightest bit intriguing and helpful!
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