Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Junior Mathematics Competition 2024

Instructions for Organisers
PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY!

The Competition
The second part of the competition is to be held primarily on Wednesday May 15. This is the preferred
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date. If you have any number of students (or indeed, your entire school) sit the competition later please
let us know as soon as possible as such students will not be eligible for monetary prizes (but are eligible
for all types of certificates). Please make this fact clear to students sitting late.
A reminder: sitting earlier than the 15th is strictly forbidden, and students sitting early will not be
eligible for certificates beyond what they have already achieved in the first part of the competition.
Your school has been provided the questions via email. These are also available to download from our
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website after you login. You will need to photocopy sufficient questions for your students.
Via email your school has also been provided blank answer booklets that you may print out and use.
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You have also been provided with a sheet of three answer ‘headers’ that you can print out, cut up, and
attach to the work of your students. Like the questions these are also available to download from our
website. It is at your discretion which of the supplied resources your school uses to sit the competition.
The most important thing is that each paper has the student’s NAME, year LEVEL, and SCHOOL
clearly visible on it, such that every paper is uniquely identifiable.
Your school has been provided with a list of students that have been invited to participate in the second
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part of the competition. We will only mark these students — substitutions are not permitted.
There are eight questions, the first of which is restricted to Year 9 competitors and below only. If you
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have Year 8 or Year 7 students (or even below) sitting the competition please tell them that they are also
allowed to attempt Question 1.

Year 9 students and below may attempt Questions 1 through to 6.

Year 10 students may attempt Questions 2 though to 7.
Year 11 students may attempt Questions 3 though to 8.

In other words every student may attempt six questions. Please check that they attempt the correct six.
This is the arrangement that we began using in 2018.

Please advise students to read the instructions on the cover of the competition paper very carefully.
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You are advised to read them aloud before the competition. Note in particular item (2). It is quite
distressing, but necessary, to penalise students for sloppy or inaccurate presentation. Stress that in
general Answers Only receive little credit, even if correct. (Sections with short answers being acceptable
will be explicitly stated in the questions.)

It is worth stressing Item (1) to students. Generally speaking students who have done better in this
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competition in the past have tended to be those who concentrate on three (full) questions rather than
trying small sections from four or five.
 Calculators are permitted. Students who don’t possess one may be seriously disadvantaged. The test

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conditions allow for translation devices without communication or calculation capability.
This year students may benefit from having a straight edge and compass for use in one of the questions.
■ This is not a requirement in any way, as the paper can be completed without either, but students are
certainly allowed to use them.
Under no circumstances should students hand in working or answers on their scrap paper. The final
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answers must be in the answer booklet or on pad paper. Please stress this point. Students should be
actively discouraged from answering on their Question Sheets.

Please collect the Question Sheets in and hand them back to students after Friday May 17. Students
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who have paid to enter the competition are entitled to a copy of the questions.
DO NOT ALLOW STUDENTS TO LEAVE WITH THEIR QUESTION SHEET IMMEDIATELY AFTER SIT-
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TING THE COMPETITION.

Return of Competition Papers

This year you may return your papers in one of two ways:

Physically At the conclusion of the competition please collect the papers and post them immediately to:

The UOJMC
Department of Mathematics and Statistics,
University of Otago
2nd Floor, Science III Building
730 Cumberland Street
Dunedin 9016

Digitally Alternatively you may scan your papers and then either email them to us / share them with us
in cloud. If you are using the cloud to share your papers with us and an email address is required for
access please make sure that [email protected] automatically has access without the need to
create an account. When we have downloaded digital versions of the papers the digital copies become
the official versions. We recommend you do not destroy physical copies until we have confirmed that
we can read the scanned versions; storing the physical copies until the final results have been released
is the recommended course of action.

Time is of the essence. We cannot guarantee grading if your papers do not arrive by Friday May 24
(either physically or digitally).

Payment for the Competition

We have now begun the process of invoicing all schools (except those for those paying via credit cards).
Schools that have asked to pay via credit card must do so by the end of Sunday May 19. On Monday May 20
any school that has opted to pay via credit card but has not done so will be invoiced instead, and the ability
to pay via credit card will no longer be available.
Certificates

This year only students receiving monetary prizes will receive physical certificates (for those in the Top 30 and
above). All other students who have participated in the competition will receive a digital certificate which may
be printed out if desired.
As in previous years, we will award Top 3 certificates (first, second, and third) in each year level based on the
results of the second part of the competition. We will likewise award Top 30 certificates. (Currently we do not
plan on awarding Top 100 or Top 200 certificates.)
Students outside of the Top 30 who place in the top 15% of their year level nationally in either part of the
competition will receive at least a Distinction certificate. All students who do not qualify for at least a Distinction
certificate but are in the top 50% of their year level nationally in either part of the competition will receive a
Merit certificate.

Student Names

All student names are now in our system. Please check the supplied student check list carefully. If any name
or year level is incorrect please let us know as soon as possible.

Results

We still hope to announce results sometime in early August. The Top 30 of each year level (based on the
second part of the competition) will first be announced our website, followed shortly afterwards with schools
receiving their individual results.
Schools will only receive physical prize packs if they have at least one of their students placing in the Top 30
of any year level.
Please contact us if you have feedback as to how you would like any monetary prizes your students may
receive to be provided. (At this stage the default option is for schools to receive Prezzy cards to distribute to
their students.)