Highlights from the 2008 MATHCOUNTS Competition

What is MATHCOUNTS?

MATHCOUNTS is the nationwide math coaching and competition program for 6th-8th grade students. It promotes student interest in math by making math achievement as challenging, exciting, and prestigious as a school sport.  Currently celebrating its 25th anniversary, MATHCOUNTS has helped more than 7 million students throughout the United States develop their mathematical abilities by tackling MATHCOUNTS problems.

MATHCOUNTS is one of the country's largest and most successful education partnerships involving volunteers, educators, industry sponsors and students. Presidents Bush, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush have all recognized MATHCOUNTS in Oval Office ceremonies, and the program has received two White House citations as an outstanding private sector initiative.

Here are some web sites that may assist in preparing for the MATHCOUNTS competition program:

1) http://mathcounts.saab.org

2) http://mathonline.missouri.edu

3) www.saab.org


The first site has more than 500 problems that can help the students prepare for the MATHCOUNTS competition.

The second site can be used by advanced students to see if they are ready to take Calculus or College Algebra. It also has many
Trigonometry problems. This site is still growing and more problems will be added in the future.

The third site has links to to the first two sites and has many tests in mathematics and vocabulary. It has also many drills to prepare for
the SAT (Math, English, Vocabulary).

In all the math tests, solutions are provided and the problems are given each time with may be different parameters.
 

How MATHCOUNTS Works

At the beginning of each school year, the MATHCOUNTS Foundation distributes, free of charge, its School Handbook and other materials to schools across the country. Teachers and volunteers use these materials to coach student "mathletes," either as part of in-class instruction or as an extracurricular activity.

In addition to school coaching, local sponsors often host special activities, such as workshops for teachers, minority encouragement programs and public outreach events to encourage participation and raise public awareness of the importance of mathematics.

The MATHCOUNTS competitions are organized at four levels: school, chapter, state and national. Throughout the school year, coaches work with students on the School Handbook problems.

In December, coaches receive the school competition by mail, and it is administered by coaches in early January. The school competition can be used to assist a coach in determining which four students from the school will proceed to the chapter competition. The chapter competitions are held at sites across Tennessee in February. From the chapter competitions, the top teams and individuals (how many is decided by the state coordinator) progress to the state competition in Nashville in March. From the state competition, the four top-scoring individuals and the top team coach receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Arlington, VA, to represent Tennessee at the national finals in May.

At all levels of competition, mathletes build self-confidence and math skills, as well as win prizes.

How many students participate?

Nationally nearly 7,000 schools register to participate annually from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories and State Department and Dept. of Defense schools worldwide. On average, more than 350,000 students participate in MATHCOUNTS activities each year at the school level. Nearly 28,000 students from all 50 states, U.S. territories and the State and Defense Department school systems worldwide participate annually in local MATHCOUNTS competitions.

Registration packets were mailed to every school in Tennessee from MATHCOUNTS National at the beginning of September. Details of registration may be found on the MATHCOUNTS National Registration page.  You may access this page by following this link.

What is the cost?

The school team registration fee is $80.  The individual registration fee is $20 per student.  Reduced fees of $40 per team and $10 per individual are available to Title I schools.  Registration fees are non-refundable.  The official registration deadline is December 7, 2007.  Registrations by FAX and mail will be accepted through the end of January with Chapter Coordinator approval only.  Please see the list of Chapter contacts below if you are in this situation.

The School Registration Kit is free and it includes the School Handbook and two posters.  The registration form is at:  http://www.mathcounts.org/webarticles/articlefiles/118-0607_Reg_Form_web.pdf    MATHCOUNTS novelty items and copies of exams from the past may be ordered from the MATHCOUNTS store.

How do I get involved?

MATHCOUNTS involves more than 17,000 volunteers, almost 7,000 schools and over 350,000 students every year. MATHCOUNTS has an active alumni program to encourage past participants to continue their interest in mathematics and their involvement in the program. The program boasts a network of more than 30,000 alumni, some of whom now coach local teams. Former mathletes go on to coach school teams, help review program materials, volunteer at competitions and serve as role models for current mathletes.

Anyone interested can get involved with the MATHCOUNTS program. Whether you'd like to start a school coaching program or volunteer to help conduct a local program, MATHCOUNTS welcomes your involvement. To start a school coaching program, you may receive a free package of MATHCOUNTS school coaching materials by contacting the MATHCOUNTS Foundation at (703) 684-2828 or you can download the materials from here.  Other resources for building a MATHCOUNTS program can be found here.  Sample practice problems, past exams, and answers can be found here.

To help conduct a local program, which may include visiting your neighborhood school to encourage participation, coaching a school team, serving as a proctor or scorer, or serving on a committee to organize a MATHCOUNTS program, please contact the Tennessee State Coordinator, Harry Clark, at (931-454-5179 (W) or harry.clark@arnold.af.mil), Judy Logue jlogue@tnec.org or one of the following local Chapter Coordinators:

2008-2009 Tennessee State and Chapter MATHCOUNTS Coordinators