Mathletes’ Greatest Secrets Finally Revealed
Episode 3: Metrobank-MTAP-DepEd Math Challenge
< first | previous | all | next | last >
[PDF/Printable]
< first | previous | all | next | last >
[PDF/Printable]
Henry
 |
| "Redu CS3aJPG" by Jean-Pol GRANDMONT - travail personnel. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Tempus fugit: Time flies, and so must you; nowhere else is speed and accuracy as vital.
|
The Metrobank-MTAP-DepEd Math Challenge, colloquially referred to as MTAP (the Mathematics Teachers’ Association of the Philippines, which organizes the event) or MMC, is one of the most venerable and well publicized contests in the country; it has been around in one form or the other since the 70’s. It is also where many math people start out. Unlike other contests, MMC is open to students from the very first year of primary school.
Format
Before any contest, there is a separate Saturday training program. While attendance of this program has no bearing on the contest, I would recommend attending the program anyway.
There are two main events to compete in: individual and team. They are independent in the sense that the events are held separately, and performance in one has no bearing on the other. Throughout the entire competition one competes only with others from his/her own year level. Moreover, for high school, schools following the DepEd curriculum (Category A) compete separately from schools that do not (Category B) .
NOTE 1
I am unaware as to how the recent curriculum changes will affect this policy.At any rate, the upside to a category system like this, is that prospective contestants will have more material from past contests to practice on.
One should note, however, that a lot of questions are shared across categories. Don't think of taking advantage of question overlap, though -- two matches that share questions are always held simultaneously in different venues.
The initial barrier to both of these is a fifty-question short answer screening test.
Individual Rounds
The individual round is open to the highest scores in this screening, irrespective of their schools of origin. The round is a two hour sit-down test with fifteen short answer questions, five partial solution questions, and (often called ‘challenge’) three full solution questions. The top scorers in the region are awarded. Depending on the size of the region, the top scorers in each sector may be awarded separately (for the same paper).
If one is in Grade 6 or in your fourth year in high school, being a regional top scorer (usually first and second place) gives a place to the national individual finals. There will be another sit-down test with much more difficult questions, and a quiz-bee style match the next day. A weighted average of the sit-down test score and the quiz-bee score will be used to determine the national ranking.
Team Rounds
Three (or two if in Grade 6 or fourth year) high scorers per year level per school will be formed into a team. (Almost by default, these are the three highest scorers in that school and level, but I believe the coach has the final say).
The contest format in each level (division, sector, region, and national for Grade 6 and fourth year) is more or less the same, and is outlined below. Often it is sufficient to be in the top three in one level to qualify for the next one.
Fifteen easy (15 seconds, 2 points) questions, ten average (30 seconds, 3 points) questions, and five difficult (60 seconds, 5 points) questions. The easy questions are to be done mentally, i.e. no form of gesturing/writing is permissible, except writing the final answer. In other rounds, working paper is provided liberally and youcan write on it at any given time. In the difficult round a printed copy of the question is furnished.
If there are any ties for the first to third places, clincher (one easy, one average, one difficult) questions will be deployed. If (as often occurs) a tie still remains, something called a Do-Or-Die is implemented.
The general premise of a Do-Or-Die is for a school to provide the correct answer first, securing the higher of the tied ranks (i.e. in the case of a four-way tie, the first to correctly answer gets first place, then Do-Or-Die continues for the other three with a new question.) How this is actually done has varied:
 |
A Do-Or-Die is not unlike a who-shoots-first duel. You can have ten years experience under your belt, but each Do-Or-Die match will be as nerve-racking as your first one. This is what people come to watch, really.
|
The general premise of a Do-Or-Die is for a school to provide the correct answer first, securing the higher of the tied ranks (i.e. in the case of a four-way tie, the first to correctly answer gets first place, then Do-Or-Die continues for the other three with a new question.) How this is actually done has varied:
- Since a copy of the question is furnished, most versions allow a team to respond even before the reading of the question is finished.
- In older versions, teams can submit as many answers as they like until they get the correct one (and win). Some teams have hence gamed the system by having one person churn out random answers as a scare tactic while the others solve. More recent Do-Or-Dies have gotten around this by accepting only one answer per team until all teams have responded; the answers are then checked by order of submission. If a correct answer is found, then that team wins; if not, the table becomes open for submissions again.
Preparation
Historically, the questions have been patterned after the classroom curriculum (granted its tie-up with the Department of Education). Hence the threat of exotic problems is less pronounced; lately though, this is beginning to change. Focus on speed and accuracy.
For high school, Lucy Ho’s How Good are You in Math series is the classic resource, and an indispensable one at that. Unfortunately, I believe this book is out of print, so it’s not very easy to find. The series comprises nine volumes: Volumes I to IV, and VI to IX, respectively tackle one of the four year levels in high school. Volume V is a fact book of useful formulae. Because this book is becoming dated, it’s advisable to practice ahead, i.e. with Volumes II and VI in your first year, Volumes III and VIII in your second, and so on.
When looking for more resources over the internet, MATHCOUNTS level questions are a good analogue for grade school; for high school, math contests from UNC and USC will be more than sufficient.
Tips
This applies to everything, but most particularly the screening round. There are hundreds of papers being marked in the venue, so no paper will get special attention.
Most of the time the answers are relatively nice and have only one simplest form, so you are completely expected to be clear about how you write them.
Most of the time the answers are relatively nice and have only one simplest form, so you are completely expected to be clear about how you write them.
This applies for the individual round. Please make your solutions rigorous, concise, and easy to read (for starters, the handwriting has to be humanly readable.) Unless there is some monstrously difficult question (yes, it does happen), many students will get all the final answers correctly, so it often boils down to how easy it is to follow one’s solutions.
Get the rules right.
This applies especially to Do-Or-Die. The rules vary slightly from match to match so it’s best to be very aware which version is being implemented. There are also other parameters worth looking out for. One example is how to deal with \( \pi \): sometimes it is preferred to approximate as 22/7 or 3.14; sometimes it should be left alone.
It is extremely troublesome to misunderstand Do-Or-Die rules or use the wrong approximation for something, so if you are not sure about these minor issues it might be prudent to ask the in-charges before it's their turn to do the asking.
It is extremely troublesome to misunderstand Do-Or-Die rules or use the wrong approximation for something, so if you are not sure about these minor issues it might be prudent to ask the in-charges before it's their turn to do the asking.
The outcome of a Do-Or-Die can hinge on whether one has recorded that neat trick from years ago, and reviewed it moments before the match.
Speed is a priority here, so don’t let messy rough work paralyze you. The worst possible thing that could happen during a solve is suddenly losing sense of what one's doing in the first place. This is explained very nicely here. Also, you can always ask for more paper.
Especially for small venues, it can take some time before your year level gets to compete. I’ve found it critical to keep busy and not to allow one’s condition to deteriorate from the waiting. For far-flung venues, you might end up waiting on stage for a team running late. Again, do what you must to keep your condition.
Any interesting observations about the contest? Any particular tips on how to do well? Let us know in the comments!
No comments:
Post a Comment