Allen wins big at MathCounts
SUBMITTED PHOTO
St. Gregory’s School eighth grader Tori Allen poses with the awards she amassed at the MathCounts competition recently held at Missouri Western State University. Allen will represent St. Gregory’s at the statewide MathCounts competition in March.
Tori Allen is pretty good at math.
She traveled with a team of students at St. Gregory’s School to the MathCounts competition held at Missouri Western State University recently, placing third overall in the individual test round and second in the head-to-head rounds.
The MathCounts competition is a day’s worth of grueling mathematics for middle school students. Each school is permitted to bring a team of up to five students who compete in individual test rounds and a team quiz round.
After the team rounds, individual final round qualifiers are posted. Those who make it to the final go head-to-head against other finalists in an elimination-style tournament to determine the champion.
It was a long day for Allen, but well worth it.
“It’s something to be proud of,” Allen commented. “I did it last year, and did okay, but coming back this year, I found the questions to be easier to do.
“Math is my favorite subject in school because it’s cut and dry. There’s one answer in math problems, where in other subjects there could be multiple right answers to the questions.”
The individuals competition for MathCounts is rather simple. In preliminary rounds, students take a 30-question test then move on to a more challenging four-round, two-question competition.
The elimination-style tournament pits students against each other in a head-to-head showdown. The students have 45 seconds to answer two out of three questions correct. The winner advances until one person is left standing.
While Allen placed third in preliminary rounds and second in the finals, the team from St. Gregory’s failed to make it past the preliminary round. In the team round, each team is given a 20 minutes to complete a 10-question test, which Allen characterized as “harder than the individual rounds.”
Allen begins preparing for the state competition this week with St. Gregory’s seventh and eighth grade math teacher, Betsy Nielson. Allen said she was nervous but excited for the state contest.
“We’ll be studying and going over the questions provided to us,” Allen said. “I think I’ll be ready by the time the contest gets here.”
“We get lots of materials from the state to prepare for the contests,” Nielson added. “A lot of our focus as we get ready for the competition will be on problem solving techniques and quick thinking.”
St. Gregory’s usually has someone qualify for the state competition, but does not always attend because it is usually held on the same weekend as the district Spelling Bee and Geography Bee. This year’s state Math Counts competition will be held March 4 at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla.