Bob Jones places in national math contest

Bob Jones High School students have placed 19th in the 2010 Team Scramble, a national mathematics contest administered by National Assessment & Testing.

Coaches Kimberly Cox and Shaun Bardell prepared students for the first major team competition of the academic year, in which students worked as the entire school raced to answer 100 problems in a variety of mathematical topics in just thirty minutes.

With so many questions and so little time, competitors needed not only strong mathematical skills, but also the ability to quickly decide which problems to solve and which to skip.

Because there was not nearly enough time for a single student to solve all of the problems, students collaborated to allocate the test questions amongst themselves and ensure that all questions were worked and double-checked. Bob Jones students will go on to participate in National Assessment & Testing’s 2010 Ciphering Time Trials on Dec. 19, and the 2011 Four-by-Four Competition on February 3.

Each of these contests features ten rounds in which students have three minutes to answer problems, but the first requires students to work individually on three problems per round, while the second allows teams of four to tackle four problems in each round.

National Assessment & Testing administers high-quality mathematics competitions that high schools can participate in through the mail.

Their contests cover a variety of formats, including individual and team tests, as well as a variety of difficulties, from an easier 100 problems in 30 minutes to a more complicated 15 problems in one week.