27
May
2021
Junior UK Maths Trust (UKMT) Challenge
Over a hundred enthusiastic Years 7 and 8 students competed in the Junior UK Maths Trust Competition in April. This took place in the school hall and due to certain restrictions, the event was assessed online.
The students’ mathematical, logical and problem-solving brains were certainly stretched for 60 minutes. However, judging by the smiles afterwards they rose to that challenge. I look forward to seeing how many bronze, silver and indeed gold certificates we can gather between us. Well done to the 100+ students who participated. Here are a few reflective words from two of them, Anissa and Neal.
Martin Astill
Head of Mathematics
Neal Xie, 7P1
Today, I was in the Junior UK Maths Trust Competition (UKMT) between some Year 7s and 8s, but it did not start as auspiciously as I had hoped! I went to the hall, among the biggest rooms in the school, and sat myself down. Not a sound could be heard, the exception being Mr. Astill giving instructions. Once we all logged in, the competition started. I practically breezed through the first fifteen or twenty questions, but I was stuck at the last five. My mind was completely blank, and I had absolutely no idea where to start. I tried to think of an answer, but I seemed to have forgotten everything I ever learned in Maths. Then, I decided to look at the problem at a different angle, and after a bit of thinking, I was finally able to answer the questions. By that time the hour was over, all but one of the hardest had been answered. All in all, I would say I’m confident that I did well in the competition, but we’ll just have to wait and see what the results are going to be like. I have peace in my mind that I tried my best.
Anissa Chen, 7D1
This was an extraordinary experience for me, and I had lots of fun doing it. Mathematics deals with logic, quantity and arrangement. Maths is all around us. We use it in everyday things. The needs of Maths are based on the wants of society, therefore it is a very important subject. There were some challenges, the questions were a bit harder than expected but I still managed to cope with them. All of the questions were multi-choice questions, so this made it a bit easier for me. Although they were hard, I am glad that I got the experience and hope to do it again.
