Rundown: A Look at Math Contests at The Woodlands

By Roger Wang | October 28th, 2021

Every year, Woodlands hosts many different student math contests. This year is no different. Anyone who has taken part in a math contest before knows how fun and challenging these contests can be. Math contests allow students to expand their knowledge, challenge themselves and learn new skills. Some contests even allow students to earn scholarships or win prizes. In the past, many Woodlands students have scored very well and earned recognition for their achievements. This school year, Woodlands will be hosting eight math contests for students to take part in. The first math contest is the Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (COMC), which took place on October 28th at 8:30 AM. Sign up for all math contests is through School Cash Online and a full list of math contests at The Woodlands is available here. While registration for math contests in October and November (COMC, AMC, BCC and CIMC/CSMC) are unfortunately closed, registration for the four math contests in 2022 are still open and will remain open until next year. A full list of registration deadlines can be found on School Cash Online. Here is a breakdown of all the contests happening over the next month:

Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (COMC):

The COMC is a math contest that is run by the Canadian Mathematical Society. The COMC contest is one of the most challenging contests in all of Canada. Top-ranking students can earn the chance to compete at the Canadian Math Olympiad (CMO). The COMC contest is made up of both short answer and full solution questions. The contest took place on October 28th at 8:30 AM in the school cafeteria.

American Mathematics Competition (AMC) 10/12:

The AMC contest is run by the Mathematical Association of America. The AMC 10 contest is available for all students in grades 9 and 10 while the AMC 12 contest is available to grade 11 and 12 students. Grade 9 and 10 students are also permitted to write AMC 12 but are encouraged to write AMC 10 instead, as students cannot write both AMC 10 and 12. Both AMC contests are 25-question, 75-minute, multiple-choice contests, and will take place on November 10th at 9 AM in the cafeteria. Calculators are not permitted.

Beaver Computing Challenge (BCC):

The BCC contest is run by the University of Waterloo. The contest is available to all students in grades 9 and 10 only. The BCC is a problem-solving contest with a focus on computational and logical thinking. Questions are inspired by topics in computer science, but only require comfort with concepts found in the mathematics curriculum, with a strong focus on logical and critical thinking. The contest is one hour long and has 15 multiple choice questions worth 90 points total. The contest will take place on November 11th at 5:30 PM, and will be written online through Google Meets. Standard calculators are permitted.

Canadian Senior and Intermediate Mathematics Contests (CSMC/CIMC):

The CSMC and CIMC contests are also run by the University of Waterloo. The CIMC contest is for students in grades 9 and 10 and the CSMC contest is for students in grades 11 and 12. Both contests are two hours long and have nine questions; six are answer-only and three are full-solution. For the full-solution questions, marks will be awarded for completeness, clarity, and style of presentation, requiring students to consider both the quality of their answer and the presentation of their thought process. Both contests will take place on November 17th at 8:30 AM in the cafeteria. Standard calculators are permitted.

Looking Ahead:

In addition to the four contests listed above, Woodlands will also be hosting four other math contests in the second semester. These contests are the Canadian Computing Challenge, the Pascal/Cayley/Fermat Contests (grades 9,10 and 11), the Euclid Contest (grade 12 only) and the Fryer/Galois/Hypatia Contests (grades 9,10 and 11). All of these contests are run by the University of Waterloo and are still open for registration through School Cash Online. Students can view past questions and solutions, as well as past results at the University of Waterloo website (for contests run by the university).

To learn more about math contests at the Woodlands and follow new updates, join the Woodlands Math Competition Google Classroom run by Mr. Heathfield. The code to the classroom is xkphim2. As of now, just over 400 students have already joined the classroom. Additionally, students who wish to advance their math skills and prepare for these contests can join the Woodlands Math Club. The club has weekly meetings every Thursday from 4-5 PM through google meets. The Google classroom code for the club is v2vcjkr.

Good luck to all Woodlands students participating in upcoming contests. Go Rams!