Seventeen students participated in a challenging math test for the Bay Area Math Olympiad last month. They ranked third in the competition and received a $150 gift card to Chevy’s restaurant, T-shirts and certificates. The test is comprised of 5 questions, all of them challenging proofs, and is 4 hours long.
Conquering the competition was a team effort, but the actual test was administered to each individual separately.
Sarah Jin said, “Most of the people who took the test didn’t do anything to prepare for it. It was fun, and I got to miss two periods.” The test was taken in math teacher Nita Madra’s room, and the students’ answers were then sent in to the competition organizers.
Junior Kevin Peng said of the proofs, “They are interesting problems and require a good amount of thought.”
Students weren’t nervous to take the test. They thought of it as a good learning experience and extra practice for future tests. Senior Tony Knox said, “It was a challenge and I wasn’t really hoping to win anything.”
The Chevy’s gift card wasn’t split, but shared between the winning contestants.The participants included Darren Brodowy, Kyle Chan, Charlotte Chen, Madeline Clark, Ciaran Evans, Annie Guo, Laura Gustafson, Eric Ho, Sarah Jin, Tony Knox, Nikitha Kodali, Diana Kossakows, Kevin Peng, Zach Scherer, Orion Song, Christoph Steefel and Gail Wilson.
The exams are held on the last Tuesday of February annually, at schools and several open sites around the Bay Area.
The Bay Area Math Olympiad was founded in 1998 and has grown over the years, attracting over 200 student participants from the Bay Area this year.
